Journal Frank's Dutch Attempt

[FrankZ]

AR Mini has taken a turn for the worse I assume this is still micro related? Doing 0.1 iron three times a week. Should I do daily at half the dose or just do two doses?

 

[Burr740]

.1 3x isnt high, but that is exactly what too high looks like. What recipe are you using for the other micros?

 

[FrankZ]

.1 3x isnt high, but that is exactly what too high looks like. What recipe are you using for the other micros?

Here is what should be in mix at 10 mls. Original is the 15 ml dose and New is the 10 ml dose with the ppm back calculated from the reduced dosing.

Edit: I did change my GH chemicals from gypsum and Epsom salts to APT Sky at the recommended dosing. That was two weeks ago, not sure if that matters but it I wouldn’t think that change would do anything to the micros.

 

[Burr740]

OK that is the right micro recipe. .3 per week should be OK for most plants but I wouldnt go any lower, especially if youre doing >50% water changes

Idk whats in Sky but the other thing AR mini is notorious for balking at is low Ca. So you may wanna try raising that

 

[FrankZ]

OK that is the right micro recipe. .3 per week should be OK for most plants but I wouldnt go any lower, especially if youre doing >50% water changes

Idk whats in Sky but the other thing AR mini is notorious for balking at is low Ca. So you may wanna try raising that

I’m right at 50% water change.

Here is what is listed for APT Sky. I didn’t realize it has micros. Not sure what they work out be without doing some algebra.

Ca (Calcium): 21.5%
Mg (Magnesium): 5.4%
B (Boron): 7mg/L
Cu (Copper): 1mg/L
Fe (Iron): 0.06%
Mn (Manganese): 17mg/L
Mo (Molybdenum): 0.01mg/L
Zn (Zinc): 9mg/L
Seaweed extract <1%

 

[Burr740]

Thats a decent little dose of micros. I wouldnt think a one time dose of those amounts would cause any problems though, if thats what were talking about.

Id look at raising the Ca. Maybe just do an extra 5-10 ppm with gypsum

 

[HardeeParty]

View attachment 4094AR Mini has taken a turn for the worse I assume this is still micro related? Doing 0.1 iron three times a week. Should I do daily at half the dose or just do two doses?

Yikes. I’m interested because I’ve had the same symptoms from my AR Rosanervig

 

[FrankZ]

Thats a decent little dose of micros. I wouldnt think a one time dose of those amounts would cause any problems though, if thats what were talking about.

Id look at raising the Ca. That product cant have much because its too hard to dissolve. Maybe just do an extra 5-10 ppm with gypsum

I’m just going to go back to gypsum and Epsom at 30/7.5 like I was before I switched to Sky. At least until I figure out the math of the micro dosing from the sky. The AR was looking better there for a while

 

[FrankZ]

Found some half decent looking leaves underneath all that ugly. I didn’t want to look at it anymore now that I can see into the tank again. I left them in place just methodically trimmed out one only shoot a time. It’s not perfect by any stretch but better than what was there. The next couple of weeks will tell the true story.

 

[GreggZ]

The AR looks a lot better. Hopefully it continues.

In the bigger scheme of things I hope you don't mind me offering a little advice that has served me well over the years.

Don't get too obsessed with getting one plant perfect. Sometimes chasing parameters for that one plant can have a negative impact on others.

It looks to me like you have a lot going right. No tank can grow every plant perfectly.

Just saying sometimes it's better to stick with and find plants that like the soup are serving. It means a lot less banging your head against the wall in the long run.

And I have never grown AR perfectly for any length of time. But I don't measure my success on whether it did well or not.

 

[FrankZ]

Just saying sometimes it's better to stick with and find plants that like the soup are serving. It means a lot less banging your head against the wall in the long run.

Thank you!

This is the exact reason I chucked the hygro salicifola a while back. There are other options for me than the ar min here so it will give it some time and move on if it doesn’t like it.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Yeah, F that hygro!!!

I can relate, it’s hard to watch everything else do great and one plant just can’t get in line with the rest

 

[FrankZ]

Before

After

Today was a double water change day due to the trimming and uprooting I needed to do. The helferi group was getting massive. I had no idea there were so many side shoots coming off the group. For a plant that some struggle with I can sure grow it well.

I did some rearranging due to contrast fails. I’m trying a hygrophila pinnatifida wall behind the limno rugosa. It’s kind of a cheat because with it being on the wall it doesn’t count against the species count rule (which I’m struggling with anyway). We shall see how it goes. It’s a pretty wild weed so I may hate it rather quickly.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Idk why but Pinnatifida isn’t a weed in my tanks ever, relatively slow to grow and collects algae sometimes. Hope your plan pans out, everything really seems to growing nicely

 

[FrankZ]

Idk why but Pinnatifida isn’t a weed in my tanks ever, relatively slow to grow and collects algae sometimes. Hope your plan pans out, everything really seems to growing nicely

That’s weird. It’s super fast in my low tech tanks too. It gets ugly fast in the low tech setups though. Pin holes etc and it’s the first to grow BBA because it gets to the light so dang fast. Shoots, roots, leaves everywhere then as fast at it grows the old stuff starts to die off

 

[FrankZ]

I think I’ll leave the UV running for another week just to be safe. GDA is 99% gone and I want to keep it that way

 

[Unexpected]

I would too. Kill all those evil spores.

 

[FrankZ]

The GDA feels different this time. It’s almost crunchy when I touch it. I did scrape a few spots yesterday to remove snail eggs and the little bit of GDA left over sort of crunched. It wasn’t a slime, slightly harder to remove. Not nearly as hard as GSA though. There has definitely been a change for the better since the last bout.

 

[FrankZ]

GDA just won’t give up. I did find one very old dead fish this morning so maybe that’s been causing it. I’m kind of grasping at straws on this one. I’ve never had it hang around for so long or come and go as it has been. I pulled the UV because it didn’t seem to making a difference. It hasn’t gotten worse since I removed it so I do not think it was doing much.

The plan for now is no major up rooting. Just one bunch at a time and only when needed followed by a water change. Namely the stellar and ludwigia repens. The rest are slow enough to be left alone for a month.

I’m still on the fence with ar mini and it’s twisting leaves. The chamelon sword has similar issues so maybe they are related. I’m guessing I could up the calcium as suggested by @Burr740 I do not think a calcium increase would make the GDA any worse.

NPK are 20/5/26 front loaded based on 32 gallons water change. I did try 15/5/26 but I thought I noticed some yellowing on the lower leaves of the parviflorus, maybe I didn’t go long enough at 15.

 

[Burr740]

The GDA feels different this time. It’s almost crunchy when I touch it. I did scrape a few spots yesterday to remove snail eggs and the little bit of GDA left over sort of crunched. It wasn’t a slime, slightly harder to remove. Not nearly as hard as GSA though. There has definitely been a change for the better since the last bout.

Dont think its ferts, and I would stick with the higher macros for now

After a major algae outbreak it is not uncommon to have another type or two show up in succession. Sometimes referred to as algae phases. I wouldnt sweat this new slightly different kind, it could actually be a good sign that things are progressing. Running its course, if you will

And I keep forgetting about that capped top soil. I'd say that the powerhead incident contributed greatly to the initial gda, if not that then all the uprooting at one time certainly did.

I just skimmed through the the thread again. Youve had gsa/gda episodes a couple times already. Makes me wonder if its not all substrate related...

My gut says it is but I think everything will be fine. This is just you learning the hard way not to disturb it too much. And resist the urge to make fert changes. I know how tempting that is...trust me lol