At first lush growth then mehhhhh

[john arnold]

Hi
Mostly plant growth is good in all tanks but with stem plants hmmm ….In a new tank I planted some Limnophila hippuridoides and this is the same for pogostoman stellata, it grew realLy beautiful and lush, did the usual trim and replant and looked really lovely, I EI dose and have pressurised co2 running, now after about 3 months it was looking less lush, not so many leaves lower down so I eventually pulled up whole plant and replanted the trimmings. They just don’t grow like they used too and the limnophila has lost a lot of leaves lower down, I planted som nutrition capsules t help, there are a couple of Java ferns that have turned into monsters but they are not shielding the limnophila from the light, it’s like the trimmings DNA is weaker or something, can’t work it out ?..

 

[JoshP12]

@john arnold

Hard to give next steps without full parameters.

But your soil was helping your plants and it can’t keep up anymore (something is “relatively depleted”).

So it’s a matter of deciding what to do next to keep the scape thriving. Had you dosed 1/2 EI - with the soil - you may have lasted a few more months before this post (depending on the rest of your parameters etc).

Just a matter of course “redirection”.

 

[john arnold]

@john arnold

Hard to give next steps without full parameters.

But your soil was helping your plants and it can’t keep up anymore (something is “relatively depleted”).

So it’s a matter of deciding what to do next to keep the scape thriving. Had you dosed 1/2 EI - with the soil - you may have lasted a few more months before this post (depending on the rest of your parameters etc).

Just a matter of course “redirection”.

Hi

Half EI dosing woh, I have not heard of that before, how does that keep the soil going for longer although I thought soil lasts longer than 7months

 

[JoshP12]

Hi

Half EI dosing woh, I have not heard of that before, how does that keep the soil going for longer although I thought soil lasts longer than 7months

Oh ya - you can dose whatever you want really.

Basically the plant just needs nutrients to fulfill its needs and those nutrients come from the water and the soil.

The plant is better at moderating intake from the soil (because roots are better than leaves) so it’s easier to provide abundance in soil nutrients and not “force” growth - but the water column has less leniency … so when we dose EI in the water it has larger impact than EI in the soil - hope that makes sense.

So yep - if you dose less in water, the soil can keep up longer since the nutrient base doesn’t get as depleted quickly (because the immense amount of nutrients in the water are driving growth more than the immense of nutrients in the soil).

The plant is caught in the middle trying to live.

 

[Wookii]

Your issue is likely CO2 distribution, but if would help to post a full tank shot, and some more details about the set-up.

 

[john arnold]

Oh ya - you can dose whatever you want really.

Basically the plant just needs nutrients to fulfill its needs and those nutrients come from the water and the soil.

The plant is better at moderating intake from the soil (because roots are better than leaves) so it’s easier to provide abundance in soil nutrients and not “force” growth - but the water column has less leniency … so when we dose EI in the water it has larger impact than EI in the soil - hope that makes sense.

So yep - if you dose less in water, the soil can keep up longer since the nutrient base doesn’t get as depleted quickly (because the immense amount of nutrients in the water are driving growth more than the immense of nutrients in the soil).

The plant is caught in the middle trying to live.

hi
yes that makes sense now you explained it, almost like lean dosing in a way and i heard this helps with algae too but does not explain the fact i planted some nutrition capsules in soil to help

 

[john arnold]

Your issue is likely CO2 distribution, but if would help to post a full tank shot, and some more details about the set-up.

ok will do, for now as im not in shop today, it is 185l tank rimless with inline co2 injection from a oase biomaster thermo 600 with glass lily pipes both in same position and EI dosing with 40% water change per week and twinstar 900s light 8 hours a day

 

[_Maq_]

I suspect what you described was not caused by nutrient limitation but by substrate overloaded with organic matter, and with high oxygen consumption, as a result.