[HD Blazingwolf]

so i started a 29g almost a year ago and flourite worked great. i've kept up on EI dosing an droot tabs.

MY rotala is becomming a sad pathetic excuse for its former glory

evreything that grows is week and puny... my ludwigia is doing that same.. im lost as to why this is happening

 

[wkndracer]

possibly the substrate is becoming mulm packed?

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

i will consider that but i do a gravel vac occasionally.. even around plants

 

[wkndracer]

the only other thought I had was bulb age, good luck
running along great then stumbling can be frustrating

 

[iKine]

the only other thought I had was bulb age, good luck
running along great then stumbling can be frustrating

+1 on that

 

[mountaindew]

Imho, I have this problem every summer because the water becomes very hard and temps in the tank are on warm side causing the plants to suffer because of this.
The systems I use r.o. water on do not have this problem.
As for flourite, Its just gravel that in theory might release some iron for use by the plants but nothing else. So imho thats not going to be the problem if you dose npk and csmb.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

for sure.. its not the bulbs!!! i put in a new tek fixture with 4 new bulbs ( i only use 2 ) this past week LOLS

 

[Hoppy]

A 29 gallon tank with a two bulb Tek fixture is going to be very hard to keep going well. That is just way too much light. The faster growing, more aggressive plants may be able to make it, but not the slow growing ones, and algae, especially BBA is likely to be a constant problem. You will need very high CO2 concentration too.

 

[kevmo911]

Is it possible your tank now has more plant mass than what you've been dosing for, for the past year?

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

bba is not a problem at all.. the fixture is raised 7 inches above tank.. it appears i have less light than both my coralife fixtures.. its just a lot more even.. the tops of plants are a lot less algae prone now..

it is possible there is too much plant mass.. when i test nitrates im around 20-40 ppm (api color scale stinks) p04 is rather high 5-10

i haven't tested anything else.. i recently switched from spray bar to lily pipe and fro mcerge reactor to atomic inline diffuser.. im hoping to get a little better spread of nutrients and c02 in the tank..

edit: c02 concentrations stay high from 1 hour before lights on to right when lights out

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

does hard water affect plant growth?

 

[Kathyy]

My tank does better with GH booster even though my water has a good bit of hardness. It is hard to believe even with my regular large water changes that the plants are using up the calcium and magnesium in the tap water but maybe they are. Rotala is one that stopped stunting once I dosed with GH booster.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

just curious then because my GH is 5.. and i feel like when i started dosing gh booster that's when things started going downhill..
i've even upped my c02

i have REDICULOUS pearling. i know that doesn't necessarily mean happy plants but without proper nutrients i didn't think they would pearl..

 

[KH2PO4]

How do you trim them?
After 4-5 times of trimming, old bases won't grow healthy shoots anymore.
You have to replant tops.

 

[plantbrain]

Lulls in growth are typically CO2 related.......

you can easily rule it out by simply dosing enough, then light is good.....well....not much left........CO2 tweak time.

 

[HD Blazingwolf]

yeah im feeling i havent adjusted to my new lights yet.. i should have known better. i still need to raise my lights a few more inches and up the c02 a tad