Aquatic Plant Central - View Single Post - How to balance NPK, Ca, Mg and micros

Scottio · 07-18-2007, 12:52 PM

Hey kekon, I got a question about soft water.

I just started up a new tank with AS so I just started dosing. I haven't run into any algae problems so far but a few of my rotala are showing signs Ca/Fe/K deficiency(new leaves curling and stunted).
I'm dosing ~10ppm K+ and micros every W/C (3x/week)

My water source is fairly soft however the Ca and Mg levels are approximately the same(using the State's local water quality data set):
Ca= 15mg/L
Mg= 10mg/L
GH= 4

The rest of my plants are doing better than great it's just the rotalas, which are usually my easiest plant to grow in other substrates using EI previously.

I figure since AS is probably leeching NH4 I'm holding back on the N03 for now. My tap has plenty of P04 and my plants show no signs of deficiency there. So I'm assuming N/P/K covered.

Should I be adding Ca to get the ratio to 4:1 or will this level be sufficient for the plants?

If it's not Ca, then I'll up my iron a bit, perhaps?

Thanks

07-18-2007, 12:52 PM	#41 (permalink)
Scottio Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii Posts: 14 iTrader Ratings: 0 Plant Points: 5605	Re: How to balance NPK, Ca, Mg and micros - new experiments Hey kekon, I got a question about soft water. I just started up a new tank with AS so I just started dosing. I haven't run into any algae problems so far but a few of my rotala are showing signs Ca/Fe/K deficiency(new leaves curling and stunted). I'm dosing ~10ppm K+ and micros every W/C (3x/week) My water source is fairly soft however the Ca and Mg levels are approximately the same(using the State's local water quality data set): Ca= 15mg/L Mg= 10mg/L GH= 4 The rest of my plants are doing better than great it's just the rotalas, which are usually my easiest plant to grow in other substrates using EI previously. I figure since AS is probably leeching NH4 I'm holding back on the N03 for now. My tap has plenty of P04 and my plants show no signs of deficiency there. So I'm assuming N/P/K covered. Should I be adding Ca to get the ratio to 4:1 or will this level be sufficient for the plants? If it's not Ca, then I'll up my iron a bit, perhaps? Thanks