# Water wisteria



## richardtf (Jun 15, 2013)

Hi! I have a question about water wisteria



Half of the stem of my wisteria has leaves and the other none, if i cut it in the middle, the portion of the stem that doesn't have leaves will it grow new leaves? or die off?

thanks!


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## Hoody32 (Oct 17, 2012)

I think new leaves would form. I've seen roots form on leaves just floating in my tank. Water wisteria is very resilient. It might take a while but I think it could be worth a shot.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I looked through a lot of your pictures and some of the plants are showing potassium deficiency signs (pinholes in the old leaves), was a problem at some point. The plants in the above photo though look like they aren't getting enough light (though I still see a few potassium holes). So perhaps at one point there was a potassium deficiency, then something happened with the light (aging bulbs?) and they look like they do now, or perhaps this is just a severe potassium deficiency.

Cutting and replanting the stems will result in the same thing happening again.

What fertilizers are you currently adding, what size is your tank (it looks very deep), and what type/wattage light do you have?

Can you do a nitrate and phosphate test on the water?

How did your tiger lotus turn out? Did it revive after adding potassium?

This is potassium deficiency (from your other pictures).


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## richardtf (Jun 15, 2013)

Hi Zapin! this is a different tank, yes is a 110gal Tall tank (L48" x W19 x H30") so its pretty deep.

Im following the EI dosing (dry)
100-125 Gallons 
1 1/2 tsp KNO3 3x a week
1/2 tsp KH2PO4 3x a week
1/2 tsp K2SO4 3x a week
1/2 tsp (30ml) traces 3x a week
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forum...pdated-10-10&p=1257519&viewfull=1#post1257519

Except KNo3 I dose only 1/2tsp
The light fixture that i am using:
http://www.amazon.com/WavePoint-48-Inch-216-Watt-Output-Lighting/dp/B0027J4SCI
I only use 3 bubls (2 flora sun and 1 Ultra sun zoomed)


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Hmm. How long have you had the fixture? 

Did the plants in the tank ever grow very well and for how long? 

What kelvin temperature bulbs do you have in there? The link you posted looks like 2 out of 4 are actinic bulbs.

How high above the tank are the bulbs and when did you last replace the bulbs?

You are adding 4.69 ppm PO4 each time you add a 1/2 tsp to your tank - about 15 ppm PO5 a week, that is an enormous amount, most people add about 2 ppm a week if that much. Also, your potassium dose is still on the lower side, about 7.79 ppm per time you add all your ferts (total of about 22 ppm per week).


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## richardtf (Jun 15, 2013)

Zapins said:


> Hmm. How long have you had the fixture?
> MARCH I THINK
> 
> Did the plants in the tank ever grow very well and for how long?
> ...


I AM JUST FOLLOWING THE EI REGIMEN BASE ON TANK SIZE, CAN YOU RECOMEND DOSAGE FOR MY 110GAL TALL TANK WITH SUMP? I PREFER DRY DOSE 

Thanks zapin!


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Is the Ultra Sun bulb you have the 6,500K one? Flora Sun is 5,000 K? So you have 3 bulbs running at 54w and they are 5-6 " above your 30" tall tank hanging at 35 or 35 inches above the substrate.

Can you lower the lights so they are resting directly on the top of the tank? You are losing a tremendous amount of light (roughly 30% of your fixture's output - probably more than this is lost due to reflection as well) just from those few inches, and every bit of light matters in your 30" tall tank.

As for dosing, I think you need to drastically reduce the PO4 you are adding. I hate using tsp as a measurement because it becomes extremely tedious to convert tsp to grams calculate out the concentration then convert back into tsp and figure out the decimal --> fraction. I'd say roughly you should be adding about 0.25 to 0.5 ppm PO4 3x a week, so if you are currently adding 4.69 (lets say 5 ppm for ease of calculation), then you need to be adding 10-20 times less then you are adding now, so I think that works out to about 1/20th or 1/40th of a tsp at each dosing. 

Have you tested your NO3 and PO4 levels recently?

Your plants won't use nutrients as quickly if they don't have enough light and CO2 to drive their growth rate fast. You've got to match growth rate and fertilizer dosing, or do giant water changes to flush out unused nutrients.

I think your problem is primarily a lack of light. Have a look at the deficiencyfinder.com in my signature and scroll down to light deficient plants, notice how they lose the lower leaves and there tends to be a lot of dead leaves around the tank (which you probably vacuum out).


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## richardtf (Jun 15, 2013)

zapins said:


> is the ultra sun bulb you have the 6,500k one? Flora sun is 5,000 k? So you have 3 bulbs running at 54w and they are 5-6 " above your 30" tall tank hanging at 35 or 35 inches above the substrate. yes
> 
> can you lower the lights so they are resting directly on the top of the tank? You are losing a tremendous amount of light (roughly 30% of your fixture's output - probably more than this is lost due to reflection as well) just from those few inches, and every bit of light matters in your 30" tall tank.
> okay ill try to lower the light fixture as close to the wtaer as possible
> ...


is adding additional bulb will that make a difference, i mean if i will not lower the fixture just all 4 bulbs.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

I'd suggest adding the extra bulb and lowering it. Then see how your plants do.

If you want to do this scientifically. I'd keep doing exactly what you have been doing (same PO4/etc) then just add an extra bulb and lower the fixture, then wait a week or two and see if the plants start growing. If they do not then you can try increase your potassium, then another week and see how they are doing. This way you will find out exactly which of these three changes is to blame for the plants doing poorly.

If you want to hit all bases at the same time and you don't really care what the root cause is then add an extra light, lower the fixture, and then change your ferts to:

1/2 tsp kno3 3x a week
*1/20** tsp* kh2po4 3x a week
*1 tsp* K2SO4 3x a week
1/2 tsp (30ml) traces 3x a week

This second method will likely get the plants going again, but we won't know what caused them to grow again.


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