I've had my 55 gallon tank up and running for about 2 months now. Everything is doing well (thanks in large part to AC forum members!) but my sunset hygrophilia is a little "leggy" -- not as dense or bushy as I expected or have seen in other pics. New leaves near the bottom of the plant come out looking as you'd expect -- green clusters with pinkish tops and pale veins -- but at the top, it's almost entirely green and the leaves get elongated, almost veinless and lose a lot of the pinkish hue. Any idea what might cause this? I had read that peaks in the red spectrum in my lighting may be a factor. A possibility? None of my other plants seem to exhibit this kind of growth activity. Perhaps I expect it to grow higher than I wanted and it just needs a more radical pruning.
Tank specs: ph 6.6-6.8, kh 7 degrees, compressed CO2, DIY canopy w/ 160 watts of NO flourescent lighting (4 x 40 Philips Daylight Deluxe - 6500 K, CRI approx. 85), 60/40 flourite/gravel substrate with about 2-3 cups of peat layered in the bottom third.
I've managed to get a stable PMDD dosing regimen going that's customized to my tap water so I dose enough to get 20ppm K and 5 pm KNO3 each week with water changes -- Magnesium is 8 ppm out of my tap. Trace elements are part of the mix as well of course.
Whoa, long post. Probably way too much info, but I thought I'd get the potential questions answered now.
TIA,
N.
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