Journal Frank's Dutch Attempt

[Mr.Shenanagins]

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 didn’t think about this either Frank. It’s quite possible the surfacing of your substrate did in fact cause some chaos with effects still lingering. I know you have quite the concoction under there, and it’s for sure “hot” with nutrients by all definitions of the word. I think maybe a good substrate vacuuming, a look at cap to make sure it’s all still in tact. And several large water changes over the course of a week could be the reset you need.

 

[FrankZ]

I didn’t think about this either Frank. It’s quite possible the surfacing of your substrate did in fact cause some chaos with effects still lingering. I know you have quite the concoction under there, and it’s for sure “hot” with nutrients by all definitions of the word. I think maybe a good substrate vacuuming, a look at cap to make sure it’s all still in tact. And several large water changes over the course of a week could be the reset you need.

I think im going to strategically add more BDBS in the back section where the major mess occurred. I didn’t consider my sand cap got to thin as a result of the mess the power head made. Increasing the depth isn’t going to make anything worse.

I’m also going to setup a bigger RO/di storage vessel so I can do larger/more water changes.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Good luck, on the bright side it’s a minor setback, albeit inconvenient. Plants are growing and looking healthy

 

[FrankZ]

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

There is that patience thing again LOL

Seriously though, thank you for the help. I’d have torn this thing down and started over if not for the suggestions and encouragement here.

 

[FrankZ]

Found this through one of the viewing ports the GDA allowed me this week. Not sure what’s going on with the palustrus. Those white dots will becomes holes in a week or so, it has happened before randomly and I don’t know why.

I’m more concerned with the greenish brown older growth because that is something new. It could just be GDA settling out in the leaves but I don’t know.

Kind of stuck right now just waiting out the GDA so I’m not changing anything until that goes away unless anyone has a “yep that’s caused by this, doing this will fix it” solution.

The rest of the plants look ok from what I can see through the slime. It’s getting brown in spots so I guess that’s good.

 

[Unexpected]

I’ve seen these dots before and have no clue what causes them. Hopefully someone does.

 

[FrankZ]

I’ve seen these dots before and have no clue what causes them. Hopefully someone does.

Im fairly certain I read about it one of Vin’s threads on Barr report but I don’t think a solution was ever presented or even found. At least not that I’ve read anywhere.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Ludwigia is interesting, my Rubin at the moment has leaves that appear to lose chlorophyll. You see the red draining from the leaf, and then it just turns to mush. Haven’t found an answer for that either.

 

[Burr740]

OK well... I know we just had the reduce your micros talk but those white spots on that specific plant are 100% a micro nutrient deficiency.

Back in the height of the micro-tox wars Tom stopped micros completely just to prove a point (that his plants wouldnt get better) After 2-3 weeks his super reds developed those white spots in the lower leaves. This is all on barr Report but dont ask me what thread. Circa '16 probably

Fast forward a year or two later in the early days of my experiments I saw those same white holes in the super reds. I saw it repeat a few times and no other species ever exhibited it.

Which one specifically is unknown but the most likely two are Zinc and Mo since they are the only mobile ones, or somewhat mobile in the case of Zn. But it could be one of the others

Having said all that, it seems very unlikely that you'd have such a deficiency. I only saw it during times of extremely low levels and Tom had gone cold turkey.

So unless something else is interfering with them (looking at you topsoil) or maybe you missed a zero or forgot to add something while making your mix, on paper you shouldnt be even remotely close to low enough to cause that

But Im confident to say that plant needs more micros for whatever reason

 

[FrankZ]

OK well... I know we just had the reduce your micros talk but those white spots on that specific plant are 100% a micro nutrient deficiency.

Back in the height of the micro-tox wars Tom stopped micros completely just to prove a point (that his plants wouldnt get better) After 2-3 weeks his super reds developed those white spots in the lower leaves. This is all on barr Report but dont ask me what thread. Circa '16 or '17 probably

Fast forward a year or two later in the early days of my experiments I saw those same white holes in the super reds. I saw it repeat a few times and no other species ever exhibited it.

Which one specifically is unknown but the most likely two are Zinc and Mo since they are the only mobile ones, or somewhat mobile in the case of Zn. But it could be one of the others

Having said all that, it seems very unlikely that you'd have such a deficiency. I only saw it during times of extremely low levels and Tom had gone cold turkey.

So unless something else is interfering with them (looking at you topsoil) or maybe you missed a zero or forgot to add something while making your mix, on paper you shouldnt be even remotely close to low enough to cause that

But Im confident to say that plant needs more micros for whatever reason

I am leaning towards the shop vac cure.

Short of that and mainly waiting until I have a full day to tear down the tank to remove the mineralized soil I think I’m going back to 0.17 on the micros. Everything looked better at that dose.

For the ar mini it can twist its nose up all it wants at the higher micros. I did increase calcium by 6.5 ppm for this week (36.5 ppm ca total). I picked 6.5 because that’s what 1 teaspoon doses and I didn’t feel like splitting hairs. So either the calcium does the trick or the ar mini will hit the road.

Oh yeah, I did find the soil only had about 1/2 inch of sand over the top of it in the back along glass, probably half way across the tank. That could not have been helping the situation at all so I added a few cups of BDBS over the top to get cover it back up with about 1.5 inches maybe 2.

 

[FrankZ]

My phone really loves to highlight the GDA. It looks way worse in the photo than it does in person. Colors aren’t right either, I think because of the autofocus but that’s a problem for another day.

Anyway, everything appears to be doing ok. Just patiently waiting out the GDA, I’m not touching it all, not even scraping when I think it’s done for. Patience is hard.

 

[FrankZ]

@Mr.Shenanagins convinced me it was easy. He was right! Doing an over night leak check then it goes into service.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

You can take that post regulator knob off too, but the gauges were in the way for me so I need an extension piece anyway to clear the solenoid. What needle valve is that?

 

[FrankZ]

I left the valve on for the extension same as you. I’ll have to get the exact part number for the needle valve. It’s a Parker left over from an air purge setup in an instrument panel.

 

[FrankZ]

It’s a Parker FCC731-4-4

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Ahh right I forgot you mentioned that, should work excellent then.

 

[FrankZ]

Ahh right I forgot you mentioned that, should work excellent then.

Now I want to get a monster sized co2 tank lol

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Haha I love my 15lb, Craigslist and Facebook marketplace are your friends for a steal of a find for what you are looking for

 

[Ed Wiser]

Better to just get a tank from the local welding supply house. They will give you a 20lb tank for 25 bucks full of Co2. Many companies will not refill tanks they do not own.