Hi All,
Since setting up my tank months ago with 4 x TMC Grobeam 600's over a Juwel 180L I've been battling hard to get the Lighting vs CO2 balance right along with my EI dosing.
Initially I started off with all 4 lights set to 30% brightness for 5 hours a day but it melted a lot of my plants eventually even though I have good flow and good CO2 (Green drop checker and a full 1 point drop in PH).
So I gradually dropped the lighting levels and I'm currently running all lights at 8% brightness and this is now at the point where plants have stopped melting rapidly and I "think" the plants I have left are stable. the problem is that I'm not seeing any real growth and the stem plants are not putting out any roots at the base.
The lights are mounted only a few CM above the water which is why I have 4 of the Growbeams as that amount is needed to cover the substrate. I understand that this is massive overkill and they will never get put on 100% brightness however I didn't expect them to only get up to 8% brightness. This is my first foray into LED and I never had such problems using the old 4 x T8 tubes of old.
Can anyone give me some advice as to how I can get better growth without melting the plants like I did before? I'm reluctant to invest in more plants until I can get the growth nailed on. I would assume increasing the lighting might be the answer?
I should add that I I'm filtering with an Eheim Pro 3 which has over 10x tank turnover per hour and also supplemented by a mid sized Koralia.
Since setting up my tank months ago with 4 x TMC Grobeam 600's over a Juwel 180L I've been battling hard to get the Lighting vs CO2 balance right along with my EI dosing.
Initially I started off with all 4 lights set to 30% brightness for 5 hours a day but it melted a lot of my plants eventually even though I have good flow and good CO2 (Green drop checker and a full 1 point drop in PH).
So I gradually dropped the lighting levels and I'm currently running all lights at 8% brightness and this is now at the point where plants have stopped melting rapidly and I "think" the plants I have left are stable. the problem is that I'm not seeing any real growth and the stem plants are not putting out any roots at the base.
The lights are mounted only a few CM above the water which is why I have 4 of the Growbeams as that amount is needed to cover the substrate. I understand that this is massive overkill and they will never get put on 100% brightness however I didn't expect them to only get up to 8% brightness. This is my first foray into LED and I never had such problems using the old 4 x T8 tubes of old.
Can anyone give me some advice as to how I can get better growth without melting the plants like I did before? I'm reluctant to invest in more plants until I can get the growth nailed on. I would assume increasing the lighting might be the answer?
I should add that I I'm filtering with an Eheim Pro 3 which has over 10x tank turnover per hour and also supplemented by a mid sized Koralia.
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