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Rotala Macranda red-Deficiency?

Zazuuuu

Seedling
Joined
9 Aug 2020
Messages
18
Location
Mauritius
New leaves on Macranda looks curly, what deficiency is this? Was dosing Easy life profito.

Size of tank.

L 95cmxW 40cmx 60cm H

2. Filtration

Jbl canister E1501

3. Lighting and duration.

6 hours 4x39W T5HO

4. Substrate.
Contro soil

5. Co2 dosing or Non-dosing.

Co2 injected-in line diffuser

6. Fertilisers used + Ratios.

Easy profito at half dosage

7. Water change regime.

50 % Every 2 weeks

8. Plant list.
Anubias barter, rotala rotundifolia, stargrass, pearlweed, Java fern, rotala wallichi, bacopa monnieri, blyxa, rotala macranda

9. Inhabitants.
Angelfish, guppies, red rainbow, nerite snails
10. Full tank shot.


IMG_20200812_190705.jpg
IMG_20200812_190803.jpg

IMG_20200812_191610.jpg
IMG_20200812_190631.jpg

GIF-200812_182852.gif
 

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Those specs and photos help a lot!

It seems they are growing - so we can say light is ok.

It has to be nutrient (and necessarily flow) related.

Of those nutrients, we could look into CO2 - based on that drop checker (however, by looking at the plants, I think this picture was taken before the drop checker responded to the lights-on CO2 concentration ... correct me if I am wrong). Along with concentration in the water column, we look at flow distribution for CO2. I think that having the input and output along the back wall may pose problems as your plants get tall - so moving that to the front left may be more suitable ... but that is entirely up to you. The leaves (other than macandra) are well-formed, so I think we're ok here.


Here are some of my thoughts:
1) Taking a closer look at your rotala rotundifolia, I think they start green, they become red, and then turn paler (as they have grown). I am assuming that they have grown from little plants in your tank. They are also quite needle-like; this can be an admirable look, but it also suggests that there is lean nutrients in the water column.
2) The new anubias leaves are paleing as well.
3) The macandra (which - full disclosure - I have no experience with) is showing the most distress with curling. And I suspect this is simply because it is the most sensitive plant of the ones you have in the tank. It needs more nutrients than the rest.

I have never used Profito, so I am not sure how "lean" a 1/2 dose is, nor have I used that soil. But looking at your plants, there is no mobile nutrient deficiency (unless I missed it in the photos) - and it seems to be micronutrient related. The soil likely is your back-up for macronutrients and it is just low on micros.

My thought is that your dose was consistent since starting the tank and since plants have grown in, the demand for nutrients is higher, so increase your dose and watch new growth.

Note that a higher dosage, in conjunction with your light, will increase CO2 consumption (so you may need more to compensate).

There are just my thoughts :).

Josh
 
Thank you. I have just started to dose EI today. And I have mix micro as well and will dose as per EI.

Hope things get better.

Macranda grows slow compared to rotala and stargrass.

Also, my Java fern is not attaching to the driftwood, it's been a month.

Here is a picture of the tank on 27 jun
IMG_20200812_211559.jpg
e

I have placed my drop checker on my substrate so that micro bubbles don't get in it. It gets light green at the end of photo period
IMG_20200812_205050.jpg
 
I forgot to mention, my fish got white spots around 10 days ago and I have dosed a blue medecine in my tank. Can that be the cause for the macranda to change like this?
 
I forgot to mention, my fish got white spots around 10 days ago and I have dosed a blue medecine in my tank. Can that be the cause for the macranda to change like this?

I have no experience with that particular ich med (I tend to soak fish food in whirred fresh garlic, feed that, and then keep water clean with water changes as close to tank parameters as I can), but to my eye, I would say it is the nutrients (looking at your entire tank) and not the med.

Josh
 
Thank you. I have just started to dose EI today. And I have mix micro as well and will dose as per EI.

Hope things get better.

Macranda grows slow compared to rotala and stargrass.

Also, my Java fern is not attaching to the driftwood, it's been a month.

Here is a picture of the tank on 27 junView attachment 153031e

I have placed my drop checker on my substrate so that micro bubbles don't get in it. It gets light green at the end of photo period

The macandra will need more nutrients (I am assuming) than the easy plants. As a result, it has to grow slower because the nutrients are dictating growth rates.

The fern is a slow grower to begin with and with restricted nutrients, it will grow even slower.

All of this stems from the lean dosing that you were doing. Making a switch to EI immediately is going to drastically increase the demand of CO2 on your tank.

The light green drop checker at the end of the photoperiod means that your CO2 level is not stable; however, it MAY (and likely was) be in excess of other nutrients via < Liebig's law of the minimum > throughout the period so you see no CO2 shortfalls.

What I mean is, suppose that at lights on it is 15 ppm, but the demand is 12 ppm due to nutrient availability. Whether it is light green at the end or the start it makes no difference. As even if you have 50 ppm, only 12 ppm is demanded.

At lights on, you will have increased the CO2 demand via EI levels of nutrients (and light driving it); if the CO2 ppm from lights on to lights off varies immensely, then you will likely see a CO2 deficiency (and algaes) soon.

With that being said, aim for your DC to get that lime green color 2 hours after lights on and hold it through. Surface agitation and injection rate will play a huge part in this.

A < pH profile + pH probe/pen > will be useful in this.

The profile can look like:
time/ph/ other
10/7.2/gas on
10:30/7.1
11:00/7.0 lights on

and so on.

Post the profile here and we can help.


Cheers,
Josh
 
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I would just increase iron and watch them for two weeks. ;)

Then increase CO2 by 20% and watch for two weeks.

One thing at a time.
 
I would just increase iron and watch them for two weeks. ;)

Then increase CO2 by 20% and watch for two weeks.

One thing at a time.

Iron is likely but we can't say for sure (and certainly we can just dose and see). However, the < Easy Life is a comprehensive fert >.

You can see that the fert worked for @Durgahee's tank from the beginning. Since he/she already has this fert, my suggestion to just increase the dose was, not only what I would do, but also for ease. To buy a special iron - engage in a discussion on chelates - question how much to dose is extra headache and cost.

On a lean dosing system, if OP overdoses, the iron (will eventually mop up phosphates - just an example) could lead to other issues; in the same way that switching to EI immediately from the 1/2 dose of profito will alter the system immensely.

Just increasing his/her current fert from 1/2 dose to say 2/3 and watching would provide iron - but also the other nutrients - with the added benefit that those additional nutrients would be absorbed by the substrate.


Josh
 
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