I have read that K deficiency shows up as pinholes in older leaves. Do you think that is what I have going on here?
Does this look like K deficiency?
- Thread starter EcoPit
- Start date
I believe the deficient leaves would have holes that were rimmed with yellow. Those holes look too clean. Someone sancking perhaps? It's hard to tell on the crypt leaf, so possibly that is starting to shed leaves. The hygro leaves do look snacked upon imo.
Wouldn't hurt to up your K dosing for a week or two and see. It just may be that case.
Wouldn't hurt to up your K dosing for a week or two and see. It just may be that case.
My experience with K is the holes are lined with yellow or brown material. However I recieved some petite Nana from a friend (Very knowledgable person) and they had holes more like your pictures show. He assured me the holes in the nana he sent were in fact due to K deficiency. The easy answer is to increase K dosing and see if the holes quit showing up.
Dave
Dave
Yeah, I'm sorry. That is an awful picture of the crypt leaf. There are definitely no yellow or brown edges to the holes on the crypts, but I believe there may be on the hygro. It doesn't show in that picture though. I will check when I get home.
The only things in there are otos, two mollies, pond snails, ramshorn snails and MTSs. I wouldn't think the otos, I don't think the mollies (I have just never seen them picking at the plants), but could be the snails.
I thought maybe the K because I hadn't really been dosing it. I was dosing KNO3, but after reading the sticky by Tom I stopped other K dosing. The plants didn't seem to be even touching the NO3 or the PO4 in the tank though. I figured it must be because something was out of whack, so I started adding additional K and the plants started going crazy. I am just not sure how much I am adding because I am using NoSalt, which has KCl, but a lot of other things too.
The only things in there are otos, two mollies, pond snails, ramshorn snails and MTSs. I wouldn't think the otos, I don't think the mollies (I have just never seen them picking at the plants), but could be the snails.
I thought maybe the K because I hadn't really been dosing it. I was dosing KNO3, but after reading the sticky by Tom I stopped other K dosing. The plants didn't seem to be even touching the NO3 or the PO4 in the tank though. I figured it must be because something was out of whack, so I started adding additional K and the plants started going crazy. I am just not sure how much I am adding because I am using NoSalt, which has KCl, but a lot of other things too.
I can almost asure you that it isn't the snails, I have both of those plants in 3 of my tanks, and run snail populations as high as I can get. They never touch the leaves. I'd lean more towards the K. According to everything I've read it's close to impossible to overdose K. I've heard of people with well over 100ppm K in their tanks and no appearant problems.
Dave
Dave
I sure hope it isn't the snails, because I could never get rid of them all. I will bump the K up and see what happens.
Some info I've seen was based on dosing schedule only, Some was Information from Tom Barr, and I imagine at least some of it involved Lab Grade Testing. Here is one of several Bits of information I have seen. This one directed to me when I was trying to find out if K could block Calcium uptake (K does not Block Calcium Uptake according to Tom Barr, and I definately trust Tom Barr for the most part). Go to the last page of this thread for the K information.
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=65367&highlight=water+hardness
Dave
Thanks. Going to read that thread indepth.daveedka said:
I'm still having algae problems in some of the tanks and the plants aren't growing as well as they should. They look good, just not as good as they could. Everytime I try to dose iron, I get wicked hair algae, so I'm backing off of that. I've ordered some GH booster from Gregg, as well as CaCL2 to see if that helps get the plants moving faster.
I'm dosing K a lot more and P as well. Even though my tap water reads 2.5ppm P04, it's down to .5 by the second day.
Hopefully I'll find a balance somewhere.
Roan
Roan you can work out K if you already know how much is in your tapwater. I wrote a quickie program to generate some output so you can see how this works.
Lets assume that you have 5ppm K in your tapwater and you dose 30ppm per week after a 50% water change. I'll assume that the plant uptake is 20ppm per week. Here's what happens...
Start with 5ppm in tank.
Week : 1
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 35
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 15
K after 50% water change : 12.5
**********************************************
Week : 2
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 42.5
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 22.5
K after 50% water change : 16.25
**********************************************
Week : 3
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 46.25
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 26.25
K after 50% water change : 18.125
**********************************************
Week : 4
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 48.125
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 28.125
K after 50% water change : 19.0625
**********************************************
...........................
lines ommited
...........................
Week : 22
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 49.99999
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 29.99999
K after 50% water change : 20
**********************************************
Week : 23
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 50
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 30
K after 50% water change : 20
**********************************************
Week : 24
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 50
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 30
K after 50% water change : 20
**********************************************
Here's the interesting bit. On week 23 we reach a point where K is stabilized to 50ppm and it won't change. Well, it won't change in a perfect world where numbers and nature play nice. However the 50% water change and the consistent dosing will mean you will never get above a certain level. The only thing here I don't know is the K uptake. But it still doesn't matter. Even if uptake was only 5ppm per week, the tank would stabilize at 65ppm after 24 weeks.
Lets assume that you have 5ppm K in your tapwater and you dose 30ppm per week after a 50% water change. I'll assume that the plant uptake is 20ppm per week. Here's what happens...
Start with 5ppm in tank.
Week : 1
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 35
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 15
K after 50% water change : 12.5
**********************************************
Week : 2
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 42.5
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 22.5
K after 50% water change : 16.25
**********************************************
Week : 3
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 46.25
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 26.25
K after 50% water change : 18.125
**********************************************
Week : 4
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 48.125
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 28.125
K after 50% water change : 19.0625
**********************************************
...........................
lines ommited
...........................
Week : 22
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 49.99999
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 29.99999
K after 50% water change : 20
**********************************************
Week : 23
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 50
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 30
K after 50% water change : 20
**********************************************
Week : 24
Dosing 30 ppm K
K ppm in Tank : 50
Uptake by plants : 20
K in tank after uptake : 30
K after 50% water change : 20
**********************************************
Here's the interesting bit. On week 23 we reach a point where K is stabilized to 50ppm and it won't change. Well, it won't change in a perfect world where numbers and nature play nice. However the 50% water change and the consistent dosing will mean you will never get above a certain level. The only thing here I don't know is the K uptake. But it still doesn't matter. Even if uptake was only 5ppm per week, the tank would stabilize at 65ppm after 24 weeks.