Lobelia cardinalis melting

Cavan · Post by **Cavan** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:08 pm

Your plants will tell you more accurately what's going on than any test ever will.

With more details, we can work out the problem.

PaulS · Post by **PaulS** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 6:38 pm

I dose the following daily:
15ml of Flourish
15 ml of Flourish Iron
1/4 teaspoon of KNO3
1/8 teaspoon of KH2PO4 daily.

Alge types: black brush (which is getting bad) and more recently the green slime stuff.

The Ludwigia inclinata 'Cuba' is actually starting to look good. The
The Sagittaria subulata is also looking good and has a deeper green. My crypts and Microsorum pteropus 'Trident' are not looking so great because thry are getting covered with algae. I'm trying to get HC started in the foreground but until I get this algae problem solved, I doubt thats going to do very well. And the Lobelia cardinalis is melting.

Cavan · Post by **Cavan** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:17 pm

The Ludwigia is probably starting to look good because of the micro nutrient increase. But you may be short on macros and co2. Got that bubble checker?

What do you mean by green slime? A green dust on the glass that easily wipes away, or the dark green, stinky cyanobacteria?

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:14 pm

Your CO2 is low. How are you measuring it?

ingg · Post by **ingg** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 9:04 pm

His CO2 is cranking, at least twice the volume of my 75g. I know I run on the lean side, but still....

Jeff120 · Post by **Jeff120** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:46 pm

BBA is low CO2, no question about that. How you diffuse the CO2 also has an effect Dave. So he may be cranking the CO2, but maybe he is diffusing it differently.

Cristy Keister · Post by **Cristy Keister** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 10:53 pm

IMHO, you're dosing too much. I would try dosing Flourish on alternate days to KNO3 and KPO4. Iron will probably only be needed 1x/week - if that much - and don't dose it at the same time as KPO4 since they bind together. Then be sure to do a w/c 1x/week.

Too much iron can lead to bba.

.

ingg · Post by **ingg** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:03 pm

Sorry, but there is a question to that. Cranking CO2 is not the end all answer to everything, I don't care that your snowglobe tanks do run clean most of the time.

He's diffusing through an Eheim intake, and it was running 3-4+ bubbles a second easy. I was having trouble counting them.

FWIW - BBA is also from fluctuating CO2 or imbalances of nitrates to CO2 (which would actually be my guess here, if his test is 40-100 ppm), not just low co2 levels.

It is very common in low tech planted tanks with big water changes, because the new water is co2 laden (used to run into that one all the time on another site). Not as common in NPT tanks.. no new water.

Cavan · Post by **Cavan** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:09 pm

Cristy Keister wrote:IMHO, you're dosing too much. I would try dosing Flourish on alternate days to KNO3 and KPO4. Iron will probably only be needed 1x/week - if that much - and don't dose it at the same time as KPO4 since they bind together. Then be sure to do a w/c 1x/week.

Too much iron can lead to bba.

.

That really only happens in hard water. I add 10mls of both Flourish and Flourish Iron to my 40 every day. I've even added more in the past. BBA is a co2 and/or macro nutrient issue.

He really does need that much in the way of micros, especially with the Ludwigia. Like I mentioned at the meeting, most people under dose them. A low dose might be OK on a low light tank, but most people need more.

A drop checker would really help here and we may have to work out a new macro plan.

ingg · Post by **ingg** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:16 am

I grow Cuba just fine with no dosing at all.

MS tank tho.

It is about the only stem I cannot moderate the growth of, getting sick of the stuff honestly. Pretty, but grows too fast - I end up with emersed ends constantly.

Lobelia cardinalis melting

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