Problems with Vals ???

Hey John,
I just did some calculating, and I am dosing 10 ppm Mg weekly (plus whatever my traces provide) and 20 ppm Ca (plus whatever my crushed coral provides) I think for starters I'm going to back the Mg down a tad, and start a specified 3:1 dosing ratio and adjust from there. The CaCo3 should provide a little more Ca and put me close to the 4:1 you mentioned. Glad to hear the snails are improving. The only whities I have left were that way before I upped the Ca, and they are survivng so far, despite the definate shell erosion. The very fact that they haven't died off is a good sign.
dave
 
My vals took off. Not as quickly as the rotala, so you can't see them, but I have AT LEAST 5 new vals sinse I bought 1 last month. I have 2.8wpg, CO2 and I dose with ferts.
 
I'd go along with the 4:1 ratio as a starting point, but only as a starting point. Pragmatism is what works, literally :). If a somewhat different ratio works best, use it. Especially when you don't have a solid starting point and have undefined coral in the system as well. "Ideal ratios" are academic, applied tank practice may or may nor work that way, and Vals are metabolically a bit different from most of our plants anyway. In the Val-heavy tanks I get ragged tips if I slack off on partials at all, which I credit to mineral exhaustion without testing for confirmation. Getting back on schedule corrects it, so it is replenishment not my meager supplements, or not just my supplements.
 
In the Val-heavy tanks I get ragged tips if I slack off on partials at all, which I credit to mineral exhaustion without testing for confirmation.
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Ah, Ragged tips are prevalent in my tanks, and IMO at least partially account for the lack of extended growth. I didn't even think of that as an indicator of some sort (so much yet to learn).

Well that settles it for me. I'll stick with the 5:3 ratio.
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Yeah, what he said. Keep me posted John,

BTW check your 10g closely for BBA, I just trimmed several leaves off the crypt you gave me, because they were growing the dark grey nasty. I can't see any more, but will watch it closely.

dave
 
O.K.
Here is my new long term plan for test.
Harden my change water with a 3:5 ratio to a level of aprox. 280 ppm, Record quantities needed test calcium levels (I'm still not trusting the calcium test much, but so far it is consistant and will at least give me a benchmark) Monitor tank hardness levels and initially adjust to the same parrameters with a 4:1 Ca : Mg ratio Because at the present I think my Ca is probably a little low, and my Mg is O.K. (don't know this for a fact, but I have been dosing MG much longer and more consistantly than Ca). Monitor weekly changes and adjust tank accordingly to get a feel for what the plants are consuming, and also monitor any additional changes in growth. Eventually I would like to estabilish a system that allows me to harden the prep water, and then keep the tank steady with water changes, this would put all three tanks at the same level and make my fert dosing a little easier. While I realize that Mg and Ca are very benign, I am worried about continual increase in hardness if I just randomly dose. I would like to find the happy medium between good plant growth and low TDS levels if there is one. I will post back with any new info.
Dave
 
Sounds like a plan. The crushed coral I added to my filter last week will no doubt add to the Ca I already dose, but it had to be done. My KH was barely at 3dH last weekend. :eek:
 
Sounds like a plan. The crushed coral I added to my filter last week will no doubt add to the Ca I already dose, but it had to be done. My KH was barely at 3dH last weekend.
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Don't count on that being enough Ca, I've been running crushed coral, and Dolomitic lime for 10 months, and keeping my Kh in the 5-6 range at all times (except of course when I screwed up on occasion) It is vastly evident this week that I didn't have enough calcium. I have crypts growing very well, they are bigger and nicer than they have ever been since I brought them home, MY temple and my anachris have both doubled in growth, my annubias have responded somewhat, and my melon sword is now blood red and growing at at least 3 times the rate it did previously. Except for the crypts and vals, I would have said my plants were doing well before, but after the last two weeks observation, nothing was near it's potential. Keep up the CaCl along with the crushed coral IMO.

My next tank will be a shrimp breeder with RFUG and plants, I plan to mix the substrate 50/50 with gravel and dolemite, and plant vals and crypts initially. Low light minimal dosing ( hopefully) I want to see how the vals respond to dolemite on an RFUG, I'm thinking dolomite rather than Crushed coral simply because it has both Ca and Mg, I don't think the shrimp will mind the hardened water or higher PH, and I imagine the vals will rather enjoy it.
Dave
 
I've used V. americana in very light brackish, sp. gr.~1.003 (breeding Orange Chromides) over crushed coral (back before I got so into aragonite) and it did fine. I don't see that dolomite would be so different, and it does offer 1:1 Ca:Mg on a forumula basis. he solubility is bit low, but if you have any significant substrate depth, the lower reachs should be acidic anyway. That would be interesting. If you do this setup, keep us posted.
 
Well !!! that doth surely explain it !!!!
I just did tap water tests to set my baselne for the above mentioned study.
GH = 110 ppm
KH = 3-4 dKH
Po4 = 2 ppm This is about normal, but our Po4 changes throughout the year.
Ca = 30-40 ppm :eek: :eek: Almost couldn't even see the color change in my test water. I retested 3 times just for clarification all 4 tests dead consistant

Onward with the adjustment, I also plan to take some plant pictures in the morning, to do comparisons in a couple of weeks.
assuming that the tap water is high Mg by comparison to the Ca, I will probably adjust the change water with a 4:1 also. Depending on how that works with my normal MG dosing. I do not want to change too many things simultaneously, and have been dosing MG consistantly for a couple of months.

RTR, could you start sending me about 60gallons of your tap water each week so I can just use that and skip the experiments? :rolleyes:
Dave
 
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