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Help with rotala, glosso, hm etc

My liquid kh test shows 4-5kh.

The reactor pump is rated at 250gph but after running through the 2foot long rexgrigg reactor it puts out about half of what its rated for.

I will give the plants a little time and see if they perk up.
 
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1 week progess on the baby tears (hm)

I also acquired a rena/api xp4/xl canister filter for a cheap price locally and it is rated for 450gph. Is there any drawbacks to too much flow? Hopefully I can get my carpet to do better without additional powerheads.
 
Dagenfish said:
Is there any drawbacks to too much flow?
Click to expand...
Yes, too much flow can have the same effect as not enough flow. In addition, it can also uproot plants. The idea is to move a large mass of water. The idea is NOT to move water as quickly as possible. If you find that there is too much velocity with the stronger filter, then you can lower the velocity by enlarging the holes in the spraybar.

Cheers,
 
Thanks again for all your help ill update with more pictures in the next week and hopefully the filter will help things.

This is a picture of how things looked before the rescape with circular flow pattern and high surface agitation.
a186865b842bf24330403880b614d553.jpg
 
OK, I'm confused. Why is there a powerhead mounted on the left wall pointing to the right? This conflicts with the flow path of the spraybar...:thumbdown:

Cheers,
 
This was before I switched to spraybars, just comparing my growth from the previous flow pattern to now
 
Oh, OK, got it. Thanks for clarifying.
Sorry, but I'm not really able to tell from the photos whether growth rates are now better or not. If the plants are not melting, are not developing holes and are spreading then you are on the right path. The photos in post #22 appear to show that they are free of holes.

Cheers,
 
Ive increased my surface ripple by raising my spraybars to about 1inch under the water line. This has allowed me to raise co2 and now im dropping ph down to 6.0-6.1 without stressing my fish.

Heres a shot of the surface
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Got the 450gph api/rena canister filter added today and the current is much better. Curious to see how things look in a few days.
 
Growth on the foreground is still terrible, all of the other plants are doing pretty good especially the weedy ones (ludwigia, s.hygro, wisteria). Ive removed driftwood to help with flow and its much easier to work in the tank without it in my way.

I ordered 2 10liter bags of controsoil (like aquasoil/brightwell) and plan on replacing all of my substrate because I really think this is my issue. Everything roots terribly in this eco complete (s. Repens, hm, glosso, tiger lotus, downoi). Ive never tried a true aquarium soil besides dirt capped with sand and the growth was great even using diy co2.

Thoughts/opinions?
 
After changing substrates I still cannot get foreground plants to grow. The 450gph canister ended up blowing the substrate around so i have plenty of damn circulation. I found out I have an internal leak on my single stage regulator and just bought a custom dual stage with a metering valve. I really hope this helps because if it doesnt ill be ditching these spraybars for good.
 
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Fish are gasping/yellow dc all day/very good o2/very good circulation/clay soil/ei dosing/only running 2 t5ho 7hours

Perfect example of how I can grow the background just fine. This has become seriously frustrating at this point I really have not a clue what to do next....
 
Thanks martin, after reading this a thousand times i shouldve known thats really my only option at this point. I have taken out the reflector for the rear bulb and added the frosted plexiglass back to the fixture to take down intensity some. I would guess light has dropped by 25 percent. I will be making up a light hanger soon since I cannot run 1 bulb with this fixture. Then ill really have adjustability.

I appreciate everyone that has helped here so far. I want this thread to prevail!
 
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