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Pogostemon Helferi

Could be anything, years back i tried this plant in my high tech.. What ever i tried it always died on me.. I guess its a demanding little bugger that needs a number of parameters spot on to grow submersed. I never found out what it realy was preventing it to survive.. Next best guess, CO² is the most obvious.. And i was reluctant to pump in more than i already did..
 
I had my P. helferi. having white new growth when I was away on Hols, Thought it was just white because of the lights at first, then I put it down to Fe deficiency, poped in a few extra doses of Fe EDDHA on Micro fert day( as I have very hard water and pH of tap water is about 8.5pH) and presto the new growth is now green after a couple of doses. P. helferi may be a good indicator of adequate Fe levels ??
Took a pic of it last night will post it in https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/pogostemon-helferi-turning-white.1927/page-2 tonight 😉
 
As far as it not being P. Helferi I cannot say for sure as I am new to most of these plants but it was labeled that way and the leaves were wavy before everything melted off of this plant. I actually thought it was a complete goner. Here is a pic, you can sort of see the wave in the melting leaves.
20190628_135500.jpg 20190628_135513.jpg 20190628_135538.jpg

hogan53 said:
Probably need more information on tank parameters!
Plus dosing ferts regime.
Click to expand...

Fert dosing is as follows. I am using the high light recommendation which is double the standard.

15632020507884714214317818241644.jpg 15632020986689196168802674428968.jpg

One thing I have noticed is my micros solution has solids the won't dissolve no matter how long I shake it.
15632024339851532700111336620633.jpg

Tank parameters are as follows. Let me know if I'm missing something. The tank has not had a WC in 4 days. I run 2 Kessil a160 at 100% for 7.5 hrs including a 30 min ramp up and down.

C02-30 (DC) runs 3 AM to 10 PM due to ambient light.
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-.25
Nitrate-5.0
PH-6.6
KH-4
TDS-391
TAP TDS-272

Thanks all for the help!
 
Last edited:
That did look like P. helferi in those last pics. Maybe it is acclimatizing? If you can get hold of a different micro solution easily in your area it might be worth trying it, if you are seeing what you think is a trace problem, most of the branded stuff is all pretty good, profito, flourish, or tropica. Don't be afraid to use a bit more if you think you need it, the guideline amounts are always a bit on the lean side for high tech tanks. Your macro's look solid enough providing you go for the higher dose. I don't know if that is high light or not, new tanks can be problematic under high light conditions (can be a pain under any condition).
It's a very nice setup, I hope it settles down nicely for you.
 
jms127 said:
if you are seeing what you think is a trace problem
Click to expand...

To be completely honest I'm so new to ferts, I really don't know what I'm looking for. I just noticed the white on the leaves and figured I'd ask about it. Is there a good way to diagnose what it is? As far as the solids in the micro solution I don't know if that is normal or not :banhappy:
 
Hi all,
James Burcham said:
I just noticed the white on the leaves and figured I'd ask about it. Is there a good way to diagnose what it is?
Click to expand...
If it is decalcification it will be a slightly raised, hard deposit.

Because the white marks are towards the ends, and margins of the leaves, that makes me think that calcium carbonate deposits are a distinct possibility. If it was a deficiency I'd expect to see very pale new leaves.

Like this (this severe iron deficiency).

img_20140820_200319_zps6befe829-jpg.jpg

cheers Darrel
 
James Burcham said:
As far as the solids in the micro solution I don't know if that is normal or not :banhappy:
Click to expand...
It does happen, but can mean something good for your plants has precipitated out of solution making it less available. But do check the leaves where it's discolored to see if its raised, bumpy or rough like Darrel said. The other plants look nicely green though so that's a good indicator. James's website lists calcium deposit as a co2 deficiency.
 
I have been dosing my tank which has hard water which has a pH of about 8.5pH Fe DTPA and Fe EDDHA to combat Fe deficiency with a DIY trace mix with some success. Dosing the Fe EDDHA manually till the water has a slight pink tinge. However due to a holiday I did a Trace mix with the Fe DTPA and Fe EDDHA in and left it for the auto doser to take care of ferts for 3 weeks no WC Light and CO2 as normal. Thought I had the Fe covered! when I got back from Hols I did a little vid of it, at about 2.10mins in you can see the Pogostemon helferii with white leaves



I put it down to the bright light at the time then @dw1305 made a comment about Fe deficiency, which got me think the Pogostemon helferii is telling me something. So started dosing extra Fe EDDHA on Micro fert day and three days later the new growth was green again
upload_2019-7-15_18-31-50-png.png

Was the white growth due to no WC or build up of ferts/toxins etc or Fe deficiency dunno OFC 🙄 But me thinks its due to Fe

( posted in both threads 😉)
 
Zeus. said:
I did a little vid of it,
Click to expand...

Where did you post said vid?

jms127 said:
But do check the leaves where it's discolored to see if its raised, bumpy or rough like Darrel said.
Click to expand...

Will do.

dw1305 said:
Because the white marks are towards the ends, and margins of the leaves, that makes me think that calcium carbonate deposits are a distinct possibility.
Click to expand...

Do you agree that this is c02 related then, or how else are calcium deposits remedied?
 
Hi all,
James Burcham said:
Do you agree that this is c02 related then, or how else are calcium deposits remedied?
Click to expand...
It is sort of CO2 related.

In water, when you aren't <"adding CO2">, the amount of <"Total Inorganic Carbon (TIC) is always the same">, all that changes is the form its in, dependent upon the pH. The pH equilibrium points depend upon the 400 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.
co2_hco3-png-1550-png.png

Plants that naturally occur in hard water have to have adaptations that allow them to extract CO2 from water, where all the TIC is bicarbonate (HCO3-). The actually had a harder time 200 years ago because there was only 280 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere less in the water than now via <"Henry's Law">.

recent_mauna_loa_co2.jpg

When you have <"biogenic decalcification"> calcium carbonate is deposited. Where I it live is all limestone and a lot of our river and pond plants are naturally encrusted with lime scale.

cheers Darrel
 
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