# Watersprite



## jrings (May 11, 2005)

Matt gave me some watersprite a couple of months ago but either my fish are slowly eating it or it is slowly loosing the leaves/branches. I have a 150gallon with pressurized co2 and 2 96 watt cf light fixtures. Any suggestions. I really like the watersprite but I can't seem to figure out why every time I look at my overflow I have a small twig of the plant hanging on it. The leaves or branches (i don't really know what to call them) seem to be coming off starting at the bottom of the plant an going up toward the top. I have to admit that I cannot seem to get a good fertilizing schedule down. Every time I check the levels they are different. Help...


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Water Sprite does tend to lose some leaves/stems, at least it does for me  I always seem to have some floating around in my 55g tank. The loss of lower leaves may simply be the result of the upper leaves shading them. Have you tried uprooting them and trimming off the naked stems and re-planting the tops?

What kind of fish do you have in the tank...I don't remember right now 

A good fertilization schedule will go a long way to helping the plants grow also. Plants prefer consistency so we can work on your fert schedule and come up with something you and the plants can live with.

Go to Tom Barr's site and read this article if you haven't already:

http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1

It explains fertilizing pretty good and also talks about testing, mostly the lack of it 

He doesn't give recommendations on fert dosing but we can work on that! Consistency will go a long way in a planted tank...


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

You may also want to consider upgrading or adding more light to your tank. 150 gallon with 196 watts is barely over 1wpg. Watersprite, while easy needs more than that.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Hey Joe,

Does your Water Sprite look like the pic below? The leaf drop on mine is due to shading from the upper stems/leaves shading the lower ones. Not much you can do except trim it back. I don't think your light level is too low, I grew it in a 75g with 136w of normal output flourescent lights. It grew very well, but very slowly. That can be a blessing at times though


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## Simpte 27 (Jul 16, 2004)

Without penetrating lighting, you will have to keep it trimmed, otherwise that will happen. When I was growing the stuff, I had to cut it at least once a week. Keep it thinned out on the top and it should fill in nicely.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Joe,

In reading through your first post again, I realized no one answered your plea for help with dosing  Finding a simple schedule that you can stick with and making it part of your daily routine is what is important. 

For your lighting level, I would start with a dosing schedule of:

Day 1 - 3/4 tsp KNO3 and 1/8 tsp of KH2PO4
Day 2 - 15ml of CSM+B or other traces
Day 3 - 3/4 tsp KNO3 and 1/8 tsp of KH2PO4
Day 4 - 15ml of CSM+B or other traces
Day 5 - 3/4 tsp KNO3 and 1/8 tsp of KH2PO4
Day 6 - 15ml of CSM+B or other traces
Day 7 - 50% water change and start dosing according to Day 1 schedule

Based on a total of 150g of water (your tank is probably closer to 130 actual gallons but don't forget to add in the volume in your sump) and not the actual volume:

3/4 tsp KNO3 ~ 5ppm of NO3
1 tsp KNO3 ~ 6ppm of NO3

1/8 tsp KH2PO4 ~ 0.8ppm PO4
1/4 tsp KH2PO4 ~ 1.6ppm PO4

You can adjust these numbers up or down as needed for plant growth. Try not to dose via test results though. Do a water change, follow the schedule for a week, and if you want to test, do it before the next water change. That will tell you how much NO3 and PO4 the tank used for the week (assuming you know the water values before you start dosing). 

If you don't want to test the water, simply do another water change and follow the schedule again. The 50% water change will remove 50% of the excess fertilizer in the tank and give you a fresh start again. It should provide plenty of fertilizers to get you started and get you comfortable with the routing. As the plants grow and you acquire mor you may want to up the above amounts.

Again, the formation of a routine will help you out more than anything else. Most things in life are based on a routine so why should fertilizing your tank be any different?


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