Battling holes in my plants!

[Luananeko]

For the last few months I've been battling holes in my Frogbit, Red Tiger Lotus, and Amazon Sword in my 75 gallon tank and I'm running out of things to try to fix it Here's the tank stats & fert schedule:

* 2 T5 HO 54 watt 6500K bulbs
* T8 32 watt 6500K bulb (recently added)
* Daily dosage of Seachem Flourish Excel & Seachem Potassium liquid ferts.
* Every other day dosage of Seachem Iron - I find if I do this every day I get these long tiny knotted algae strings that choke my cabomba & pennywort, hence the every other day dosage.
* Weekly dosage of Flourish comprehensive when I do my water change.
* Recently added Flourish root tabs at base of lotus & sword.
* Eco-complete substrate layered in middle of normal gravel with healthy blackworm colony.
* Fighting a snail infestation... Ramshorns, pond snails, and MTS. Added assasin snails and dwarf chain loaches a month back and they seem to be getting the pest snails under control slowly.
* 50% water changes weekly

The tank's been set up for over a year and I used to get great growth. I thought my T5HO bulbs were just due for replacing, so I replaced them about 3 weeks back. When that didn't work I pulled out the standard T8 fixture my tank came with and put a 6500K bulb in it so I could get better coverage in the front of the tank. The only other change recently was that I added some crushed coral to my filter to buffer the hardness of the tank more. It previously was sitting around 0-3 dGH, and it was frying my guppies. I've gradually gotten it up to about 11 dGH now and everyone seems much happier.

I'm fairly certain it's not one of my fish that are causing the holes, so that leaves my lighting and fert routine... Every time I try to understand the science behind EI and all the other fertilization regimes I get horribly confused and lost. Can one of you plant experts tell me what my regime is missing and causing the holes? Thanks!

 

[Rivercats]

Do you have any pictures of the plants as that would help seeing them. Without pic's it actually sounds like potassium deficiency. If they start out like little pin holes in the leaves that is potassium deficiency.

I dose PPS-Pro using dry ferts and it is very easy and much cheap then liquid ferts especially in larger tanks. This is the macro and micro package I use... Micro & Macro | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums. You would also need 3 of these dosing bottles which makes dosing very easy... Fertilizer Dispenser | 1000 mL (32 oz) | Green Leaf Aquariums. You would mix nitrates in one bottle, phosphates and potassium in one bottle, then the micro's in one bottle. Normal dosing would be 1ml of each solution to every 10 gallons of water. You also want to have a phosphate test kit and would want to test your water once a week right before you do your weekly WC. Keep a record so you can see what your levels are for nitrate and phosphate. You want to shoot for nitrates at 10-20ppms and phosphates .5-1.0ppm. After a few weeks you'll see if you need to adjust how much nitrates and phosphate/potassium you need to dose daily. It's not hard once you start doing it. Here is a thread that explains PPS-Pro dosing. Only read the openning post, not all the comments after.... Newbie Guide to PPS-Pro - PPS Analysis and Feedback - Aquatic Plant Central.

 

[Luananeko]

I'll grab some pictures when I get back home, but they're not really pinholes... They start out small, but quickly turn into large holes, to the point that my older Red Lotus leaves are mostly holes and not much leaf. I dose the liquid potassium fert mix every day at the recommended rate listed on the bottle, so it seems like potassium shouldn't be an issue... Or is it normal for the potassium liquid ferts instructions to tell you too little to add? I'll definitely look into the dry ferts once I run out of the liquid ones; they sound like a much better deal.

I don't have a phosphate testing kit, but I do test nitrates every week before my WC. They're usually around 10ppm, maybe slightly lower sometimes.

 

[Luananeko]

Alrighty, got a good picture of the holes in the Red Tiger Lotus. Similar holes are in my Frogbit, Amazon Sword, and now I'm starting to see it in my Sunset Hygro as well. Is this potassium deficiency after all?

 

[brennae]

Following as I have the same problem.

 

[Rivercats]

That looks like Phosphate deficiency to me. Do you have a phosphate test kit to measure with? Phosphate in a planted tank should be .5-1.5ppms and nitrates should be 10-20ppms (I prefer 10ppm).

Also can you tell me where you got your sunset hydro? I've been looking for it to no avail.

 

[Luananeko]

I don't have a phosphate test kit... I'll see if I can get one. I don't dose phosphate, so that would make more sense to have a deficiency than potassium.

Sunset hygro was a pain to find. I finally got it from a gal on Aquabid before I realized it wasn't legal to ship across state borders since it counts as a noxious weed. That sorta explained why it was so hard to find I think she still sells it on Aquabid from time to time but I can't recall her name or what state she was in. The laws here in Oregon allow you to sell it from person to person, but not ship it across state borders, so I've become the local supplier for my LFS.

 

[Rivercats]

Yeah I know it's illegal to ship it across state lines but still hoping I can find someone in MO.

 

[Luananeko]

Alright, finally got my hands on a phosphate test kit. I think it's hanging out around 0 if I'm reading it right... I'll test it again tonight just to be sure, but it looks like I need to find some phosphate ferts! I'll post an update once I get the ferts and dose it for a little while to figure out if things start looking better.