BCarl's 26 gallon Bf Build

[Fresh2o]

Not sure. I've had a few star repens leaves melt. It generally would not be the the entire leaf but a good portion of it would turn transparent. But is was always a few leaves. I did not do any testing at the time so know idea if it was a fert imbalance. If you need more, holler.


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[bcarl_10gal]

Here are some pictures, sorry for the curious fish!


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[Brookster123]

Well, based on the way that ram looks...did you just feed or is a male bugging her? If not something is most likely amiss with the water.

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[bcarl_10gal]

Neither, I noticed the white shade to them as well. Nitrates are at 20ppm, they had been high (40ppm) but going down.

 

[Fresh2o]

The holes would suggest a fert deficiency. Potassium perhaps? Not sure. My initial batch of star repens got "leggy" as in the pics. For the first few months I was not using dry ferts. I trimmed off the nice growth and replanted those. I think I discarded the old growth.


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[Fresh2o]

My nitrates got out of hand because I stopped regular testing (to see where I was fert wise). As high as 40-80. After bring that down to 10-20 (eliminated KNO3 dosing entirely) I bumped up the phosphate.


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[bcarl_10gal]

What did you see as a result of high nitrates? And could be a minor potassium deficiency but not seeing effects in other plants. My phosphates were low but I have increased dosing.


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[Fresh2o]

I think my pogo started melting with the high nitrates. I did not make notes in my journal as when the star repens melted so I cannot pinpoint what the nitrate readings were at the time. The melt was very infrequent so I just blew if off.


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[bcarl_10gal]

Its been weird, it hasnt effected all of the stems either. Could excel cause this?


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[Fresh2o]

Perhaps it could be the excel. How much are you dosing?


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[bcarl_10gal]

About 5ml of metricide


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[bcarl_10gal]

Time to update this thread. I was going to start a rebuild thread but heres a current shot. Still battling the mystery of the melting star repens and slow AR mini growth. Getting root tabs and a few new plants from a fellow AA member! New filtration target date for late december-early january! Any ways heres a FTS


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[Fresh2o]

Buddy: "SANTA! OH MY GOD! SANTA'S COMING! I KNOW HIM! I KNOW HIM!"
-Elf Movie

Hope you figure out the melt issue. You mentioned the nitrate is around 20 ppm. Have you tested the phosphate?


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[bcarl_10gal]

Yes, phosphate stays in the range of 2-3ppm.

 

[bcarl_10gal]

Also after thinking the water circulation could have caused the star repens to melt, I dont think that was the issue since they did not bounce back when I removed it. So I added the circulation pump back to create some flow. Anxious to see what some root tabs will do.

 

[Fresh2o]

Not certain if current is an issue as I have both HOBs directed toward the lower front pane of the tank. All of the foreground plants are subject to water movement and the Downoi and AR mini leaves are "swayin'".
I did have the phosphate at 1-2 ppm but when I added the new fixture I started to get GSA. I bumped up the phosphate to 5 ppm to counter that.
I did have a period of time after switching to dry ferts where the star repens looked pretty bad (faded leaves, holes). I've poured through my notes but cannot find what I did to improve the situation.


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[bcarl_10gal]

Im getting GSA as well so i have been dosing more phosphate to counter. Its weird though because the pogo and limphonia is growing the best it ever has...


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[Fresh2o]

Im getting GSA as well so i have been dosing more phosphate to counter. Its weird though because the pogo and limphonia is growing the best it ever has...


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Ahhhh...pick your poison! It was either the star repens or the AR mini being healthy in my case. I picked the star repens because it was my closest attempt to a carpet but the AR mini has sentimental value for me. The pogo was a struggle at first but now it's chugging along.


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[bcarl_10gal]

Whats really frustrating is I had the star repens carpet, literally taking over the tank, I had so many AR mini stems I could have considered it a factory. I did not change anything with my dosing to cause this. I've retraced my steps and I have no solutions very frustrating.

 

[Fresh2o]

I would do a few large water changes and go back to standard PPS-Pro (or whatever you are using) dosing with the extra phosphate. Hopefully that will bring conditions back to where they were.
My initial group of star repens were "leggy" mad awful looking after a while. I removed them, trimmed off the top growth and replanted only the healthy stems. I had to do this with the AR mini as well. This seemed to help.


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