# Question about fertilizer mist



## aquarium kid (Nov 26, 2012)

Hey all

A couple of days ago I set up my first emersed set up so I can avoid buying large amounts of of plants when I set up my planted tank this summer.

My setup is as follows
10 gallon tank with about 1.5 inches if water in with a plastic shoebox of creekside brand topsoil inside. Lighting is a 36" finnex ray II
Current flora is only a couple of stems of what Walmart called giant hygrophila 

I was wondering about fertilizing, I've seen many palaces that recommend misting with fertilizer but they never list the proportion. Being new at this and unsure of what to do I put 1/8 teaspoon of the following in to a little less then a gallon if water; potassium nitrate, mono potassium phosphate, and potassium sulphate. I was wondering if this is too strong.

Nothing has died(there may be some browning at the leaf tips) yet but there doesn't seem to any growth yet.

What do y'all think?

Sincerely 
Aquarium kid


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Can you post some close up pictures of the plants?


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## BadBob (Jun 4, 2011)

I'm using a mixture based on a infomation I found here: http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/hometissueculture/conversations/messages

I didn't follow it exactly I used what I had on hand. It is primarily fish emulsion with a liquid mineral supplement and a few drops of vitamins. I feed the plans every few weeks with and eyedropper. Each plant gets about 20 drops in the corners of the containers. It's working well for me.


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## aquarium kid (Nov 26, 2012)

Hey thanks for the replies

Here are some pics, excuse the poor quality I had to take them with my phone because my camera wouldn't focus on them well.

Does it look like the plants are healthy? Should I dilute the fertilizer mist I've been using?


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## aquarium kid (Nov 26, 2012)

One more question, is the ray II providing enough light?


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Hard to know if the lighting is bright enough since LEDs are fairly new to the hobby and people don't have a huge amount of experience with them. That said, I seem to remember people talking about the ray II and I think it was positive so you might be in luck. That said, emersed plants can take a lot more light than they can when grown under water. Even 4x54w T5HO light right about that tank wouldn't be too much light.

I see the burnt tips you are talking about. You said you set the tank up a few days ago, are those leaves emersed grown from before? If not drying out will be a problem for quite some time.

I'm a bit hesitant about using a fertilizer spray in general. I know commercial fruit farmers will use fertilizer sprays if their plants start showing deficiency signs. The fertilizers enter the leaves/stems of their trees and prevent further damage. However, they do this only for deficiencies, not general fertilization. If you look at any orchid keeping website you'll read about fertilizing them by spraying the leaves with an extremely weak fertilizer solution. If you use a solution that is strong it will outright burn and kill the plants. Based on these two references I would personally feel hesitant about spraying emersed plants with any kind of solution, and I wouldn't do it regularly. It would have to be extremely dilute to avoid burning the leaves.

Also, you have soil, so fertilizing the tank should be unnecessary.


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## aquarium kid (Nov 26, 2012)

The plants were submersed when I got them, how long will does it generally take for the plants to
Fully transition to emersed?

On a side note I made a little bit of an impulse buy when I was at Walmart, I was walking through the fish section when I happend to see this very health, big ludwigia of some sort. It seem to be in excellent condition, even having quite a bit of pink on the underside of the leaves. Needless to say I bought it and but it into the emmersed setup, crossing my fingers that it'll grow 

I'll post some pics when I'm back in town


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

It can take plants a very long time to convert fully. Usually most plants have converted within 2-3 months, but their growth rate won't really pick up until the plants have been going for a few months longer. Of course, it does depend on the species.

I'd bet the burning you see on your hygros are simply due to drying out. You'll probably lose all of the submersed leaves. As long as the stem lives your plants should be fine and should grow new leaves.


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## aquarium kid (Nov 26, 2012)

Hey all

There seems to be a little new growth on the hygrophila and ludwigia hasn't died so that's good  (I'll get some pictures up soon)

I have a question though, I wandering through the for sale forum and came a a thread that caught my attention. 

What was for sale was:
Persicaria sp. 'Sao Paulo'
Myriophyllum guyana "Mini"
Ludwigia sp. 'Red'
Bacopa monnieri
Ludwigia repens x arcuata
Hydrocotyle sp. 'Japan'
Anubias nana 'Petite'
Riccia fluitans (Starter portion) 

The plant finder lists them as all able to grow emerged but I was wondering what peoples experience with them was both emerged and submersed. Also would these plants grow in a non co2 tank.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

All easy to grow plants even in non-CO2 tanks. Riccia looks a lot different with CO2, but it will grow just fine without it.

There will be a lot of dying off if you put them in your emersed tubs but that is to be expected when converting plants in general.


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## aquarium kid (Nov 26, 2012)

Couple of more questions (sorry I'm a totally new to this)

Im worried the humidity might be to low as the sides of the tank and the plants seem to be pretty dry. I've been misting them but I'm worried.

There is definitely some new growth on the hygrophila but there seems to be some very slight browning on the edges of the new growth. I also uprooted a few of them today and there was some very significant root growth.

When I got the hygrophila they were in a pot that had tipped on its side so they grew with a bend in there stems below the root level. This been makes them hard to plant so I was wondering if I could just cut off that part of the roots. I was also wondering what the best way to raise the humidity would be if I need to.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

I'm having the exact same issue with some plants. I've decided to go out and get a warm mist humidifier for the tank. Will let you know how it works.


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