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Hi all, Fantastic. <"I really need"> to have another go with RRF (<"Phyllanthus fluitans">). I got <"fed up of rescuing it">, but they may just suggest that it wasn't very happy with <"the growing conditions">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, That is one advantage of the <"Duckweed Index">, you just need a floating plant that grows happily in your tank <"Giant duckweed - Spirodella polyrhyza"> & <"Id on floating plant">. The actual plant isn't that important, just that it has floating leaves and grows happily under your...

Hi all, We think it probably does (via <"resource partition">). My plants tend to have relatively small leaf rosette, but long and bountiful roots, which I think is a response to fairly lean rations. It is really the ratio of rosette to root that is important, <"if you have a very large plant...

Hi all, It <"does get a mention">, I've tried it a couple of times, but it needs harder, more nutrient rich water than I have to offer. If you can provide that? It should work fine. cheers Darrel

Hi all, No, it doesn't directly, although <"fixed nitrogen compounds are highly soluble">, and there will be transfer from the substrate to the water column, but to an unknown extent. The original idea was to have a <"rooted emergent plant">. This would have the dual benefits of Diana...

Hi all, Yes, any floating plant works in terms of growth rate. The problem with Salvinia natans (auriculata group) (and Pistia stratiotes) is just <"that the leaf hairs"> make it difficult to accurately assess leaf colour. This plant had been grown in very warm water and high light, it has...

References and some background reading. There is a list of (mainly) Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) wastewater phytoremediation references at: <"Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) phytoremediation references">. I'll carry on updating this link as I get new references. Books Diana...

Hi all, What @hax47 & @Andy Pierce say you need to reduce the alkalinity (dKH) to below about 4dKH before pH will drop much below pH8. That is why @_Maq_ has used acid neutralising capacity (ANC) as a measure of carbonate buffering in <"Some handy facts about water">. That is partially why I...

What is the future for the Duckweed Index II, is it a mix of floaters? You might remember @castle's Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) photo from <"earlier in the thread">. The other plant in the photo is Red-root Floater (Phyllanthus fluitans) - <"Phyllanthus fluitans - Tropica Aquarium...

What is the future for the Duckweed Index? The Duckweed Index has been developed over ~15 years, and while I don't expect any major changes, but there will be <"continuing tweaks to it">. The Duckweed Index has definitely gained a bit of traction, particularly among <"German Apistogramma...

Fertilisers and the Duckweed Index. Substrate In nutrient terms rooted plants have access to the substrate, and that is a world of <"unknown unknowns">, with a huge number of <"potential variables">. Nutrients that aren't available in the water column <"may be plant available"> within the...

Plant available iron (Fe) and pH. Iron (Fe) is a <"Jekyll and Hyde"> element, where <"both deficiency and toxicity"> can be issues for aquatic plants. Iron is <"abundant in the earth's crust">, so <"issues of deficiency"> are very much ones of solubility. The problem with ferric iron (Fe+++)...

We've talked about iron deficiency, but what are going to do about it? Because of the <"lag phase">, between adding plant available iron (Fe) and <"new healthy leaves growing">, I now use a tweak to the original Duckweed Index concept, where I add iron (Fe) (as FeEDTA, & magnesium (Mg)*,) on a...

........... and why we need to talk about iron (Fe). Lack of plant available iron (Fe) is the most common deficiency among the immobile plant nutrients. There is a complete thread (by @KirstyF) at <"Plant deficiencies and the Fe Experiment">, but I'll add a summary in terms of how it effects...

When the Duckweed Index breaks down. So far it has all been <"good news">, but there are situations where the "Duckweed Index" (and in fact plants generally) don't work, either as a mechanism for improving water quality (they need to be in active growth to do this), or as a visual guide to...

Phytoremediation. I won't go into details in this thread (this also needs a thread to itself), but for those who want to know more about using plants to clean polluted water we have some threads: <"Amazon Frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum) phytoremediation references"> and <"How Floating Wetlands...

Why a rooted emergent plant would have been optimal. In the last section I mentioned <"atmospheric gases">, and while CO2 was the focus, all aerobic organisms require oxygen (O2) and I'll say a bit more about oxygen now. It will only be "a bit", because this is a huge subject area and requires...

The "aerial advantage" and why it is so important. If we go back to the figure in the <"previous post"> we can see that plants are overwhelmingly constructed from structural carbohydrates, produced from CO2, water and light via photosynthesis. <"File photosynthesis equation.svg - Wikimedia...

We've just talked about nitrogen (N), but what about the other mineral nutrients? Plants require <"all fourteen of the essential mineral nutrients for growth">, just in widely varying amounts. From <"https://wiki.groenkennisnet.nl/space/CPC/11993210/3.1.+Minerals+in+plants:+a+brief+overview">...

Testing for fixed nitrogen, the elephant in the room. The obvious questions are: Why don't we just measure the amount of ammonia / ammonium (TAN) NH3 / NH4+, nitrite (NO2-) and nitrate (NO3-) in the tank water? and Why do we need a visual method (like the LCC) to estimate their values? It is...

The Leaf Colour Chart. The Leaf Colour Chart has its own thread - <"The scientific background to the "Leaf Colour Chart">, but I'll add in a summary here. The Leaf Colour Chart (LCC) is a visual guide of when to add nitrogenous (N) fertilisers, originally developed for Rice (Oryza sativa)...

What is the “Duckweed Index” all about? I’ve never written a proper “Duckweed Index” article, but, prompted by @GHNelson, I’ve written a short introduction. I’ll break it up into a series of posts (of which this is the first), mainly to avoid author (and reader) fatigue. There is a table of...

Hi all, pH <"Ideally we would like to know"> both the <"pH of the water"> and the degree of carbonate buffering. This is the <"ANC4.5 value"> that @_Maq_ talks about. If we don't know the alkalinity of the water? A pH value of pH8 could mean <"our water has 17 dKH">, or it could mean it has...

Hi all, Accurate measurement of pH would be more useful then accurate measurement of conductivity, but the difference in practice is that conductivity meters are a lot more plug and play than pH meters and conductivity is a linear scale, <"while pH is both a log10 scale and a ratio">. If...

Hi all, I think there are two different arguments here. I have been, and I'd guess always will be, a fan of <"conductivity as a measurement">. The issue for me, and I'll be honest I don't think it is a deal breaker, like @_Maq_ says, comes when we subsequently report those conductivity values...

Hi all, That is it, all to do with <"scale formation">, detergent foaming and <"brewing">. Personally I much prefer <"hard water to drink">. They go together as answers, it is to do with the nature of freshwater and the organisms that live in it, both plants and animals. Rain water is...

Hi all, Perfectly put. There is <"truly no hope for us"> in the land of the <"pole, perch"> and <"groat">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I agree in some ways, we can't get away from "ppm TDS" even though conductivity as microS / cm makes much more sense and is what the meter reads, even <"if the display says "ppm TDS">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, As I said, just a mess. However this useful document gives some answers: <"United Utilities - Water hardness factsheet"> and this convertor allows to go from unit to unit: <"Hardness convertor">. So 1 dGH (0.056/0.056) = 1.25 dClark (0.07/0.056) and 1.79 dFrench (0.1/0.056). cheers...

Hi all, It is just <"a mess isn't it">? I know you've tried to sort it out before in the <"linked thread">, where I think @X3NiTH 's post is where we are at. @_Maq_ originally offered to write the article because of the inconsistencies he had found in our "water hardness sticky", which...

Hi all, Apologies, that was my fault, not @_Maq_ 's. I was just recognising that it is only a matter of time before Scotland becomes the <"Republic of Alba"> and N. Ireland votes to rejoin the EU by stealth by becoming part of a united island of Ireland. My wife is always asking why we can't...

Hi all, As far as I know they are are all <"Enchytraeus buchholzi">. You also get a range of sizes, depending on how old they are. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Yes, I haven't kept Parosphromenus for a while, but I had P. "Bintan" and <"they were really keen on Grindal worms">, same for Boraras briggitae. Parosphromenus weren't keen on Daphnia, but other than that they had a go at all small live food. I don't know if it is a general finding...

Hi all, Have a look a <"the solubility rules chart">. If you download the <"Fert Calculator V1.8 - New version out! Check Note first/last post!"> it will tell you when you've exceeded the solubility limits for your "all in one mix". You can find the "solubility limits" value for each...

Hi all, <"Good idea"> Are they very pink? Daphnia always end up in the water butts <"without any intervention">, but I'm not sure about Moina. I'm pretty sure we have some native UK species, I'll see what I can find. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I think it is because Cladocerans (Daphnia, Moinia etc) filter particles from the water column by size, so very small individuals will get extra Bacteria, Rotifers & Protozoa etc generated by the worm culture. I think the same applies to keeping a Ramshorn snail with the culture, as...

Hi all, I'm afraid not. I'd probably go down that route as well. cheers Darrel

Hi all, No I haven't, I was going to say that "Dero digitata" are really difficult to <"get hold of in the UK">. I've got an offer of some from Germany, but it looks like that may have been superseded. Once the lab. is back together I might invest in some. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I've had some <"emoticon smiley issues as well">. "3" : N will be nitrogen, the "3" : P maybe phosphorus (P) <"but it may be P2O5">, and the "1" might be K but it might be K2O. You would need another nitrogen source to get the 3:3:1 ratio, so either ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) or...

Hi all, That would be my guess. I used to use a mix of tap water and rain water for mine. Yes, you can just leave it. It is all fairly inert after it has been through the snails. When you start a new culture I'd actually transfer a bit of mulm to the new vessel. cheers Darrel

Hi all, It is usual to have snails in the culture <"to act as tank janitors">. Hard is fine. cheers Darrel

Hi all, It is a <"trace element mix">, a mix of the elements plants only need in <"very small amounts">. Most people will use a very small amount of a molybdenum (Mo) or boron (B) containing compound and it just isn't worth buying even the smallest container of boric acid (H3BO3) etc., it would...

Hi all, We had a house swap in the Swabian Alps, about ten years ago, near <"Blaubeuren">. A lot of the karst rivers there were really clear and plant rich. cheers Darrel

Hi all, When I moved to Bath the Kennet and Avon canal wasn't fully re-open, and the Widcombe lock flight still wasn't in use. The water (there wasn't a lot) was crystal clear, and there was an amazing growth of White Water Lilies. <"By 1990"> the K&A canal was fully restored (Caen Hill was...

Hi all, There is actually some work in the UK on restoring lakes to diverse, macrophyte rich, mesotrophic conditions. This is for the <"Norfolk Broads">. In Europe they've been a lot more pro-active, and have even managed to clean up Lake Constance ("<"Bodensee">"). cheers Darrel

Hi all, I'd agree that a lot of water is naturally opaque, but there are plenty of different aquatic habitat types with clear water and vegetation mosaics. Even now that is true and if you went <"back 200 years"> that number would increase exponentially. Where I live, in the UK, we still have...

Hi all, That is a question that we can't really answer, we are into a shades of grey world, it is a similar question to <"do probiotics in yogurt etc work?">. The only way to find out would be to be run a DNA scan looking for COMAMMOX bacterial and Ammonia Oxidising Archaeal (AOA) genes. My...

Hi all, We don't know exactly how "Prime" works, because Seachem won't tell you, but Kordon's "Amquel" has a patent and I would be very surprised if the mode of action wasn't similar. If you go to the "Removing Chloramine From Water: Chemical Reducing Agents" section of <"Chloramine and the...

Hi all, You can use bicarbonate of soda (NaHCO3), but you need to buy the bromothymol blue pH indicator. I haven't used them, but "kitchen-chemistry" on Ebay sell bromothymol blue pH indicator. <"This one">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, The workings for a DIY 4dKH NaHCO3 based solution are in this thread <"Question on my DIY 4dKH...">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Peat should be fine, it is only the <"really white sphagnum peat"> from the top layers of peat bogs (ombrotrophic mires) that reduces alkalinity and pH. It is a lot easier to add solutes to water than it is to take them away (have a look at the link to <"Apistogramma Forum"> thread for...

Hi all, Camallanus infection is real problem in SE Asian bred Apistogramma. I've not used eSHa NDX, but I used "Harka verm" (levamisole HCl) successfully, and it didn't re-appear. I didn't break the tank down, but I removed the fish for a couple of months. I'm not sure about the Anubias...

Hi all, They will still gain nutrients (and potentially CO2) indirectly from the soil. The clay minerals and humus in the soil will have cation (CEC) & anion (AEC) exchange capacity, which means that ions will be exchanged into the water column from the "piggy bank" in the soil. Ion exchange is...

Hi all, Julian where do you live? 50ppm NO3 is the EU limit, but it was breached sometimes in arable agricultural areas in the UK, it shouldn't happen now. The details for the UK are here: <"DWI annual report">. Is the reading from your water company? or is it with a kit? cheers Darrel

Ed you may have just <"become a millionaire">. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I'm a bit dubious about this. When I started keeping fish "aged water" was regarded as having all sorts of beneficial properties, and fish like Discus were impossible to keep. As soon as people started changing a lot more water Discus etc became a lot more keepable. A lot of the drinking...

Hi all, Jordi it is the ratio of Ca:Mg and Ca:K that leads to problems with uptake, but it is true that if you have high levels of all the cations these problems are lessened. Plants that are adapted to calcareous conditions can take up the other cations even if the soil is entirely saturated...

Hi all, Yes. Yes. cheers Darrel

Hi all, I'd definitely keep on dosing the magnesium sulphate (MgSO4.7H2O), one of the effects of having lots of calcium ions (Ca++) is that it interferes with uptake of Mg++ and K+ ions by the plant. Other chelators are better at high pH levels, but I wouldn't worrry too much. Have a look...

Hi all, The easiest way is to use the calculator at "James' Planted Tank" <James' Planted Tank - Dosing Calculator>. If you need to do the maths it is quite simple. In this post <Help me calculate my ppm, please ? | UK Aquatic Plant Society>. cheers Darrel

Hi all, Yes that is half of it, the other half is that the water is more fully oxygenated and oxygen is a base, so that also causes the pH to rise. Pretty much as soon as the light is on the plant becomes a net oxygen exporter. If you think about the conditions for a lot of plants, they are...

Hi all, I'm pretty sure it is a dKH buffering effect in the graph, but without knowing the dKH you can't really interpret the pH. My experiences on other forums has shown me that unfortunately pH is a much more complex measurement than a lot of people realise. cheers Darrel

Hi all, My suspicion would be that there wasn't any added CO2. Yes definitely will, the depression of pH is caused by the continually added CO2 driving the carbonate ~ CO2 equilibrium towards the CO2 side. You can thing of it a bit like a "Bouncy Castle" connected to an air compressor, if you...

Hi all, Could be either no CO2, or the level of CO2 added during the photo-period is lower than the amount used by the plants. The graph just illustrates the changing levels of CO2 (the pH reduction is caused by the small proportion of dissolved CO2 that forms carbonic acid - H2CO3) and...