50 weeks.
Close approaching 1 year on this tank and overdue an update.
Have been doing a whole bunch of experimenting for a good while now, which has been interesting and a great learning curve.
I started out on full EI, and not too much light
Kno3 - 30ppm
Po4 - 3ppm
K - 30ppm
An APFUK clone for macros with Fe at 0.5ppm
Good, stable Co2 and plenty of flow (unchanged)
50% weekly WC (unchanged)
Not too many issues with the tank, but GSA was a nagging issue that this regime wasnāt solving, and some of the stems werenāt performing as well as I would like them to.
Dropped my Micros by up to 1/5 of their original dose, including taking Fe (8% DTPA) from 0.5 to 0.1ppm, and got myself some lovely chlorosis.
Tried 0.3 ppm of DTPAā¦.still not happy, tried 0.3ppm of DTPA and EDDHA mixā¦.still not happy. š¤
Tried 0.15 DTPA plus 0.15 gluconate (total 0.3ppm) all whilst leaving the remaining micros lowā¦and fixed the chlorosis. š So, where 0.3ppm of DTPA didnāt work. The same level with a gluconate mix did the trick. š¤
Stems seemed to like this regime and I guess I didnāt need anywhere near the level of other micros that I had been dosing after all!!
Current:
Fe 0.3 (DTPA and gluconate)
Mn 0.15
B 0.02
Mo 0.005
Zn 0.02
Cu 0.006
For those that might care! š
Had constant GSA issues on AR mini (pretty much since they were planted) Soā¦.also Increased the light (not generally recommended for algae issues, right!!) This gave better colour and form but still GSA. (Though no worse than before) No amount of removing infected leaves seemed to do the trick, it kept coming back. Hāra was also loving this extra light too, cobomba responding well and pretty sure my new Ludwigia white wouldnāt be doing so well without it. All in, higher light was a good thingā¦.butā¦.
also developed nagging issues with GSA on slow growers after light increase (Anubias primarily). Took Po4 up as far as 8ppm with no real change, so that common fix didnāt do it for me. (Still dosing full EI level N and K at that point)
Reducing light again would perhaps solve this issue but would the stems be as happy. I think not!
Soā¦..slowly stopped dosing N completely (tap at 30ppm plus) and eventually reduced Po4 and K down to 2ppm and 7ppm respectively. No noticeable negative impact but no real positive impact either.
Eventually, gave up on the original ARās (which had been in-vitro) and replaced them with new in-vitro plants and theyāve not missed a beat. No GSA on the new plants in the very same conditions! šš
So, it seems conditions were better for this plant but the original plants still couldnāt overcome the GSA issue that was already there. AR mini grow very slowly in my tank and perhaps donāt respond so well to the stress of topping and re-planting. In this instance, fresh plants did just fine.
Still got GSA on Anubias though. š” Finally increased Po4 back up to 6ppm and K up to 15ppm (now without that additional N) and GSA started receding.
Around 5 weeks into this regime and plants are the cleanest Iāve seen in a long while.
So, with super high N levels (tap plus 30ppm) in addition to high Po4 and K levels I still had GSA and yet with no additional N being dosed and P&K at fairly high but still lower levels than before, GSA seems to have reduced. š¤·āāļø
Iām still planning to remove the Fe gluconate and go back to 0.3ppm DTPA only, to establish whether chlorosis returns at that level, and at some point will reduce Po4 to see if I can induce GSAā¦..why? Because I can, and maybe Iāll learn something from it. š
Co2 levels were maintained at the 1ph drop, kept stable, and flow was good throughout these āexperimentsā in order to remove these as a variable.
(Other than those few days of no Co2, back in the summer whilst on holiday, which resulted in a stack of algae issues, but wasnāt too tough to recover from.)
Changes were also made slowly and as much as possible, one thing at a time, so the above has been done over a period of months.
Iāve also planted all sorts, including crypts and blyxa, in inert sand (where I thought they may struggle) and watched them thrive, and learned that I canāt seem to grow Wallichii no matter what I do. š (though Iām not sure Iāve given up on this yet š)
So what can I conclude from all of this?
Wellā¦..thereās many roads to Rome!!
Having good stable Co2 (in an injected system) and good flow doesnāt solve everything but without itā¦..you are probably in trouble.
Playing with ferts and light might cause you problems, but watching your plants respond to these changes is fascinating. Iāve learned more about my plant preferences and responses than I ever would have done if just left to a standard regime.
What works for MY tank, may not work for others, so the above is not a ārecipe for successā only observations on my particular tank. Trial and error, however, is a lot of fun and the ecosystems that we manage are certainly never dull.
Is it all about ferts?ā¦..no! Is it all about Co2?ā¦..no! Are regular WCās and good maintenance a pre-requisite?ā¦.for me, thatās a yes butā¦mileage may vary. š How much of a factor is timeā¦.now thereās the one thing you can never really test. The tank matures and maybe responses change as a result, but hey, you canāt go back and test again!!
So thatās me, one year inā¦.and lastlyā¦..I couldnāt have got this far without input from others on this forum so thanks, as always, to all you crazy folks out there, with all your diverse opinions, ideas and contributions. š
Heres looking forward to another year of evolution. š