Weekly update
Planting
E. Quin looks like its not going to make and was weakened by the 72hr blackout. It was in submersed form and maybe I should have gone for an emersed sample instead. Tropica TC
E.Cinerum appeared in my LFS so I decided to get some. Also added some more emersed
L. 'Guinea' just to see if they will turn out better than the current ones which keep on losing lower leaves.
Bucephelandra 'Mini Catherinae' appeared in my LFS and I just had to get it because its leaves look very different (i.e. the 'mini' type)
Moved some
P. Palustris to my low tech shrimp tank to make space for
Rotala Wallichii. Got a whole emersed bunch at a good price. As there wasn't space for all of them in the tank, I planted the extra emersed stems in a pot with my other emersed plants but all of them wilted except one. As for the ones in the tank, they are in the process of converting and oddly, the new growth has very similar colours to the Pantanal (yellow with orange accents).
I am so happy that the 72 hour blackout made all my stem plants such as the
L Super Reds grow straight up. Forrtunately, they're still growing straight. Fingers crossed.
My
R. Floridas are a lost cause. gH 8 is evidently not enough and the stems have all shed their lower leaves., but at least there is new growth.
Water Column
After the 72-hr blackout, I am keeping the LED lights at a much lower intensity, roughly
40% for the front with the Buces, and
45% for the back with the stem plants. While CO2 is unchanged, I decided to reduce the ferts to follow the manufacturer's recommended dosage, which in this case is 2ml daily of APT EI for 100 litres. In addition, I'm also dosing 5g Equilibrium, 1g CaCl2 weekly with water change to bring gH from 6 to 8.
So my weekly dosing (APT EI + Equilibrium) appears to be roughly:
- 13 ppm N
- 4.2 ppm P
- 26 ppm K
- 2.6 ppm Mg
- 0.5 ppm Fe
Even with the Mg from Equilibrium, my Mg dosing is still quite a bit lower than "EI Dosing Mid" (i.e. since I'm using lower lighting, I'm using the "EI Dosing Mid" in the IFC spreadsheet for reference). After reading plantnoobdude's posts, maybe I should start looking out for Mg deficiency and get ready to add some Magnesium Sulphate...