Stunted growth with plants??

Ramphonic

Ramphonic

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Mar 31, 2009
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Lately Ive noticed something has changed in my 29g. I was having great growth for 8+ months but now something in the tank has changed..

To give a little background about a year ago I changed my tank over to planted.. I bought a 1x55 Ahsupply kit and retrofit it into my AGA hood. It was very bright. I bought a nice plant package but saw no growth. The plants all got infested with BBA. I was literally throwing handfuls of Plants away (I tried peroxide and bleach dipping to no success). At this same time I was trying DIY CO2 but it didnt help. Something clicked I ended up removing the reflector from the hood. The plants took off and grew like weeds. After I removed the reflector I also removed the CO2 as I was not getting my numbers high enough with the HOB filter I have

A year has passed since I put that light in.. At first I though it was the bulb coming to the end of it lifes but i replaced it about a month ago.

I am currently using A few flourish tabs here and there. Flourish, Flourish excel and some NPK after water changes which I am changing 40-50% of the water weekly. The water is about 78-79, nuetral with 10-15ppm nitrate (just started bumping it up even more), 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia. The bulb is 6700k and I have it on for 8 hours a day.

I am thinking about putting the reflector back in but disconnecting one of the red wires going to the bulb (Kim at Ah supply says it will reduce output from 55 to 40 watts) not sure if it would help though

Any ideas?
 
What kind of plants?? Are you "root" feeding??
 
Several types of hygros, rotala, a sword and within the last few weeks sags and a small crypt.

I have been putting some API and FLourish Tabs in there.
 
Well, only the sword would require "root" food.

CO2 and Lights and ferts go hand-in-hand. What is your GH and KH?? How are you adding carbon??
 
Not sure of the GH KH. But if it helps my ramshorns shells erode very quickly

I am now using excel on a regular basis
 
Ramphonic said:
Lately Ive noticed something has changed in my 29g. I was having great growth for 8+ months but now something in the tank has changed..

To give a little background about a year ago I changed my tank over to planted.. I bought a 1x55 Ahsupply kit and retrofit it into my AGA hood. It was very bright. I bought a nice plant package but saw no growth. The plants all got infested with BBA. I was literally throwing handfuls of Plants away (I tried peroxide and bleach dipping to no success). At this same time I was trying DIY CO2 but it didnt help. Something clicked I ended up removing the reflector from the hood. The plants took off and grew like weeds. After I removed the reflector I also removed the CO2 as I was not getting my numbers high enough with the HOB filter I have

A year has passed since I put that light in.. At first I though it was the bulb coming to the end of it lifes but i replaced it about a month ago.

I am currently using A few flourish tabs here and there. Flourish, Flourish excel and some NPK after water changes which I am changing 40-50% of the water weekly. The water is about 78-79, nuetral with 10-15ppm nitrate (just started bumping it up even more), 0 nitrite and 0 ammonia. The bulb is 6700k and I have it on for 8 hours a day.

I am thinking about putting the reflector back in but disconnecting one of the red wires going to the bulb (Kim at Ah supply says it will reduce output from 55 to 40 watts) not sure if it would help though

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Light => drives CO2 uptake/demand, which in turn, => drives nutrient uptake and demand.

Thinking about this:
Removing the reflector did what?
How might using less light influence managing the CO2?
Would it make it easier, or harder?

Do you waste more gas at 80mph or at 40mph? Which is easier and safer to drive at?

What happens when your tank is going along, and the % biomass increases a great deal, but you add no more light, and no more CO2/nutrients?

Stunted tips are good sign it's CO2, you can easily rule out nutrients, simply dose EI and you are already doing the 50% weekly water changes, so change and watch that CO2 closer. Less light + non limiting nutrient, not much is left other than good CO2......

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
I never got good CO2 saturation with my HOB penguin filter. I understand that it is degassing with the surface movement. Is there any way to do it with my current filter?? I was using a reactor on a powerhead

Thanks
 
i agree with tom and think that it may be possible to handle adding co2 with increased aeration in your current setup. i think it's worth a shot. otherwise it'd probably be necessary to invest in a new filter as well as co2 injection.

nutrients and light demand would have to be ruled out to even experiment.

i am basing this on the fact that you say you had good growth for quite some time without added co2 so you can't be too far off of what you need in any direction i'd think.
 
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