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Magnesium Deficiency




I have been reading up on aquatic plant nutrient deficiencies to see if I
can determine why the plants in my tank are not growing well.  

The description for magnesium deficiency seems to fit.  The leaves on my
giant hygrophila are pale green to yellow colored with dark green veins
and they is barely surviving.  My crypts also have dark lines on the
leaves, as if someone marked them up with a dark felt tip pen.

I find it hard to believe that I am having a magnesium deficiency with a
4.5 Gh.  I realize this number measures both calcium and magnesium but I
doubt it is all calcium.

Would it be bad to add a lot of MgSO2 to see what happens? What is
considered a lot?

Are there other things which cause the plants to grow this way?

Tank Parameters -

Tank Size: 75 Gallons
Lighting:  6 32 watt T-8s located 10 inches above the tank, presently I am
  supplementing this with 2 40 watt T-12s sitting on top of the tank (seeing
  if additional light would help). 
General Hardness: 4.5 Gh
Carbonic Hardness: 4.5Kh
Iron: 0.2 ppm
Nitrates: 3.0 ppm
Phosphates: 0.1ppm
pH: 6.7
CO2:added
PMDD: 8 weeks ago I have stopped dosing the tank with PMDD because of a
 bad outbreak of hair algae.  The hair algae is presently under control.
 The plants were not growing any better when I was dosing the tank with
 the PMDD.
Substrate: gravel with Laterite in lower third.


Thanks,
Alex

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Alex Holeczy (alex at wmi_com)
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