The Plant Tank

Friday, March 23, 2007

Rapid consumption of nitrates

  • pH:
  • Temp:
  • KH:
  • GH:
  • NH4:
  • NO2:
  • NO3:
  • PO4:
  • Iron:
  • Dosing: approx. 33-33 ppm NO3, 20 ml Excel, 1.2-2.4 ppm PO4, 10 ml Flourish
  • NO3:PO4 Cumulative Dosing Ratio:

Notes:
This is the third week of not changing the water, and leaving the tank alone, except for fertilization. It's looking like a jungle in there. Since last week, the slight green water has disappeared. Today, it looks crystal clear. The consumption of nitrates has also increased to an incredible rate. I now have to dose it twice a day for a total of over 30 ppm a day!! I also dose the phosphates at a rate of about 1-2 ppm a day. Why? I have no idea, but I like the results! Having the nitrates too low results in brown patches in the stargrass and the java fern. I usually dissolve the nitrates and phosphates in water before dosing, but I've been adding so much that there is starting too much water in the tank, so I've started to dry dose the fertilizers instead, about 1.75 tsp/day of KNO3, and a pinch of KH2PO4. The UVS is still running.

Also, I've noticed that if I dose a lot of KNO3 at once (20 ppm or more of NO3), I've noticed that the top leaves of the A. senegalensis will kink a bit, and the tops of R. rotundifolia/indica will grow in dwarfed. This seems to imply that too much potassium (or I guess nitrates) relative to other nutrients (Calcium?) causes these symptoms. The reddish plants, especially the R. indica, have been growing in greener, too. Don't know yet what affects that.

One more observation I've noticed is with the growth of the "green dust" algae on the tank walls, wherever there is a "green spot" algae growing, there is a circle around the spot that is clear of the green dust algae. It appears that the green spot algae repels the growth of other algae around it. Interesting.

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