There are a few things missing.
1. What is your lights on period?
2. Water change schedule?
3. Fertilizing regime?
4. With such a tall tank a par rating at the substrate would be good but difficult to get without data from the company or a par meter.
I notice you have a lot of crypts in there. What substrate are you using and are you using root tabs of some sort? Crypts are heavy root feeders and might require more nutrients there.
1. They are on 6-8 hours a day. Longer on weekends.
2. 30% weekly.
3.
Thrive+ 2 times weekly, sometimes a 3rd dosing if I test and the levels are low.
4. Ya, I reached out to them for more data about the light but they weren't very helpful. I have some interesting growth patterns, such as a Hygro that stayed compact but very short. As in, 2" from the substrate, at about 1" of growth every 2 months. Oddly, the plant looks great. It just won't grow tall.
The crypts are thriving, not sure why but they seem happy. I've noticed once they got more light, they seemed to spread their leaves, out, which is the opposite of what I was expecting. I thought they would stretch when I restricted the light. I had one in shade under the lotus and one in open light. The one in the shade was compact, the other spread out. When I trimmed the lotus back, the compact one got more light and spread it's leaves as well. Lots of new growth on the bottom. I find random crypts all around the tank, which is neat...not sure how they spread 2ft from the mother plant but I enjoy= looking for them.
The substrate is Flourite red with a regular store bought brown pebble on top. I use Seachem flourish tabs once every 3-6 months, but I recently bought some cheaper Oscomote+ tabs from a fellow hobbyist and am going to try those this time. It's been about 2 months since I last added a tab.
I am trying to hold off on CO2 until I move and have a better idea of what my finances look like. $300 or so CDN isn't a backbreaking investment or anything, but trying to play it conservatively right now.
