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S. Repens reddening new leaves, Nitrate deficiency?

Fat Guy

Seedling
Joined
9 Dec 2012
Messages
2
I’ve been keeping my nitrates low in my tank by not dosing an KNO3 for macros in order to increase the red hue on my rotala H’RA. Nitrates have been around 5ppm for the past 10 days. However, I‘ve noticed what I thought at first to be Mg deficiency on the S. Repens or even manganese deficiency, may actually be nitrate deficiency. The repens looks to be reddening on the new leaves, and the older leaves seem to be showing chlorosis. Any thoughts? Everything else is thriving in the tank. DHG and Rotala and Marsilea an crypts all doing well. Have a Chihiros wrgb2 over the 60p tank at around 60% output. RO water remineralizd with Mg and Seiryu stones. KH5 GH7. Flourish root tabs and a handful osmocote balls in the substrate. S. Repens always seems to be the plant that gives me a good idea as to what is going on in my planted tank. Thanks!
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I’ve been keeping my nitrates low in my tank by not dosing an KNO3 for macros in order to increase the red hue on my rotala H’RA. Nitrates have been around 5ppm for the past 10 days. However, I‘ve noticed what I thought at first to be Mg deficiency on the S. Repens or even manganese deficiency, may actually be nitrate deficiency. The repens looks to be reddening on the new leaves, and the older leaves seem to be showing chlorosis. Any thoughts?
Hello,
Well, yes, I mean, if we withhold Nitrogen and go too far, then naturally the plants will suffer Nitrogen deficiency, typically characterized by chlorosis. Not sure why we'd suspect any other deficiency. The only N source would be from food and fish, unless the root tabs also contain N. Verify by adding NO3 and see if it resolves the chlorosis.

Cheers,
 
Hey thanks for the reply sir! I really appreciate the info and the great advice you have contributed to the hobby throughout the years. The only reason I was questioning Mg was from before when I was having a Mg deficiency when using tap water for the tank. I didn’t realize how deficient the tap water was in my town which has very high levels of Ca and super low levels of Mg. The repens showed chlorosis then too, similar to the picture, but what differs here is the red appearance on the new leaves...I haven’t noticed that before. Looks cool on the new leaves but the old leaves suffer. So I have added some KNO3 back into the water column. My H’RA is looking red regardless and a fun addition to the tank. Waiting for the DHG to get taller in the back and the DHG mini to fill in more as well as the marsilea. Thanks again ceg. Years ago I stumbled upon a thread you contributed to regarding diatom blooms as I was having one in a mature tank. I reduced the light and saw an immediate improvement. Best, -el g

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