Ground Cover Plants - Glosso isnt working out, what else?

[Atl300zx]

I have been having issues growing high light plants in my tank, including glosso.

The following plants have been successful so far:
Wisteria, Ambulia, Vals, Crypts, Java Moss, Tropic Sunset, Pennywort, dwarf sag

The following plants i have had mediocre success with:
Dwarf Sword, Ludwigia Repens, Rotala Rotundifolia, Swords, Bacopa

The following plants have failed to grow well in my tank:
Glosso, Star Grass, Althernanthera Reineckii

I am going to post pictures tonite of some of the unhealty leaves i have, i am getting holes in some leaves (swords, A. reineckii, Ludwigia repens, Tropic sunset), the leaves of the star grass turn clear in places. The A, Reineckii doesnt seem to grow. The glosso was doing semi-well at once point, but now alot of the growth is dieing back and the new growth is very tiny.

I dose EI for my 55 Gallon, pressurized Co2 and run 260w CF (130 watts 4hrs/day, 260 8hrs/day - 12 hr light cycle)

basically, it appears high light plants dont like my high light tank. I would love to be able to grow the the high light plants, but they just dont like me. Are there other ground covers that fall more in the medium light range?

 

[rich311k]

I know you are dosing EI but what exactly are you adding? What level is your CO2 at? With your light and CO2 most of the plants you are have trouble with should be growing like weeds. What are the K ratings for your bulbs?

 

[Atl300zx]

Here is how i am dosing:
1/2 tsp KN03, 1/8 tsp KH2P04, 1/8 tsp K2S04, 1/8 tsp Trace Elements dosed on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I do my 50% water changes on Mondays before dosing.


CO2 Levels are: 40-44 ppm (Co2 controller @ 5.9pH)


Bulbs are 12000k - 2 of them are 7-8 months old, 2 of them are 3 months old.

 

[newfound77951]

12000K might be a little high, but I'm going to let someone else chime in on this one. I had always heard that for plants, bulbs should be between 6000-10000K. A 12000K bulb might be too blue to give the plants the wavelengths they need.

It really sounds like you have some sort of nutrient deficiency...I noticed that you dose your trace elements on the same day as the macros (N, P, K). Dosing trace and P on the same day can cause the phosphate to precipitate out the iron, leaving the iron unavailable to the plants. I was doing the same thing for a while and had some deficiency issues and Purrbox finally caught my mistake. I don't dose EI, so I'm not that familiar with it, but do you test N and P anyway? Might be good to test a couple of times durign the week (maybe on the days hat you don't dose) and make sure that your levels are where you think they are.

 

[Atl300zx]

I never knew you werent supposed to dose like that. It sucks, b/c i have 2 months pre-measured and mixed dry in a pill container.

 

[rich311k]

I would try dosing on different days and see if that helps. Pinholes in old growth seems to indicate Potassium deficiencies. You may want to bump that up a bit.

 

[Atl300zx]

I used to dose on different days but it was nitrates one day and everything else another day. Which Chemical Cmpds do i need to make sure not to dose the same day?

 

[rich311k]

The trace mix and the phosphate need to on opposite days.

 

[Atl300zx]

I never have been doing this, i hope this is the problem i have been having all along. My guess is my plants used to do ok b/c of the Iron that was in the seachem flourite soil and now that it is getting older (17 months old) most of it is depleted now and requires dosing.

Is there anyway to save my 2 months of pre-mixed dry ferts? Can i add that, then add more CSM+B on another day?

Also does anyone else have an opinion on the 12000k bulbs?

 

[newfound77951]

You might be right about the plants doing OK for a while with the fluorite, and now not doing as well because it is depleted. I had meant to ask in my last post what type of substrate you had!

I think you can probably keep using the mix you have and then add some additional CSM+B on the off days. If you're adding some extra traces and doing the EI-once a week big water change I think you will be OK and won't end up with an excess of trace nutrients.

 

[Atl300zx]

SHould i dose an additional 1/8 tsp on the off days or something less?

 

[newfound77951]

I would start with adding your usual 1/8 tsp on the off days, I think nearly all of the iron is precipitated out by P so you're basically starting from scratch.

 

[Atl300zx]

there isnt other micros i need to worry about overdosing??

Also who makes a good PO4 test kit? Iron test Kit?

Currently i only test to make sure i dont bottom out my nitrates.

 

[newfound77951]

I use the Seachem phosphate kit and it works very well.

There is no reliable hobby grade kit for iron. I wouldn't worry about it anyway, while you can overdose it I don't think you're anywhere near that with the amounts you're adding. Same goes for any other trace elements....if down the road you start seeing some different symptoms, then maybe we can figure out if there is too much of something, but again, with the EI method of doing a large weekly water change I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Atl300zx]

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