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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V2 #1016
George wrote:
> Some kind of water conditioner might be useful. Be careful, though,
> some will chelate heavy metals, removing trace elements from the
> water. Duplagan is a safe but expensive conditioner.
I had an email discussion with Craig Bingman about this long ago
(before the infamous White Bucket Fiasco <g>), the upshot of which (if
memory serves) was that the chelation capabilities of water conditioners
was nothing to be concerned about as far binding up trace elements goes:
after all, usually they're already in chelated form. After all, we're
trying to avoid the formation of non-soluble metal oxides which
precipitate out, right? And this type of oxidation is especially
prevalent in well-planted tanks with high concentrations of dissolved
oxygen. Thoughts on this, everyone?
This brings to mind another question which I remember bing asked,
but not answered here on the APD: A healthy population of Malaysian
Trumpet Snails (MTS) is often mentioned as being beneficial, since they
keep the soil friable. But couldn't this 'benefit' actually be a
detriment? It seems to me that with the number of healthy roots
penetrating the substrate and pumping 02 down there, we already have a
potential problem with oxidation of trace elements in the substrate. (And
does this interfere with CEC in say, laterite set-ups?) In fact, my MTS
population is heavy enough (despite the efforts of my Botia striata, who
wiped out all other snails), that the roots of my plants are constantly
being exposed, and occasionally the Jobe's plant sticks are actually
worked up out of the substrate, half dissolved!
But back to my chlorotic Swords: what in Hades is the problem w/
them?