As the title says I'm doing a wonderful job growing valisneria. It is sending off new runners 2-3 times a week and quickly grows to the surface of the water. However, my dwarf hairgrass, HC and blyxa are not surviving. The hairgrass may look OK in the pictures but it was just planted 3 days ago so time will tell on that. The HC is dead and I'm not seeing any new plantlets growing. No pearling before lights out either. The blyxa has been in the tank for 3 weeks and all it has done is slowly melt away. I'm seeing no new growth on those plants either.
The HC and first batch of DHG were grown emersed in a DSM for 6 weeks and upon filling the tank they died off a little (expected) but then began to grow, slowly, but still growing. I had the CO2 cranked at that point because I had no fauna in the tank. I got a hit of BGA within the first two weeks of being filled which I treated with H2O2 and Excel. It hasn't been back. Now a little hair algae here and there but nothing manual removal or spot treatment can't fix. I think the BGA outbreak and/or treatment may have started the death cycle of the plants. Also at that time I had an unknown CO2 leak and had difficulty maintaining CO2 levels. That has been fixed for a week now and we're looking good with a green drop checker, pH of 6.7 and KH = 5 which on the chart points towards 30 ppm.
Some additional info:
17G tank
24" Finnex Planted Plus
Aquasoil
Lights on 6 hours/day
CO2 comes on 2 hours before, off 30 minutes before lights out.
50% water change weekly
EI Dosing Monday and Wednesday Macros - Tues and Thurs Micros. Dosing for 2 ppm PO4, 9 ppm K and 10 ppm NO3. Although I rarely need to dose nitrates. Tap water tests at 10 ppm NO3.
Speaking of nitrates, I am regularly in the 40-80 ppm range (hard to distinguish between those colors on the card) even though I don't add an KNO3. 0 NH3 and 0 NO2. KH = 5, GH = 8, and PO4 = 0.5. I have a hard time keeping the PO4 up greater than 1 ppm.
Does that fact only vals are growing lead you to any "aha" moments? Do these plants feed differently than the smaller plants?
One more note. My aquasoil was initially set up and a dry start was going when I had to move houses. I put the aquasoil in a bucket (drained but not completely dried) and then didn't get to setting up this current tank for 4 months. Did the fact that the soil sat in a bucket with the lid closed, slightly damp, do anything to harm the nutrient capacity of the soil. It grew plants just fine on the second dry start with the DHG and HC so my thinking is no. And maybe I just had too much trouble controlling CO2 that these plants died off. I should say, the vals were planted as soon as the tank was filled.
OK, long post. Here are some pictures too. Let me know if I forgot any critical tank parameters.
Full tank shot
Right side with the blyxa
Zoomed in on the blyxa
That greener HC is a new planting, don't let it fool you. It has been there for a week and it pearls a bit but I have a hard time keeping it in the soil. Once I can prove that I can grow lower carpeting plants I might go to S. Repens for a foreground plant.
The HC and first batch of DHG were grown emersed in a DSM for 6 weeks and upon filling the tank they died off a little (expected) but then began to grow, slowly, but still growing. I had the CO2 cranked at that point because I had no fauna in the tank. I got a hit of BGA within the first two weeks of being filled which I treated with H2O2 and Excel. It hasn't been back. Now a little hair algae here and there but nothing manual removal or spot treatment can't fix. I think the BGA outbreak and/or treatment may have started the death cycle of the plants. Also at that time I had an unknown CO2 leak and had difficulty maintaining CO2 levels. That has been fixed for a week now and we're looking good with a green drop checker, pH of 6.7 and KH = 5 which on the chart points towards 30 ppm.
Some additional info:
17G tank
24" Finnex Planted Plus
Aquasoil
Lights on 6 hours/day
CO2 comes on 2 hours before, off 30 minutes before lights out.
50% water change weekly
EI Dosing Monday and Wednesday Macros - Tues and Thurs Micros. Dosing for 2 ppm PO4, 9 ppm K and 10 ppm NO3. Although I rarely need to dose nitrates. Tap water tests at 10 ppm NO3.
Speaking of nitrates, I am regularly in the 40-80 ppm range (hard to distinguish between those colors on the card) even though I don't add an KNO3. 0 NH3 and 0 NO2. KH = 5, GH = 8, and PO4 = 0.5. I have a hard time keeping the PO4 up greater than 1 ppm.
Does that fact only vals are growing lead you to any "aha" moments? Do these plants feed differently than the smaller plants?
One more note. My aquasoil was initially set up and a dry start was going when I had to move houses. I put the aquasoil in a bucket (drained but not completely dried) and then didn't get to setting up this current tank for 4 months. Did the fact that the soil sat in a bucket with the lid closed, slightly damp, do anything to harm the nutrient capacity of the soil. It grew plants just fine on the second dry start with the DHG and HC so my thinking is no. And maybe I just had too much trouble controlling CO2 that these plants died off. I should say, the vals were planted as soon as the tank was filled.
OK, long post. Here are some pictures too. Let me know if I forgot any critical tank parameters.
Full tank shot

Right side with the blyxa

Zoomed in on the blyxa

That greener HC is a new planting, don't let it fool you. It has been there for a week and it pearls a bit but I have a hard time keeping it in the soil. Once I can prove that I can grow lower carpeting plants I might go to S. Repens for a foreground plant.
