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Q U E S T Newsletter of the Madison Aquatic Gardeners Club, 10/11/02 From: John Glaeser 233-5182 It’s here! Aquarium Plants by Christel Kasselmann. With 525 color photographs, this book profiles 300 aquarium plants, discusses ecological factors, flower biology, morphology and reproduction methods. The author shares her experience from over 30 plant-collecting expeditions in the tropics. Professional botanists and amateur aquarium keepers will find this book indispensable. We should have a half a dozen copies at the October 24 club meeting. Look for a session with small groups, each focusing on a specific feature of the book, followed by a brief report to the rest of us. Main event for the coming meeting is the 8 tank aquarium plant experiment we launched in September. We’ll peruse it, review accumulated data and share speculations. Very early on I was amazed at how much the GH and KH levels went down. The four tanks with hard water sported white floating scum. I’d like to share a Tom Givnish view on this point: “As our water comes out of the local dolomite aquifer, it has a very high charge of calcium and magnesium bicarbonates. As you know, there is a thermodynamic equilibrium between the concentrations of bicarbonate (HCO3) and dissolved CO2 (carbonic acid); as one removes one of these from solution, more carbon moves over from the other compartment until equilibrium is established. Basically, our water comes to the surface with the equivalent of 8 to 10 times the current atmospheric concentration of CO2. Once exposed, this water will degas, and calcium and magnesium carbonate will precipitate as a scum (all that film in our showers and bathtubs has to come from somewhere!). I suspect that this is what happened with the aquaria filled with hard water. To be sure, I'd fill one tank with hard water and nothing more, to ensure that no geochemical or biogeochemical reaction involving the sediment and/or plants was involved. (Subsequently, I tried the water only test. No discernable precipitation or scum resulted. I suspect an interaction with the substrate). In nature, such calcium carbonate precipitation around springheads from calcareous bedrock can co-precipitate phosphorus (P). Thus, in our local fens, plant growth around the springheads is often very reduced, even though those micro sites are "mineral-rich". P is often the element most limiting plant growth in aquatic systems, and often the second most limiting element in terrestrial systems. The crystalline waters of Silver Springs and other gorgeous springs in northern and central Florida probably result from calcium carbonate precipitation "scrubbing" the water of P, and essentially eliminating algal growth - the bedrock in much of Florida is an "oolite", a highly calcareous marl derived from old coral reefs and from calcium carbonate floc that precipitating from plankton and from sea grasses in warm, shallow tropical seas.” Gordon Hartmann and I came in the last two Saturdays to test water parameters of each tank, make visual inspections and discuss the project status. We noted soft, fuzzy alga on the epidermis, top surfaces of some Ludwigia leaves. The one tank with the least algae was the one having two snails. They hitched a ride at planting time. Decision: fetch some snails from the 20 gallon SH tank and put two snails into each of the remaining seven tanks. Last week’s surprise was the doubling of nitrate levels and the reduction of iron by half. October 5, I added the right amount of iron complex, it seemed. However, I misjudged the nitrate. We need to discover the appropriate fertilization routine. Conductivity, TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) is increasing throughout all 8 tanks. Example: Tank 1 was 245.5 ppm on 10/5 and 274 ppm on 10/12. Next weekend (Friday 18 – Sunday 20) I’m in California. If you want to help Gordon with data collecting, check with him. 222-9758 . That fine gravel Dave Stalowski brought in for the 8 tank experiment is #40 Red Flint, from Soils and Engineering, 1102 Stewart Street, Madison, 274-7511. This is the only place Dave could find it locally. Judging from the heroic root development of Echinodorus tennellus from his tanks, the small grain size allows for expansive root development. AQUATIC PLANTS MAILING LIST: Here is a nifty space to pick up planted aquaria questions and answers. Example: post of 8/26/02 (Re: NO3 and NH and algae) from Thomas Barr. (I won’t include the text here, because it goes on and on). THE AQUATIC GARDENERS ASSOCIATION: Good links and check out information about the November 8 – 10 AGA convention in Houston. If you have anything you’d like to include in the next newsletter, let me know…..John
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