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Re: Unlucky aquarium (nutrient questions)
> From: "Simone e Pierluigi Vicini" <psvicini at mdnet_it>
> 2.I'm keeping the hardness at KH 50 p.p.m., GH 60 p.p.m., the PH is 7-7.5
> NO3 is 5 p.p.m., water temperature is about 27 °C, I'm injecting CO2 and
> its value is 15 p.p.m., I'm fertilizing only with chelated iron.
Simone, is it possible for you to obtain a water analysis from your
water utility? Your water hardness indicates there are some mineral
nutrients in your water but we cannot tell if any nutrient may be in
short supply. There are some trace mineral nutrients which will probably
be absent in the water and it may be necessary to supplement these
either via a trace nutrient mix (as in the PMDD recipe) or a
comprehensive aquarium nutrient solution such as Tropica Mastergrow,
Seachem Flourish or some of the Dupla products. Another alternative for
trace mineral nutrients is to use a mineral soil in the lower part of
the substrate. You can search the APD archives using the key "mineral
soil" for more ideas.
Often tap water may contain almost all the nutrients required and only a
few trace nutrients or potassium are needed to improve growth. Other
times, the water like here in Vancouver is almost pure rain water and
contains almost no mineral nutrients. A water analysis is frequently
available for free just for the asking if you call up the utility
company.
> 3.I have only a fluorescent bulb from Dennerle (Trocal 18 watt). I keep it
> on for 9 hours a day.
This could be part of the reason for the slow growth. Can you supplement
with a second light or possibly light from a window? Once you increase
the light intensity, you are more likely to encounter a shortage of one
or more nutrients.
> I have a liquid fertilizer wich can be added to water and than given to
> plants its chemical composition is this: N 4%, P2O5 6%, K2O 6%.
Probably not a good balance. We generally avoid liquid fertilizers with
phosphates. If we can determine that your tap water is low in potassium,
you can dose with 10 ppm K+ from K2SO4, KNO3 or KCl. Nitrate and
phosphate currently do not seem to be lacking.
Steve in Vancouver stuffed full of Canadian Thanksgiving ham and turkey
with all the fixings :-D