sisko said:
ceg4048 said:
The dirty pads are an indication that your plants are producing a lot of organic waste, perhaps more that you had originally anticipated. The higher the light and growth rates, the higher the waste production.
Hmm. I have a few question if you don't mind?
Can this waste deposit on the leafs? That would explain why some older leafs look unhealthy and dark.
Hi sisko,
Organic waste includes lots of things such as simple rotting bits of leaf or stem, but it also includes carbohydrates, proteins and lipids ejected from the leaf. These do tend to settle on the leaf surface and can have the effect of blocking nutrient and CO2 uptake. It's a good ides to shake the plants regularly and to preen them like a bird preens it feathers. This removes the debris, detritus and the biofilm which coats the submerged surfaces. However, dark or unhealthy looking leaves are a sign of poor CO2 primarily, and possibly other dosing or flow related issues.
sisko said:
Is this waste producing traceable to unbalanced nutrient levels or general plant health? Will this level ever drop once everything settled down or it will stay/raise?
Well, consider this: If you feed your fish twice as much don't they grow faster and produce twice as much feces and urine? Organic waste is a fact of life and all living things uptake nutrients and discard those substances which are the byproduct of their metabolism. It should come as no surprise therefore that the more you feed your plants and the faster they grow, the more waste will be produced. There's no getting around that except to lower the growth rate. That is accomplished by having a low light low growth tank. This in effect is the allure of the non-CO2 injected, low light, so-called "natural" planted tanks. They require very little maintenance because their growth rates are 5X-10X lower than in high light injected tanks. Low growth rates equal low waste production rates. Poor nutrition in high light tanks cause all sorts of problems including unscheduled ejection of substances, but this is a different issue.
sisko said:
If I did 2-3 big water changes for a few weeks that obviously would help, but lets say after a month or two I came back to the 1x a week standard. What would happen than?
It might be helpful to substitute the word "puppy" for "plants" in this analogy. If growth continues then it is logical that waste production continues. This is not a one shot deal. This is a complex living system so doing extra water changes is great but just doing a few extra water changes for some weeks won't convince your plants to suddenly stop growing. Growth equals waste production. Faster growth equals faster waste production.
sisko said:
I guess the best option would be an extra filter...
Well, I'm a filter fanatic and they don't make filters big enough for me in this country but if you didn't want to go that route you's have to consider more (or larger volume) water changes and/or more frequent filter cleaning. I squeeze, clean and re-use all my pads so I rarely have to by new pads - maybe once or twice a year, but yes I do have a lot of filtration. It's one of the keys to a healthy high light tank.
Cheers,