Dosing

[fordayzbro]

Question for the plant guru's...

What am I missing?

High light - tick

CO2 - tick

Good filtration - tick

Nutrient rich substate - tick

Ferts - ? Currently dosing with Flourish Comprehensive and ADA Brighty K Lights (Nitrate, Potassium & Phosphorous)

When the tank was setup 4 months ago the plants went wild, I have since had 2 major algae battles. Now it seems the tank is stunted.... :-?

I've tried adjusting the lights, CO2 and introduced the ADA ferts, still no improvement.

Could I be missing iron or something else?

[phoenix44]

The roots are probably constrained somehow.

[fordayzbro]

The roots are probably constrained somehow.

I'm using Seachem Flourite and JBL Manado.... should be O.K?

The weird thing is It's been stunted since the algae battles so I'm thinking I have a deficiency in my dosing.....

[phoenix44]

I meant space wise, like if its a small tank and the roots have covered the surface area of the base, that's what's limiting the plants.

Not sure though, I just remembered how bonsai are grown and thought there might be some similarity.

[fordayzbro]

I meant space wise, like if its a small tank and the roots have covered the surface area of the base, that's what's limiting the plants.

Not sure though, I just remembered how bonsai are grown and thought there might be some similarity.

Hmmmm... I'll pull one of the plants from the back and see what's going on....

[Jennifer]

Do the plants ever pearl at all? If you occasionally see pearling but then it stops, I would be inclined to think something is limiting, possibly CO2 but more likely nutrients.

[fordayzbro]

I meant space wise, like if its a small tank and the roots have covered the surface area of the base, that's what's limiting the plants.

Not sure though, I just remembered how bonsai are grown and thought there might be some similarity.

Everything looks normal with the roots from what I can see....

Current dosing regime:

Day 1 - WC 30% dose Flourish comprehensive 2ml & Brighty K 2ml

Day 2 - Brighty K lights 2ml

Day 3 - Brighty K lights 2ml

Day 4 - Brighty K lights 2ml

Day 5 - WC 40% dose Flourish comprehensive 2ml & Brighty K 2ml

Day 6 - Brighty K lights 2ml

Day 7 - Brighty K lights 2ml

BTW tank is 60x30x36......

[fordayzbro]

Do the plants ever pearl at all? If you occasionally see pearling but then it stops, I would be inclined to think something is limiting, possibly CO2 but more likely nutrients.

I get pearling frequently.... mostly after water changes.

[phoenix44]

mostly after water changes.

That's cheating! :lol:

maybe up the CO2?

[Jennifer]

Yeah, everyone gets pearling with water changes. :lol: Try adding Comprehensive every day for a week and see if you see any changes to pearling and growth.

[fordayzbro]

That's cheating! :lol:

maybe up the CO2?

:lol:

Currently @ 1bps...

I broke my drop checker so it's a bit risky to push the CO2 too far ATM

[fordayzbro]

Yeah, everyone gets pearling with water changes. :lol: Try adding Comprehensive every day for a week and see if you see any changes to pearling and growth.

How much comprehensive daily? Should I drop the Brighty K lights (NPK)?

[Jennifer]

I use 1ml per 40L for Comprehensive every day on a few of my tanks, NPK twice weekly and twice weekly water changes. You shouldn't need to drop the macronutrients, but I am not familiar with that product so if there are already micronutrients in that product it you might not need to add Comprehensive every day.

[fordayzbro]

I use 1ml per 40L for Comprehensive every day on a few of my tanks, NPK twice weekly and twice weekly water changes. You shouldn't need to drop the macronutrients, but I am not familiar with that product so if there are already micronutrients in that product it you might not need to add Comprehensive every day.

Thanks, I'll have a bit of a juggle around with the ferts....

I thought I could have been deficient in iron or something.

[Jennifer]

It could be nutrients or CO2 - if you see no new growth or no pearling after a week or two, then you will most likely need to increase CO2 (but make sure the nutrients are high enough to handle it first or you will see nutrient deficiency showing up in the plant leaves).

[fordayzbro]

It could be nutrients or CO2 - if you see no new growth or no pearling after a week or two, then you will most likely need to increase CO2 (but make sure the nutrients are high enough to handle it first or you will see nutrient deficiency showing up in the plant leaves).

Cool, I'll give it a whirl.

I'll need to get a new drop checker before boosting the CO2 safely.... :roll:

[John Rimbauer]

I'm out on a limb here, so treat this as advise, not gospel.

I've noticed that my tanks seem to use more potassium than usual every so often. I notice this when adding the potassium sulphate causes the plants to go nuts with pearling for the next few days. It may be worth upping the potassium level in your fert regime for 1 week and seeing if it has a positive impact?

[fordayzbro]

I'm out on a limb here, so treat this as advise, not gospel.

I've noticed that my tanks seem to use more potassium than usual every so often. I notice this when adding the potassium sulphate causes the plants to go nuts with pearling for the next few days. It may be worth upping the potassium level in your fert regime for 1 week and seeing if it has a positive impact?

Hi John,

Thanks for the advise, I'm got some ADA Brighty K which is pretty much just potassium.

I'll dose that during the week and see how it goes...

[Adrienne]

What plants do you have?

I read somewhere (on here I think a couple of weeks ago) that if you leave the lights off for a couple of days and then turn them back on again growth restarts. I tried it and wow - my tiger lotus shot from 40cm to nearly 60cm in two days :roll: