OK guys, let's see what happens after lowering PO4. As Defdac has already said it seems it helps. Anyway, now i'm going towards low levels (at least PO4). A year ago i had 2..5 ppm NO3 and not detectable PO4 (say 0.1 ppm max) and plants grew like crazy; no burned, stunted tips, no deformed leaves. At that time i didn't know the word "nutrient deficiency"
50 ppm Ca and still Ca deficiency
Despite decent Ca levels as written in the tittle i still have severe burned and stunted tips on my Umbrosum and Alternatera reineckii. Those symptoms go away when K is almost 0 ppm but at the same time K deficiency shows up (at 0 ppm K plants begin to grow healthy in only 3..4 days time). Many say that the problems with stunted/burned tips are due to low NO3, CO2 etc. but i checked all that stuff and i can say that is NOT the case; it didn't helped at all. I tried high NO3, high PO4, Mg, changed micro ratios and levels (the only micronutrient i didn't change was copper but i don't think it would have any effect) I also tried low levels of SO4, Na. I wonder HOW some of us can have high K and low Ca and no problems i've just written about. If there is someone who can explain in simple words what causes such issues and it really helps he should be given "Planted Tank Nobel Prize"
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Sure it will help.OK guys, let's see what happens after lowering PO4. As Defdac has already said it seems it helps. Anyway, now i'm going towards low levels (at least PO4). A year ago i had 2..5 ppm NO3 and not detectable PO4 (say 0.1 ppm max) and plants grew like crazy; no burned, stunted tips, no deformed leaves.
Daily dosing of NO3, PO4, K, Mg and Trace Elements while maintaining daily water column levels of 0.1-0.25 ppm PO4, 5-10 ppm NO3, 1-10 ppm K, 1-3 ppm Mg and less CO2 will fix the problem. But it is impossible to achieve with EI.
Were you using KNO3 and KH2PO4 to raise these levels? Maybe these pushed your K too high. I also developed the deformed leaf problem when I started dosing more regularly.In the past when i didn't have any problems i had very low PO4 and NO3... Plants grew like crazy. After switching to high PO4 and NO3 the problems i described occured.
I used commercial NPK fertilizer which consisted KH2PO4, KHCO3 and very little NH4. I estimated i had dosed about 1.5 ppm K daily. I didn't know what the exact K level was in the water column but i think it was about 10..15 ppm. I emphasize that the strange thing was that despite low Ca (about 13 ppm) and "decent K", i didn't have issues with twisting, deforming etc. Plants grew faster at low PO4 and NO3 levels than they do now at high ones. I think that dosing too high PO4 we just give our plants a "painful kick" making them unable to take enough amounts of Ca (it doesn't mean i'm right but if lower PO4 helps - and i hope it will - i will no longer dose high PO4). On the whole it seems to me Edward's suggestions and PPS method are better and safer than EI.
Somewhere I read a post from Tom Barr who said he no longer recommends dosing K2SO4 and said to let the only source for K come from KNO3 and KH2PO4.
So, i see clear improvement now:
- NO deformed leaves on alternatera reineckii
- fewer burned tips on umbrosum
All things happened when i stopped to dose NO3 form Ca(NO3)2... When NO3 was 5ppm plants began to grow healthier. I didn't change K levels. It's 10 ppm all the time.
However the total growth is not too fast yet. Maybe Ca(NO3)2 is not very good source of NO3 (as i remember Edward reported he had issues with Ca(NO3)2 salt)
The strange thing is that i see higher demand for iron now; i have Fe deficiency (pale and white leaves on umbrosum, pale leaves on Blyxa japonica). I added 0,2 ppm Fe and 0,1 ppm Mn and Blyxa is recovering from the deficiency. At the same time i noticed EDTA Fe chelator is not very good.
- NO deformed leaves on alternatera reineckii
- fewer burned tips on umbrosum
All things happened when i stopped to dose NO3 form Ca(NO3)2... When NO3 was 5ppm plants began to grow healthier. I didn't change K levels. It's 10 ppm all the time.
However the total growth is not too fast yet. Maybe Ca(NO3)2 is not very good source of NO3 (as i remember Edward reported he had issues with Ca(NO3)2 salt)
The strange thing is that i see higher demand for iron now; i have Fe deficiency (pale and white leaves on umbrosum, pale leaves on Blyxa japonica). I added 0,2 ppm Fe and 0,1 ppm Mn and Blyxa is recovering from the deficiency. At the same time i noticed EDTA Fe chelator is not very good.
21 - 26 of 26 Posts
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