Hi mate,
It's entirely possible that the dirt you describe is actually one of the 10,000 species of diatomic algae. Also, it's entirely possible that the reason for the diatom bloom is the light increase from 30% to 40%.
When you plants are exhibiting poor growth performance lighting should always be at the very bottom of the list of possible causes. At the very top of the list should always be CO2, then fertilizer, followed by flow/distribution.
Additionally, one of the many reasons that plants turn red is that hobbyists pummel them with too much light and the plant produces pigments in response to the bombardment to reflect the light away from the leaf in order to protect it from radiation poisoning. Up to a certain point the effect, for us, is one of aesthetics as we like to see the interesting colors, but it is not always a good thing. Therefore, red plants do not "like" lots of light. If the plant is red by design then it normally needs more CO2 than green plants. You really need to step away from the whole light loving Klingon megawatt mentality because this causes nothing but grief.
Didn't you just have a CO2 problem which caused melting? And then you increased the light, which causes a CO2 demand increase? Not good mate. CO2 grows plants. There is absolutely no such thing as "light loving" plants. Only Klingons believe that.
Do more water changes and when you do, ensure that they are as large as possible. Using your fingers, preen and clean the leaves, rubbing them to dislodge the slimy film coating the leaves. The mass of plant tissue that you have in the tank is much greater than you had before, both above the substrate and BELOW. All those roots and leaves now demand more CO2 than they did before. You can reduce the plant mass above by trimming, and you can uproot the crypts and swords, cut the roots back to within a few inches and replant to control the plant mass below the substrate. This will help to reduce the CO2 demand. Definitely clean the filter.
Fix your CO2 as described above using a combination of injection rate increase and liquid carbon if possible. When CO2 is fixed you will see a performance boost.
Cheers,
It's entirely possible that the dirt you describe is actually one of the 10,000 species of diatomic algae. Also, it's entirely possible that the reason for the diatom bloom is the light increase from 30% to 40%.
When you plants are exhibiting poor growth performance lighting should always be at the very bottom of the list of possible causes. At the very top of the list should always be CO2, then fertilizer, followed by flow/distribution.
Additionally, one of the many reasons that plants turn red is that hobbyists pummel them with too much light and the plant produces pigments in response to the bombardment to reflect the light away from the leaf in order to protect it from radiation poisoning. Up to a certain point the effect, for us, is one of aesthetics as we like to see the interesting colors, but it is not always a good thing. Therefore, red plants do not "like" lots of light. If the plant is red by design then it normally needs more CO2 than green plants. You really need to step away from the whole light loving Klingon megawatt mentality because this causes nothing but grief.
Didn't you just have a CO2 problem which caused melting? And then you increased the light, which causes a CO2 demand increase? Not good mate. CO2 grows plants. There is absolutely no such thing as "light loving" plants. Only Klingons believe that.
Do more water changes and when you do, ensure that they are as large as possible. Using your fingers, preen and clean the leaves, rubbing them to dislodge the slimy film coating the leaves. The mass of plant tissue that you have in the tank is much greater than you had before, both above the substrate and BELOW. All those roots and leaves now demand more CO2 than they did before. You can reduce the plant mass above by trimming, and you can uproot the crypts and swords, cut the roots back to within a few inches and replant to control the plant mass below the substrate. This will help to reduce the CO2 demand. Definitely clean the filter.
Fix your CO2 as described above using a combination of injection rate increase and liquid carbon if possible. When CO2 is fixed you will see a performance boost.
Cheers,