amateurfishkeeper
Member
- Joined
- 30 May 2015
- Messages
- 26
I've been trying to understand what's going on with my plant development since introducing pressurised CO2. My assessment of its effect since using it is that it's been slightly worse than before using it. Obviously, I blame myself first for this rather than blaming CO2 because I'm obviously doing something wrong.
I've tried to tick every possible box.
1) Using EI dosing through the Aquarium Plant Food website's materials and method (Is this wrong?)
2) Flow throughout the tank (every plant sways, substrate looks clean)
3) A strict lighting / CO2 schedule through the day (10 hours light, 10 hours CO2 coming on two hours before lights on and off two hours before lights off (have tweaked this as well)
4) Daily Ph drop from 7.1/2 to 6.6/5 - don't want more CO2 going in because of the deleterious effect it had on stock before. Have a consistent lime green drop checker colour.
There could be something wrong in all that of course and if any sharp-eyed person can see something that's obviously wrong or worth experimenting with, I'd appreciate an idea.
Since most of the key things people talk about seem in place, my focus has been on lighting as the possible issue worth playing with. What I'd like to know is the following:
1) Is less lighting sometimes the solution rather than more ? Not all plants are the same and on the Aqua Essentials website I see that a lot of the plants I have have light requirements in the lower range. Could I have been giving the plants too much light? Is less light sometimes the solution rather than more light?
2) If the tank is in a room with curtains should I be keeping them drawn during the day so that no natural sunlight reaches the tank (it's not directly lit) or is natural light something that needs to be part of the mix?
3) Is ten hours of light too much or too little? Would it be better to experiment with reducing this or increasing it?
With thanks!
I've tried to tick every possible box.
1) Using EI dosing through the Aquarium Plant Food website's materials and method (Is this wrong?)
2) Flow throughout the tank (every plant sways, substrate looks clean)
3) A strict lighting / CO2 schedule through the day (10 hours light, 10 hours CO2 coming on two hours before lights on and off two hours before lights off (have tweaked this as well)
4) Daily Ph drop from 7.1/2 to 6.6/5 - don't want more CO2 going in because of the deleterious effect it had on stock before. Have a consistent lime green drop checker colour.
There could be something wrong in all that of course and if any sharp-eyed person can see something that's obviously wrong or worth experimenting with, I'd appreciate an idea.
Since most of the key things people talk about seem in place, my focus has been on lighting as the possible issue worth playing with. What I'd like to know is the following:
1) Is less lighting sometimes the solution rather than more ? Not all plants are the same and on the Aqua Essentials website I see that a lot of the plants I have have light requirements in the lower range. Could I have been giving the plants too much light? Is less light sometimes the solution rather than more light?
2) If the tank is in a room with curtains should I be keeping them drawn during the day so that no natural sunlight reaches the tank (it's not directly lit) or is natural light something that needs to be part of the mix?
3) Is ten hours of light too much or too little? Would it be better to experiment with reducing this or increasing it?
With thanks!