# Potassium deficiency?



## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

Hi

I have a heavily planted 20G high tank that has been doing very well. I have a Red Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea lotus "Zenkeri") that, until recently, has been growing exceptionally. Recently, the Lotus' leaves will develop two or three small holes that grow and spread throughout the leaf, eventually disintegrating it and the stem.

I believe this to be a Potassium deficiency, but I dose plenty of ferts and have a very rich substrate.

My fert list is as follows:
DIY co2 system, 12 hours a day, unplugged at night, 1-2 bubbles per second.
3ml Flourish Excel daily
2ml Flourish Potassium daily
1ml Flourish Iron 2x a week
1.5ml Flourish supplement 2x a week
1ml Flourish Nitrogen 2x a week
1ml Flourish Phosphorus 3x a week (I am getting over a P def in my Hygros)

Other parameters are:
Lighting - 2 24W T5s (2.4wpg), 6700K and 10000K, perfect spectrum, 10 hours a day.
Substrate - base layer Fertilome potting soil mixed with Espoma Greensand (3/4"), top layer Seachem Flourite (2")
Water changes - 40% weekly
Filter - Marineland Canister C-160
Temp - about 77-79F.

Any help about the Lotus would be appreciated

Thanks


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Are the holes forming on all the leaves, the newer leaves or the older leaves?

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ng/45119-seachem-dosing-calculator-chart.html


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

All of them really. It seems to affect more of the submersed leaves rather than the floating leaves.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

Have you changed anything?

Is anything eating it?

Are you doing weekly water changes? How much?

It may be another problem if the holes are on all the leaves. Potassium is a very mobile nutrient and it shows up in older leaves.

Can you do a large water change plus a trim of all the bad leaves soon? This will reset your aquarium.

You are dosing much more F. Potassium than Seachem recommends. Too much K can cause Mg and Ca deficiencies. Cut your F. Potassium dosing by 50%.

Add ½ tsp of Epsom Salt (MgSO4∙7H2O) 1x a week. This is best done on your weekly water change day. 

Are you dosing F. Iron on the days that you are dosing F. Phosphorus? If you are, don't dose F. Iron on the same days. Try dosing 2 ml of F. Iron every day except for the days that you dose F. Phosphorus.

Increase your F. Nitrogen and F. Phosphorus dosings from 1 ml 2x week to 1.5 ml 2x week.

Try this for 3 weeks.

This is getting you a little closer to what Seachem recommends. This is cutting your dosing of K and increasing the Mg, Fe, N and P dosings.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

Ok let's see...

Nothing's really changed at all and nothing is eating it.

Doing 40% weekly water changes

Right now, only two leaves (about 20 total) have holes, the spreading has slowed down significantly since I upped K dosing. I'll back it off for a couple of weeks to see what happens.

I was adding 2ml of Iron 3x a week (Flourish Dosing Chart says daily), and the Lotus was sending up fiery-red leaves, but they quickly died off. My assumption was that those new leaves weren't getting enough light (2.4wpg), so I lowered the Iron to 1ml 2x a week. The leaves have since dulled, but are living much longer.

What effect does Iron have on Phosphorus that you shouldn't dose them on the same day (just curious about that) 
I'll change my dosing with those two and Nitrogen around to what you recommended and try to find some Epsom salts. 

Ok, changing the subject a bit...
All the Lotus' leaves now are red-brown-greenish but occasionally, it will send up a bright red leaf. These tend to die off fairly quickly, but any idea why it does this? I don't have a spike in any nutrient to trigger this, it just kinda happens randomly.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

legomaniac89 said:


> ... Right now, only two leaves (about 20 total) have holes, the spreading has slowed down significantly since I upped K dosing...


How long have you been dosing the elevated K levels?

If you are seeing an improvement with what you are doing now and everything else is OK; don't change anything until you know that it isn't working. Give it time to settle down before you change anything. Three to Four weeks is a good time frame to see any changes.



legomaniac89 said:


> What effect does Iron have on Phosphorus that you shouldn't dose them on the same day (just curious about that) ...


From what I understand, the two bind to form a compound that's not very water soluble and not very available for aquarium plants to use.

I've read that you can dose Fe and P on the same day if you wait several hours between dosing them or if you are only dosing a very small amount. Most people just dose them on separate days.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

I've been dosing the K higher than normal for about two weeks now and the spreading hasn't stopped, but has slowed drastically. 

Also, no new leaves have holes, so maybe it was K? The higher dosing seems to be working somewhat. Hopefully it isn't just temporary.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

I've found that my _Barclaya longifolia_ will get pinholes much sooner than any of the other plants that I have. I just dose a little extra K mid week and it's OK


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

So maybe whenever I see holes forming, dose K a little higher than normal for that day? 2ml a day seems to be working fairly well, so I'll keep that for a while and see what happens.


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

legomaniac89 said:


> So maybe whenever I see holes forming, dose K a little higher than normal for that day? 2ml a day seems to be working fairly well, so I'll keep that for a while and see what happens.


"If it's not broke, don't fix it!"

I listed alternatives, but if what you are doing is working just fine; keep it up.

Good luck!


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## Left C (Jun 14, 2005)

legomaniac89 said:


> So maybe whenever I see holes forming, dose K a little higher than normal for that day? 2ml a day seems to be working fairly well, so I'll keep that for a while and see what happens.


 You want to figure out a dosing plan that will prevent holes.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

Like I said, all the new leaves now don't have holes, so maybe it's working. I'll try to keep you updated on it for the next couple of weeks and hopefully, no more holes.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 19, 2008)

OK it's definitely a Potassium def. I was gone over the weekend and couldn't dose the normal nutrients. I don't dose N P or Fe over the weekend, so I know that wasn't it and my co2 was running. 

When I got back, the Lotus had several new holes on some leaves and now that I am dosing normally, the holes have stopped growing again.
Any suggestions, other than dose K every day for the rest of my life?


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## kekon (Aug 1, 2005)

Dosing after each water change could be more convenient. It's good to add K for changed water volume so one would be sure there will not be more K in a tank than the dose added.


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