# Calcium Deficiency?



## RuslanJamil (Oct 30, 2005)

From the resources that I have been reading, my Hygrophila Polysperma is showing symptoms of a calcium deficiency. I have thus started increasing the Ca dosage. I am also trying to get a better Ca:Mg ratio (going for 4:1).

Attached is the picture of the plant. Please let me know if I'm on the right track.

Thanks.


----------



## titan97 (Feb 14, 2005)

Looks like it could be a Ca problem, although I've never seen leaves curl up that bad before. Try increasing the Ca concentration and see what happens.

-Dustin


----------



## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

It does not look like calcium deficiency to me because there is not enough stunting and deformation of the new growth. I don't know what it is.


----------



## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

If you could give us a bit more info on the tank and your current fert dosing we may be able to help a bit more...


----------



## jrIL (Apr 23, 2005)

I have been seeing the same thing. If it is a calc. problem what would you add to bring it up.

JR


----------



## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

Do you have this problem only with your polysperma? What about the other plants. Difformis looks good. Sometimes new leaves of polysperma comes curled but later it gets ok and usualy only the leaves of top 3-4 nodes suffers this curling.

YILDIRIM


----------



## RuslanJamil (Oct 30, 2005)

So far the curling is only affecting the H. Polysperma. 

The tank is a relatively low light 15 gallon tank with a single 36W power compact. DIY CO2 supplementation. I dose PMDD (which has Mg but no Ca).

I'm now dosing Ca(NO3)2 to increase the Ca but have to do it gradually since it also adds a significant amount of nitrates...

The H. Polysperma might be the only one affected at the moment because the leaves with the problem are the ones directly under the light.

If it is a Ca deficiency, will the curled leaves recover or will they be that way forever?

Thanks for all the responses.


----------



## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Do you know the GH of your water?

And once you've determined that Ca is the problem, it may be easier to use CaCl2 instead of Ca(NO3)2...


----------



## yildirim (Nov 25, 2004)

Hi again,

Personaly I do not think that it is a Ca defficiency as its only with polysperma. I use the same dosing as you do and also do not dose any additional Ca and my gH is around 10ppm. Problem only occured at top 3-4 nodes for me and as new nodes grow curled leaves below turns normal. During this period I was in the period of increasing micros and NO3 and after this increasing period the curling disappeared. I still am not sure if this NO3 and micros may have any effect on curling but I again say that it is not a Ca problem. Also new polysperma leaves, unlike most other stem plants, starts curled and later recovers by itself. 

YILDIRIM


----------



## mlfishman (Apr 4, 2005)

*low co2*

I would venture to guess that this is a low co2 problem. Especially with that DIY setup. check your co2 levels. if they are not up to snuff recharge your diy system. almost def not Ca as someone already said. I think the plants get much more stunted and Ca deficiency are not supposedly not as common as we think.


----------



## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Can't be a low CO2 problem. From the looks of the H. polysperma, you have good levels of CO2. This is what H. polysperma looks like when CO2 is low.


----------



## kekon (Aug 1, 2005)

Now I have the problem with curling leafs on Alternatera reineckii. The problem appeared after decreasing recommended micro dosage to 1/3. The micro fertilizer i use must be added after every water change. But I decided to add 1/3 of the reccomended dosage every day (1/3 dosage is 6ml so I add 
1 ml daily)


----------



## defdac (May 10, 2004)

http://www.plantphys.net/images/ch05/wt0501k_s.jpg
It's copper deficiency. If you roll your PMDD with tapwater treated with soda (corrosion control, low KH, high pH) the chelate and micro will bind with the OH- and you will get what folks think are "fungus" in the micro-bottle. "Denatured" chelate.

Try mixing the micros with deionized and acid-treated (citric acid, HCl etc) battery-water so the chelates will bind with the micros instead of other stuff (Ca, Mg, OH-) in you tap.

When the chelates are bound with the micro nutrients in the PMDD it is relatively stable and can be used in water with high pH (eg the aquarium). Keep out of the sun though.


----------



## JaySilverman (Jun 19, 2005)

My polysperma look exacly like the one in the first post. It effects new and old leafs. Its the only plant in the tank that has this problem. My nitrates and phosphates are both stable and my co2 is as high as possible. I'm also dosing double the recommended amount of micros writin on the flourish bottle.

So if this is a copper deficiency, what exacly should we be dosing?


----------



## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Ca or Mg deficiency?

…or…

Na or Chlorine toxicity?


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

It looks like you are not dosing phosphate. Plants need phosphates too, and will not use as much nitrate as they could when they are short of phosphates. You have enough light to need all of the basic fertilizers, nitrates, phosphates, potassium and traces, along with calcium and magnesium and CO2 (or Excel). Once you are using a balanced fertilizing plan it will be easier to figure out if you have a deficiency.


----------

