Natures Path

[jewels]

I am trying to break off my long enjoyed relationship with testing kits. I remember reading once, there are plants that will readily indicate (by colour) elemental deficiencies, and; for the life of me I can not remember where to begin, It seems like there was there was a stem plant out there that would pale right away without NO3. Or was it iron? Alternately, must I just sit back and wait for the algae? What other tricks do you folks have for "plant whispering" as my wife calls it.

Edited December 1, 2008 by jewels

[jvision]

If you go with the Estimative Index method of fertitsing, you won't have deficiencies, nor will you need test kits.

You can read about it in the pinned articles in the Planted Forum.

[werner]

Fast growing stem plants will show deficiencies quickly so you can use them as indicators. A lack of iron will appear as lighter (whitish or yellow) growth. Keeping NO₃ low is a trick some people use to make their red plants redder.

Here's a list: Warning Signs of Nutrient Deficiency

[jewels]

Sooo much water changing! But I do admit I had the least algae earlier on when I was diligent with, & getting carried away w/ W.C.'s. Since then I have planted in organic substrates. Some things are (easily) measurable and some are not. Shortly after the new organic set up all tests remained constant. P2O4 started @ 4 and within days dropped to 2ppm, then has now leveled down to where I think I may begin to add it back. From information gained on this very site I managed to clone over an established aquarium by deploying a new set up complete with a heavy planting. I measured no indications of re-cycling. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate where e measurably low for the entire jumpstart. I will find who claimed that in the future. I will then congratulate them publicly, and they will be famous,,,even if only a little more famous they they were already>

Before I moved and tore it down, the substrate was inert , in-organic AP.com litter w/pellet injections. Tell ya what worth every cent and works A OK . Although few months down the road I decided the plants were not keeping up. I went back to old School and tried to read alll of the kribs early debates on N K observations, and the lack of the dreaded P. the leaves of my plants would eventually yellow off and decay from the edges in. This I took as a supreme compliment; for once I had actually seen the entire lifecycle of a leaf! For the first time my plants were not being consumed by a helll fire of black stubble-like algae.!!

Still I knew there was more

In the natural course of how things get carried away, Before we moved I separately pre- soaked and circulated

• one supperstore bin - pre historic humus/peat/coal (closest I could find to laterite)
  
• one sack O- vermiculite
  
• two sacks O- "Shultzs" pond, fullers earth
  
• onesack O- Canadian sphagnum
  
• one sac - o good Ole Medicine hat worm casings
  

Top it off with AP's again because I like the look. I layered it in for kicks, aesthetics, and good old superstition. I'm laxed enough now to let the enviroment do its own thing but I still am unsure and uncomfortable seeing zero Nitrates everytime. After a bit I would add a few grams of Kno3 to bring it up to less than 5ppm, and this would disappear in less than three days if I stopped. I did this microincrementaly for weeks, It was a riot. Be that as it may I never beat the slimys brown stuff that was growing neck and neck with new plant growth. Thats when I decided things were looking a little scorched. Tooo much o this and to much o that

I got brave and stopped it all cold turkey. I am out . Just for gips and siggles. No testing. No stump remover. No mixing. No Epsom. No Phosphate. No KCI. No nothing ... 50% percent water change (first in six weeks) And I am out.... O K may be a little dollop of nutrifin plant gro...one cap three times a week.

Brown dust was replaced immediately by tha longest stringy green algae I ever did see! You would think it to be truly a string of beauty and a joy to behold,,,if you were into that sorta thing.

Its an indication of something. I haven't even looked @ the PH for weeks. Its killin me.

As will my wife if she catches me sniffing around the test tubes again.

I have reduced the photo period as the bulb is new, and the string is longest under the brightest locales. so I still don't know.

Easy answer and it makes you correct... E I. Mr. B would further scold me for a non-scientific approach. That Dude ain't afraid to mix it up. But in my own situation, how much Boron was there in that worm turd?

who knows?

I am afraid to double dose anything for two reasons

One - I am lazy and may miss a weekly WC for a month or two; and also dont want to constantly dump 175 litres of water and expensive trace down the drain all the time

Two - I am double adding something that may already be, all to present to begin with.

Take K-potassium specifically. In the old set up I could fine tune K addition by testing N. If N uptake has leveled off then cut back on the K. If N acumalates try upping the KCI! Not so easy any more. Is it possible that even though I am only testing minute amounts of P2O4 in the water colon, that it exists in ample or possibly abundant supply, unmeasurablely confined within the substrate just waiting to be loaded, exchanged, or taken up?

That aquarium used to eat 8 grams of stump remover a month. Now I have built a monster. No,,,wait.. its more like the milks mans kid, I don't now how it was made, or what makes it tick!

[Drydock]

Ya... about those water changes...

I am using EI in my 210. I tend to forget to add fertz some days and I don't think I have yet to do the 50% water change EVERY week. Plants are still growing like crazy, fish are still spawning... and I couldn't be happier.

As long as my algae doesn't get too out of control, I don't do a whole lot. (I have found that if I have excess algae growth, I need to turn up my CO2. Once the algae goes away, then I can turn it down slightly...) I would say my WC average 50% every 10 days or 2 weeks. I have to 'harvest' my stem plants about that often as well.

I am more in the camp of 'use it as a guide, not as a rule'. I have 3 test kits at home - Ammonia, pH and Hardness. All will go past their best before date by the time I get around to finish them...

Edited December 1, 2008 by Drydock

[jewels]

Dude thats alot of Co2

I find a Ph test is the best way to discover CO2 saturation. :kiss:

In his book "The New Aquarium Handbook" Ines Scheurmann claims "Green thread like algae grows only in clean, well-fertilized water where every thing is as it should be"

:eh: As it should be?

Its the beegest

[werner]

I find a Ph test is the best way to discover CO2 saturation.

Depends how you use it.

The well known KH/pH/CO₂ relationship chart's accuracy depends on (bi)carbonate being the only buffer. Got phosphates? They'll mess up the results. According to the calculations, I have almost 60ppm of CO₂. :smokey: Measuring CO₂ Levels in a Planted Tank

Now... if you're testing a sample of tank water after it has sat and/or been aerated and released it's CO2, you have a better test. Take a pH reading, and make your tank water 1 degree lower via CO₂ addition. Voila- 30ppm of CO2.

And another great test is a drop checker. Also relies on pH and the KH, CO₂ relationship. This time you can control your accuracy a bit better by making a 4dKH solution that does have (bi)carbonates as the only buffer.

[jvision]

OK, with all that stuff in your substrate, you really should only be adding ferts if you have floating or unrooted plants. IMO, stop adding macro ferts; do some decent water changes (a couple 50% per week for the next couple weeks), and remove as much algae as you can; then, add trace/micro ferts as directed. Algae will be your CO2 indicator, if it starts creaping in up the CO2 a bit.

HTH.

[Drydock]

Dude thats alot of Co2

I find a Ph test is the best way to discover CO2 saturation. :kiss:

In his book "The New Aquarium Handbook" Ines Scheurmann claims "Green thread like algae grows only in clean, well-fertilized water where every thing is as it should be"

:eh: As it should be?

Its the beegest

I HATE thread algae... not so sure me and the Scheurmann 'character' would see eye to eye...

They probably know everything about plants... which means comparatively I know nothing, but GOOD GOD that's a lot of algae...

[Iceturf]

Just a lot of algea? It looks like a mutant pile that is ready to each the tank inhabitants.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Iceturf

[jewels]

Thank you for the fantastic compliments. I am quite proud of that patch. Like Scrappy CoCo say's " Its the beegest"

Have you ever seen a cat that has swallowed a string?

And you don't know which way to pull?

My Ameca's LOVE this stuff