# Water Wisteria, Banana Plants, Nutrient Needs?



## trag (Jan 9, 2008)

The last two times I've added water wisteria to a tank, it has grown like gang busters for about two months and then lost most of its leaves and only had small leaves at the top and maybe a few near the bottom.

The most recent time, I also added a few banana plants at the same time, and they more or less followed suit, although not as dramatically. 

The remaining leaves of both plants look healthy, but the high growth rate is definitely over and the wisteria is mostly stem with a few small whorls of leaves.

Is there some nutrient/trace element (iron perhaps?) which these plants rely on more than others, which might have been exhausted in that time frame? 

I think the collapse might also coincide with when the plants grew too tall and I cut the stems in half and planted the tops. Do they not take well to trimming? I never had this problem with hygrophila polysperma. On the other hand, the trimming correlation could just indicate a point of so much plant mass, that there isn't enough of whatever chemical to sustain that amount of plant mass any more.

The java fern in the tank is doing great, so if the problem is a chemical shortage, either the fern doesn't need as much or it's better at uptake.. 

The tank is a 30 gallon (36" X 12" base) with two 30 watt T8 bulbs on it. I have the stuff to switch to a pair of 39 watt T5HOs but haven't done the work yet. The java fern didn't need the extra light and after I added the wisteria, it was growing so well the first couple of months, I don't think it's a need for more intense light. Light duration is about ten hours a day in two 5 hour blocks. But during the unlit afternoon, there's still moderate ambient light as the room is all windows.

I generally don't do the test/chemicals thing, but I have API test kits. So I tested my water just before the most recent water change (~50% water changes every two weeks). Nitrates were about 50ppm (high, I know; there's about 70 swordtails in there) and phospates I couldn't quite tell. It was above 2ppm and below 10ppm. Judging the exact color match is tricky on that red scale. I've read that iron tests are notoriously unreliable, so I don't know if this matters, but the iron test read as close to zero as it could get. Ammonia and nitrates were zero.

Is there a potassium test kit? I have the API hardness test kit, but I expect that would test for other minerals as well.

So I'm suspecting a need for iron supplements, but I don't know if the grow-for-two-months and then crash is consistent with that possibility or not. Ideas? Suggestions? Theories?

I'm happy to mail order the bulk dry chemicals such as Planted Aquarium Fertilizer sells, but I don't want to do it blindly, so I thought I'd check to see if anyone has some relevant experience with those particular plants.


----------



## Jeffww (May 25, 2010)

What's your fert regimen right now? 

Also, you don't need a K test. It's almost impossible to overdose K. 

If you don't have any ferts I suggest buying Plantex CSM+B, KNO3, and buying KCL from the grocery store as salt substitute for K and fleet enema for phosphates.


----------



## trag (Jan 9, 2008)

Jeffww said:


> What's your fert regimen right now?
> 
> Also, you don't need a K test. It's almost impossible to overdose K.


Ah, thanks. That's good to know. It creates a bit of a problem if one is wondering if they're low, though.

I don't really have a fert regimen yet. I started adding an old Seachem plant supplement I found in my cabinet when the wisteria collapsed, but I may not be adding enough or often enough. It looks like folks dose iron and trace elements every few days and I've just been adding it after the water changes. I also have some Plant Tabs with Iron which look like they're just K and no N or P. Twenty-five years ago Plant Tabs were something like 5 - 15 - 5, but they didn't have iron back then.



Jeffww said:


> If you don't have any ferts I suggest buying Plantex CSM+B, KNO3, and buying KCL from the grocery store as salt substitute for K and fleet enema for phosphates.


That's the direction I'm leaning. However, I don't think I will dose phosphate unless there is an absorbable/non-absorbable dichotomy in phospates. As I wrote in my first message, my phosphates are plenty high according to the test.

My nitrates are also pretty high -- too many fish. So I'm hesitant to use KNO3. I was thinking of using the K2SO4 instead but was wondering if the sulfate would become a problem.


----------



## Jeffww (May 25, 2010)

It's probably a combination of several deficiencies. You need to dose soon. I like EI for smaller tanks.


----------

