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Micronutrients
Michael Rubin wrote:
>I have a
>Flourite substrate and haven't added any iron directly in months, but this
>larger amount of TMG supplies enough iron to the water column that it now
>tests as 0.1ppm (Hach color-wheel). I think this is the amount of iron that
>Karen says she maintains?
Well, I only dose once ore twice per week, but when I've tested soon after
dosing, I regularly read .5 ppm. Using Karl Schoeler's iron test kit,
which uses Hach reagents. I do not have algae problems at this level. I
use TMG in most tanks. I've also got one tank set up that I've been using
Flourish and Flourite in. I have tested iron levels up to .5 ppm in this
tank also. (I have to add the Flourish more often to keep the iron level up
there though) But I don't have any algae problems in that tank either.
>. This may account for the poor showing
>of R. macanda - the plant may not like the harder water (7.5dGH, 4.0dKH with
>2.2w/g PC lighting).
Both my KH and GH are around 5. That's not THAT much different than yours.
I suspect something else may be the problem. In my experience R.
macrandra doesn't grow slowly. It either grows like a weed, or not at all.
This means that when it does grow, it's a very heavy feeder. But I don't
think it competes well with other fast growing species. It does best in my
tanks where it is one of only a few fast growing plants. In the tank where
it must compete with many other fast growing stem plants, I have to be
careful to keep the water column nutrients up _and_ I have to pot it with
soil so that it has a good nutrient source at the root level.
Karen