Salt

They won't sell to individuals, only businesses. They will ask for your tax ID number when you order.

kekon

Latest news:

It seems some factors have helped (however, one must wait at least a few days to confirm that)

- i lowered PO4 to 0.25 ppm (i know P excess may cause Zn deficiency)
- started to dose NH4 (now 0.3 ppm a day - no new algae)
- added 0.02 ppm of Zn-EDTA (TMG has very low Zn content)

Umbrosum and Alternatera Reineckii look better. New leaves aren't deformed.
I'm a bit confused as i don't know exactly which factor is "taking the lead":
lower PO4, a change from NO3 to NH4 or more Zinc.
I'm also still waiting for guanidine carbonate and observing the plants.

fabry

Hi Kekon,
finally you are on the right way.

One more clue:

It is the Zinc, but not necessarily because your plants were Zinc deficient.

Always remember the Boron.

You have the solution in your hands.

Regards,

Fabrizio.

kekon

I hope so

When it comes to boron i tried to increase its levels but it failed. Any attempt to increase it above 0.02..0.03 ppm resulted in chlorosis on new leaves and totally stunted growth. I carried out this experiment at least three times always having the same result. A few persons i know tried to do it as well and they had the same results too. However, i know Zn levels are not as critical as boron ones. I came to the conclusion that TMG wasn't good for pure RO water unless other fert is used at the same time. The tap water usually consists some boron, zinc and copper. In my region their levels vary in the following ranges:

boron: 0.02..0.05 ppm
zinc: 0.01..0.05 ppm
copper: 0.001..0.01 ppm

fabry

Hi Kekon,
one question:
Did you ever get the Boron level measured in your acquarium water (where you have the problems)?

Consider the following things:

R.O. systems only remove about 55-60% of the Boron present in the water entering the system.

Higher Calcium levels are needed when high Boron levels are present (otherwhise some plants can show Boron toxicity symptoms).

Boron can be mobile or not, depending on the plant.
Plants producing high enough levels of simple sugars called Polyols can traslocate easily Boron inside through phloem.
In these plants Boron toxicity shows in apical parts.

Higher Zinc levels alleviate Boron toxicity symptoms in almost all plants.
as a reference: http://crops.confex.com/crops/wc2006...ram/P12243.HTM


Best regards,

Fabrizio.

kekon

I read the article thoroughly, it's gives me some more views...
When it comes to boron, i estimated its levels basing on daily fertilizer dosage, amount of water at WC and assuming plants don't uptake boron at all. Of course it's not accurate but i also took into account measurements that were made by some people i know - they measured boron level in a lab at it turned out that there are crictical boron levels that inhibit plant growth. Having hard water (Ca about 66 ppm) they had problems with growth when B was 0,09 ppm. When it was 0,15 ppm - the growth was totally stunted with accompanying chlorosis on many new leaves.
But my problem is not really boron nor zinc (however, some more zinc helped in some extent). I found an article in the internet about nitrogen form effect on calcium deficiency (pdf). It explains to me a few important things - namely, why i had very low Ca (about 13 ppm), and had no Ca deficiency. The NPK fert i used consisted urea. I've just begun to test the fert again to confirm the fact, that N form may have effect on Ca deficiency.

Latest news:

A friend of mine examined Guanidine Carbonate as a source of nitrogen but it didn't work...

Elkmor

kekon:

Recently I used NPK and my Ca is less than 6 ppm, and had very occasional problems with tips death. I have problems now, experimenting with boron. So Zn may be the answer for me now, thank you for links.

Your last link is broken. Where, you say, you found that artile?

kekon

I downloaded it from here:

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/picrend...3&blobtype=pdf

It works for me...

Elkmor

Thanks a lot!