The mystery that is flourish excel..

Discussion in 'The Planted Tank' started by sostoudt, Mar 22, 2009.

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  1. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    i have been meaning to get some pictures of it on here, i take some tomorrow. i really wonder if there is some deficiency causing them to lag behind.
    the only thing i could possible think of is they were in a co2 injected tank, and moving to a non co2 tank is hard to adapt too.
     
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  3. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    well are the old leaves growing slow? new leaves growing slow? Are the roots growing slow? any yellowing, curling, or any signs of unhealthy growth of new or old leaves?

    co2 can very well be the issue...not so much of it acclimating to lower levels in your tank as apposed to it being use to higher levels from the tank you got it from...but just the fact that the co2 isnt there in the levels it needs. It can also be from lack of a few different elements. what size tank is this in? so i can get an idea of how much light you have in comparison to the size of the tank...
     
  4. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    its a 20 long. root growth is the one thing about the swords that seems decent. the leaves aren't yellowing. the older leaves are pretty beat up, as theyve been through a pleco algae cleaning. new leaves aren't accumlating algae but they don't seem to grow more then a couple inches.
     
  5. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    here is a good site to possibly help figure out nutrient deficiencies....
    James' Planted Tank - Plant Deficiencies

    Take it as a guide and not absolute fact because with the intense light you have on that size tank changes a few things (as he states on the site)If it were me I would rig up a diy co2 and maybe start dosing kno3 and kh2po4 at the least as well as an all in one type micronutrient supplement via estimated index
     
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  6. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    thanks, it may be a iron deficency i did notice one of the plants had pale leaves, although none had yellow leaves
     
  7. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    Its hard to say for sure especially when you are dosing very limited supplements... Going back to what i was saying earlier in this thread about dosing individual ferts instead of using just excel (and the regular flourish in your case) To make the comparison to a reef tank...seachem flourish is basically an all in one supplement. It takes almost all of the micronutrients, as well as macronutrients plants need and consolidates it into one bottle. So that would be like having a magic supplement for a reef tank that takes calcium, alk, magnesium, and all 72 trace elements and consolidates them all into one "easy to use" supplement. So for example lets say calcium gets low and all you need to dose is calcium...you now have no way of just adding what you need without adding all the others. I hope that makes sense :)

    anyway, that is why i like dosing individual supplements so i have the ability to experiment and figure out what the problem is.
     
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  9. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    yes i understand what your saying. but im just gonna wait a little while and see what happens. those swords have had a rough time the last 2 months, came from petco all the leavse were rotten and fell off, went in planted tank. when it finally regrew its leaves they wore cut off because of beard algae and moved to a new tank. i may put some flourite around the plants.

    also the excel some iron enhancing abilities
     
    Last edited: Mar 24, 2009
  10. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    cool well let me know how it works out... in case money is an issue as far as buying ferts, you can get really cheap dry ferts that you mix yourself for the same price as a big bag of fluorite.
     
  11. sostoudt

    sostoudt Giant Squid

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    i already have some sitting out on my deck. i was never a fan of how it held small plants like HC. which is why this second time im gonna go with amazonia as substrate in the rebuilding of my planted tank(not the gf tank, but one i lost to black beard algae)
     
  12. That Guy

    That Guy Aiptasia Anemone

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    HAHA i got news for you...NOTHING holds newly planted HC...not a substrate in the world!! So if you think that ADA amazonia will be any different...you are in for disappointment! The best way i found to get HC to stay put is to grow it inside the tank emerssed for at least 2-3 weeks or until it roots. Keep the soil nice and damp and place plastic wrap over the tank during this time to keep the humidity high. Also blast it with 12 hours of light a day and that will speed up the process of it rooting. Once it roots and you fill the tank...go overboard with CO2 injection for the first few weeks so the emerged form of the leaves wont melt away. once the leaves take on the submerged form then you can back down the co2 to the normal 30ppm.