Tropical Fish Forums

[flyjawn]

I know this has been asked and answered a hundred times but I can't seem to find any of those threads...

a couple of my plants have leaves that are turning see through - the plants themselves are still growing well and it's not too many leaves that this is happening to.

is this an iron deficiency? or is it normal for it to happen on a small scale?

right now I'm adding big al's food supplement twice a week (I only just started this) and I have flourish tabs buried in the substrate. I'm trying not to get involved in complicated dosing, I have a 2 year old and I'm 7 months pregnant so I'm not that motivated at the moment!

thanks in advance.

[Lord Steve0]

To my knowledge this is a result of iron deficiency. With the root tabs in the substrate there should be no real problems. Maybe add some liquid fertilizer once a week?
I have Amazon Swords and this happened, so I put laterate (sp) in the areas round the roots and now dowse with Leaf Zone each week.
The problems have not returned.

[flyjawn]

[naclh2ofly]

Flyjawn,
You will need to amp up your ferts & dosing...
In my 20g with 60 watts I dose the following:

Trace mix(Plantex CSM+B) - 5ml 3~4 Xs weekly
Phosphate(PO4 via Fleet enema) - 0.5~1ml ~3 Xs weekly
Potassium(K2SO4) - ~4ml(0.75tsp) weekly (dosed dry)
I do not dose NitrAtes(KNO3) as my source water is fairly high with it...

Most of this is relatively simple once you get the hang of it and buying your ferts from Greg Watson will be far cheaper than plant supplements from Big Als or anywhere else for that matter... Rex does a cost comparison between mix your own bulk ferts and premixed commercial stuff.

For a good idea of what you will need check out...

Rex's Guide to Fertilizers
Tom Barr's Estimative Index

For nutrient deficiencies...

Nutrient Deficiencies

Once you have your basic ferts, dosing is actually the thing you will spend the least amount of time on... pruning will be the time consuming task ;^)


Fred

[ngocthach1130]

ooh I just notice the exact same thing today. The amazon sword is turning light green and I can start see it turning transparent. There's hair algae in the tank so I'm kinda weary on dosing iron. Did so anyway. I only have Jungle Fertilizer. It contain dechlorinator, iron, and potassium. I'm worried the iron is going to drive the hair algae nuts again. Only had it somewhat under control.

[flyjawn]

thanks for the dosing advice. I'm going to big al's tomorrow for their boxing day sales so I'll see what the prices are like on their ferts.