Caliban's AquaOpti 85L

[Caliban07]

Looks perfect bud id say it's more pleasing to the eye now. The red draws you through to the back of the tank.

Do you like it better? The scapes really popped since you blacked the background!

Thanks mate. Jury is still out and I agree with the background. That surface protection material did come in handy after all [emoji846]

 

[Caliban07]

Adding full EI levels now for macros. Added a small pinch of micros earlier too. Not much happening really. Suppose I could have done a water change tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

New growth on all plants looking good. No algae as yet. Monte Carlo starting to 'creep'

Loving the look of the Lilaeopsis. Pictures in a few more days.

 

[Caliban07]

Calling all those familiar with dwarf sag!

I'm a bit stumped at the moment. There's 1-3 blades on each plant that have become translucent. One of them you can see the leaf structure like a skeleton. Before I start tinkering I was wondering if this plant is subject to a bit of melt in a new tank? The problem is I can't tell if these blades are new growth or old its happened that quickly. I suspect they are new growth though as they just look odd compared to the rest of the plant. I'll post a picture when I get home.

I put my drop checker back in last night thinking first off the the co2 was a bit iffy but I was well in to my co2 period and the DC started turning colour after only 40 minutes. I need to check the colour tonight when I get home to confirm but I won't be home to well in to my co2 period so I won't be able to confirm the colour at lights on. At present I don't suspect co2 is the issue.

I dosed full EI again today and as a test I'm going to continue to be stingy with the micros because I don't want to overdo them. If the problem continues then I'm gonna go full EI on the micros and see what happens. I do have root tabs and some clay also so I was thinking of pushing some red clay balls under one plant as a test. If I had a choice I would like to restrict the micros to the substrate and bacterial release at the roots but the tank hasn't been setup enough to develop the system.

Hopefully they are just adapting and the first of the new leaves are not quite there yet.

Pogostemon helferi still looks a little pale so may well be iron if not nitrogen. After today's dose I know i can't be N limited or limited with any of the macros for that matter. I may start half EI for the micros. I guess you could say that this is the only thing the system is running lean on.

 

[flchamp89]

Calling all those familiar with dwarf sag!

I'm a bit stumped at the moment. There's 1-3 blades on each plant that have become translucent. One of them you can see the leaf structure like a skeleton. Before I start tinkering I was wondering if this plant is subject to a bit of melt in a new tank? The problem is I can't tell if these blades are new growth or old its happened that quickly. I suspect they are new growth though as they just look odd compared to the rest of the plant. I'll post a picture when I get home.

I put my drop checker back in last night thinking first off the the co2 was a bit iffy but I was well in to my co2 period and the DC started turning colour after only 40 minutes. I need to check the colour tonight when I get home to confirm but I won't be home to well in to my co2 period so I won't be able to confirm the colour at lights on. At present I don't suspect co2 is the issue.

I dosed full EI again today and as a test I'm going to continue to be stingy with the micros because I don't want to overdo them. If the problem continues then I'm gonna go full EI on the micros and see what happens. I do have root tabs and some clay also so I was thinking of pushing some red clay balls under one plant as a test. If I had a choice I would like to restrict the micros to the substrate and bacterial release at the roots but the tank hasn't been setup enough to develop the system.

Hopefully they are just adapting and the first of the new leaves are not quite there yet.

Pogostemon helferi still looks a little pale so may well be iron if not nitrogen. After today's dose I know i can't be N limited or limited with any of the macros for that matter. I may start half EI for the micros. I guess you could say that this is the only thing the system is running lean on.

Sounds great. Looks great. I don't have anywhere near your par. But my helferi had chlorosis till I got my fe right. Iron is under utilized imo.

I really like the tank as always awesome job

 

[Autumnsky]

How is the tank temp?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Mm maybe it is the micro's. I've had trouble with mine laterly. Upped it from 0.3-0.5 because I noticed some plant tips going yellow. Haven't seen any further yellowing so I'm guessing i was a little light on.

However I dropped phosphate from 1g to 0.8 aswell so it could be either.

Are you dosing extra phosphates? I've never heard of you having any issues with GSA before so it interests me.

 

[Caliban07]

How is the tank temp?

Good question. Its between 25-26 degrees but my meter doesn't have the resolution so I'm not sure which end it's at.

 

[Caliban07]

Mm maybe it is the micro's. I've had trouble with mine laterly. Upped it from 0.3-0.5 because I noticed some plant tips going yellow. Haven't seen any further yellowing so I'm guessing i was a little light on.

However I dropped phosphate from 1g to 0.8 aswell so it could be either.

Are you dosing extra phosphates? I've never heard of you having any issues with GSA before so it interests me.

I'm standard EI on the phosphates too. I just wouldn't have thought low iron could cause translucency but I really do want to take this carefully as I understand that deficiencies even between species may manifest themselves differently. So translucency MAY be caused by low iron in dwarf sag only yet if I increase micros I could cause a problem in another plant. I dunno though. I was watching some more YouTube videos and there are too many people up at full EI micros with no issues but they have the plant mass and perhaps higher lighting. ADA tanks use less PAR but the substrates do all the work in terms of nutrition.

Frustrating. Low iron may be backed up by the fact that it's immobile and cannot be moved from older leaves to new.

Edit: this is why I'm thinking clay balls instead of root tabs. I only want the iron.

 

[Caliban07]

Sounds great. Looks great. I don't have anywhere near your par. But my helferi had chlorosis till I got my fe right. Iron is under utilized imo.

I really like the tank as always awesome job

I'm just curious about your statement iron is under utilised. As a learning exercise what have you seen that makes you think this might be true?

In a way. Nutrient dosing is something I haven't really had to worry too much about in the past as my early tanks would use low lighting and one or two species of plant that did well.

My last tank had a soil substrate that had lots of clay pellets underneath. Perhaps I have been getting away with things because of the micronutrients in the soil and the extra iron from the clay. I'm finding nutrient balance a bit harder in this tank. Either that or I am overthinking things and just need to go full EI on the micros but I am a bit worried about potential toxicities at the moment.

 

[flchamp89]

We always talk about iron and red plants. But iron is beneficial to all plants. You said moments ago that it doesn't translocate well. Which is true. It also doesn't persist either. Fe is great in phytoxcicity is not a big concern. Fe and N work hand best together as it aids in the translocation. Out of all the micros it persists the least. Odd thing is depending on the plants leaf/root structure. Some material resonds better foliar vs roots. Its my day job lol.

 

[Bert2oo1]

We always talk about iron and red plants. But iron is beneficial to all plants. You said moments ago that it doesn't translocate well. Which is true. It also doesn't persist either. Fe is great in phytoxcicity is not a big concern. Fe and N work hand best together as it aids in the translocation. Out of all the micros it persists the least. Odd thing is depending on the plants leaf/root structure. Some material resonds better foliar vs roots. Its my day job lol.

So an over dose of iron really doesn't have much effect in terms of toxicity? Doesn't a toxicity of iron cause the plants to block the up take of vital nutrients?

 

[flchamp89]

So an over dose of iron really doesn't have much effect in terms of toxicity? Doesn't a toxicity of iron cause the plants to block the up take of vital nutrients?

Very short period. And you would need very large amount. Material will take on a grey/black tint if its too much.

 

[Caliban07]

We always talk about iron and red plants. But iron is beneficial to all plants. You said moments ago that it doesn't translocate well. Which is true. It also doesn't persist either. Fe is great in phytoxcicity is not a big concern. Fe and N work hand best together as it aids in the translocation. Out of all the micros it persists the least. Odd thing is depending on the plants leaf/root structure. Some material resonds better foliar vs roots. Its my day job lol.

Thanks! I agree and I understand about root/leaf response. This is one of the reasons I went with soil and clay but I know T.Barr says that plants can take in nutrients from their leaves just although it is better to feed at both sites as the margin for error if less.

I know soil can help RE metal toxicity. Walstad seems to talk about it heavily in her book and it also facilitates bacterial growth at the roots which will help make nutrients available for the plants. The good thing about this is that the plants can request nutrients as the please which will be facilitated by the function of bacterial breakdown. A more symbiotic relationship where the plants/bacteria look after each other and themselves.

Iron? I'm not concerned with the toxicity of iron per se. It's the amounts of other nutrients that are added in order to achieve the desired iron content. Do other elements in the micro mix such as zinc, boron cause any issues if dosed In higher amounts?

 

[flchamp89]

Zinc and Mn can cause vascular damage and stunting at high doses but I doubt it would happen. Large amounts.

 

[Caliban07]

Zinc and Mn can cause vascular damage and stunting at high doses but I doubt it would happen. Large amounts.

Ok I'll take your advice on this. I'll add EI micros when I get home. I'd just been putting a pinch in every couple of days. Perhaps this wasn't enough.

Lastly, i understand the plant response to deficiencies may vary. These leaves are not stunted, they are larger then the original ones by almost double and wider. Perfect leaf shape and size but the are almost like tissue paper. Could this be an micro problem or something else?

Edit:come to think of it there are a couple that are twisted or unnaturally angled too but these are shorter.

 

[flchamp89]

You know the drill. Just slowly raise it. What I failed at was compensating for my plant mass. So you raise it. Looks great. You relax then notice issues again. But realize I now have more mass to feed lol

 

[Caliban07]

You know the drill. Just slowly raise it. What I failed at was compensating for my plant mass. So you raise it. Looks great. You relax then notice issues again. But realize I now have more mass to feed lol

Yeah this could be it. Now I have more plants and more species. Will see how it goes thanks

 

[Caliban07]

@Flchamp I'm just curious what you think of the term 'heavy root feeders'

 

[Caliban07]

Blyxa came last night. Planting later [emoji2]

 

[flchamp89]

@Flchamp I'm just curious what you think of the term 'heavy root feeders'

I mean we use the term. Prodominent root feeding plants with high macro needs.

In terrestrial plants the term is not used as much in US because of best management practices. The southern US has been consious of point and non point source pollution to all bodies of waters.

I think its a case of right plant wrong place. Heavy root feeders we deal with are probably often in wrong substrate or parameters compared to where it came from. Environmental and cultural factors will change uptake and translocation ability that is proven.

@Flchamp I'm just curious what you think of the term 'heavy root feeders'