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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #962
In <199709181948.PAA04836 at acme_actwin.com>, on 09/18/97
at 03:48 PM, Aquatic-Plants-Owner at actwin_com (Aquatic Plants Digest) said:
>Date: Thu, 18 Sep 1997 10:35:10 -0700
>From: olga at arts_ubc.ca
>Subject: Fertilization re: volume of plants
>Hi all,
>At the moment I have a very overgrown tank. Plants floating 8 inches or
>more on the surface, thick etc. I've left them like that because I want
>to trim just before our plant meeting here so that I have nice fresh
>plants. I've recently beaten back a bad algae problem simply by
>maintaining a good fertilization schedule and there is now very little in
>there. Last night it struck me that taking out a massive amount of plants
>all at once might destabilize the tank so that I get algae living off the
>nutrients again. I've never really given this any thought before and
>perhaps things don't work this way so I'd appreciate some thoughts on
>this.
>Questions: I have been dosing 6 ml of PMDD everyday without fail. Should
>I cut back when the plants are heavily trimmed to perhaps half (3 ml) and
>then slowly increase as the plants recover? More to the point I suppose
>--
>Is this something for concern? Does plant growth work this way? Do more
>leaves = more nutrient uptake and requirements. Please post your thoughts
>as soon as possible as I'd like to know what other's think by Saturday.
>I'm determined NOT to nourish algae.
>Olga
>in Vancouver
Hi Olga,
6 ml of PMDD/day?! What size tank do you have? How long have you
been dosing at this level. Do you measure iron and nitrates to determine
dosing?
I just started using PMDD about 10 days ago in a couple of 90 gal plant tanks
and I can already see a difference. I stated out with 1 ml/day for a week and
measured iron. It was below the range of my test kit so I increase to 2 ml/day.
Here is my opinion about what will happen if you heavily trim your plants.
I think the major uptake of nutrients are through the roots. I think the plants
will rebound with a growth spurt and continue to use at about the same rate.
However, I would test iron and nitrates to determine if the dosage should be
modified.
------------------------------------------
Ed.Walker at triangle-systems_com
You're never too old to
have a happy childhood.
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