Morgan Freeman
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Oh and thanks for the help.
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Woah green algae!
- Thread starter Morgan Freeman
- Start date
Yeah, 22 watts of T5 is a LOT of light for a 5 gallon tank at startup. I would shut down one light for now until you get better plant health. It might easily be that your injection rate is insufficient. I'm afraid I cannot say with certainty regarding the dosage. It appears to be a variant of JamesC's all-in-one, but no quantities are visible on that page.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Morgan Freeman
Member
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2010
- Messages
- 631
Small update. co2 rate kept the same but light levels halved. Dosing increased. Had a play around with the flow a bit aswell.
Plants are growing, apart from the crypts but well, they're crypts so not too concerned. Rotala Rotifunda is growing like mad and has reached the surface again, leaves are also looking ever so slightly healthier, but still too early to be confident I have things correct. I haven't had any plant die off nor any more algae problems.
Fingers crossed I'm at least on the right path.
Plants are growing, apart from the crypts but well, they're crypts so not too concerned. Rotala Rotifunda is growing like mad and has reached the surface again, leaves are also looking ever so slightly healthier, but still too early to be confident I have things correct. I haven't had any plant die off nor any more algae problems.
Fingers crossed I'm at least on the right path.
Yes grasshopper, I can assure you that this is the right path. As you can see, halving the light did nothing to stifle your Rotala growth. This should be proof positive that you do not need megawatts of light. Whenever the photonic energy input to the tank exceeds the ability of the plants to assimilate that energy, then problems arise immediately. The damage caused by the photon bombardment of light is called photoinhibition.
Photoinhibition occurs all the time, regardless of light intensity, because it is a function of the number of photon hits the chloroplast absorbs. The photosynthetic reaction centres of the chloroplasts have the capability to repair the damage, but when the light intensity is too high, then essentially, the rate of damage to the photosystems exceeds the rate of repair. This leads inevitably to a reduction in food production via an inability to use the CO2 that you are injecting because of this damage rate.
When you tank is immature it means that the plants have not yet developed a strategy for dealing with the billions of photon collisions. The photosystems therefore get damaged easily and the plant loses weight rapidly.
People are never taught to think about this stuff. Instead they are taught to think only in terms of maximal photon torpedo bombardment as if they were some kind of arms dealer in a war between The Klingons and The Romulans.
Give your plants a break by keeping the lighting low. This will reduce the photosystem damage, will allow the damaged chloroplast proteins to recycle/repair and will lower the super-oxide and free radical damage that occurs when the photosystem food production line falls off the rails. Within a few months the system will have enough muscles to cope with increased lighting.
Cheers,
Photoinhibition occurs all the time, regardless of light intensity, because it is a function of the number of photon hits the chloroplast absorbs. The photosynthetic reaction centres of the chloroplasts have the capability to repair the damage, but when the light intensity is too high, then essentially, the rate of damage to the photosystems exceeds the rate of repair. This leads inevitably to a reduction in food production via an inability to use the CO2 that you are injecting because of this damage rate.
When you tank is immature it means that the plants have not yet developed a strategy for dealing with the billions of photon collisions. The photosystems therefore get damaged easily and the plant loses weight rapidly.
People are never taught to think about this stuff. Instead they are taught to think only in terms of maximal photon torpedo bombardment as if they were some kind of arms dealer in a war between The Klingons and The Romulans.
Give your plants a break by keeping the lighting low. This will reduce the photosystem damage, will allow the damaged chloroplast proteins to recycle/repair and will lower the super-oxide and free radical damage that occurs when the photosystem food production line falls off the rails. Within a few months the system will have enough muscles to cope with increased lighting.
Cheers,
Morgan Freeman
Member
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2010
- Messages
- 631
Awesome explanation. Thankyou!
I think my problem was I wasn't aware just how much light I was blasting my tank with!
I think my problem was I wasn't aware just how much light I was blasting my tank with!
bigmatt
Member
Re: Woah green algae
I made exactly the same mistake. The best analogy i can think of is a car accelerator - you don't want to put your foot to the floor unless the whole system is balanced, as you tend to end up with a greasy unpleasant mess!
M
I made exactly the same mistake. The best analogy i can think of is a car accelerator - you don't want to put your foot to the floor unless the whole system is balanced, as you tend to end up with a greasy unpleasant mess!
M
Morgan Freeman
Member
- Joined
- 16 Aug 2010
- Messages
- 631
Live and learn!
I'd rather make mistakes and learn from them than just striking lucky with my first tank without knowing what why. Made my first trim of the Rotala tonight and cut and replanted some "I forget the name". I would take pics but 1) tank isn't up to scratch yet 2) I'm still learning with the new camera.
I'd rather make mistakes and learn from them than just striking lucky with my first tank without knowing what why. Made my first trim of the Rotala tonight and cut and replanted some "I forget the name". I would take pics but 1) tank isn't up to scratch yet 2) I'm still learning with the new camera.
