Added Nitrates-Little Happened

[Ryan Mills <millsman7 at yahoo_com>]

First of all, my real name is Cavan.  I created this
account a long time ago for the purpose of playing a
practical joke of sorts (a long story) and ended up
using it for real.  I really should add my name to all
new posts.  

Anyway Roger, I did add some nitrate of soda to bring
my nitrates up to about 5ppm.  Nothing yet from the
Ludwigia.  Some stems are growing normally, but so far
have not maintained the reddish color.  Others have
sprouted several bunches of almost microscopic leaves
near the tops.  I would really like to see this plant
succeed, because it looks really nice.  I don't think
its repens.  Maybe palustris.  Thanks Tom:) I moved it
to a new spot and gave it some laterite.  We'll see.

After reading Karen's post about R. macrandra not
competing well with other plants, I potted what was
left.  It can't hurt at this point.  New shoots grew
up around the puny leaves, but some stems never grew
at all, and except for a brief burst after adding the
Equilibrium for the first time, growth has been slow. 
    

It does look like R. rotundifolia has responded
positively, and is showing larger reddish leaves.  

The Bacopa is once again showing small leaves even
though the potassium additions continue.  (that
corrected the condition before)

The Heternathera zosterifolia responded to the nitrate
by EXPLODING towards the surface.  It grows so fast
it's almost unmanageable.  I throw a lot of it away.  
I wonder if other plants are having trouble because of
competition with this plant.

I just can't figure out why some plants grow extremely
quickly, some grow stunted leaves, and others just
idle.  It even varies from stem to stem.  Pearling
isn't too much either.    Wouldn't using the
Equlibrium and Flourish plus some boric acid take care
of all nutrients?  Someone mentioned an imbalance. 
More Flourish? Less?  I am at a loss.  

I can't think of any toxicity that may be occuring. 
No nylon is present.  Soap or oil from my hands? 
Anaroebic areas in the substrate?  Insufficient water
circulation?  Bad luck?  

It could be that my Red Sea phosphate test kit is
inaccurate and my phosphate level is actually too low.
I'm going to see what happens when I don't change the
usual five gallons this week.   

My tank is again described for your convienience.  

   30 gallons
PH: 6.6-6.8
GH: 90ppm(150 recently because of too much
Equilibrium)
KH: 4ppm
Phosphates: .1-.2ppm
Nitrates: 4-5ppm with addition of nitrate of soda
1.5 ml Flourish divided over the week
.25 ml of Flourish iron per day
50 milligrams potassium gluconate tablets per week
-small ammount of boric acid added per week
-normal gravel substrate containing some Flourish tabs
and old laterite covered with flourite

-90 watts of light, one Nutrigrow and two
Vitalights-mylar used as reflective material

-5 gallons of distilled water changed weekly,
reconstituted with Equilibrium.  I recently switched
from RO Right (I believe it gave me a rash on my arm.)

Thanks everybody.  


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