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Fert question.

Since i did my last trimming i've noticed that i've gotten almost no new growth from the Diandra but the rotala has now reached the top of the tank. Seeing this is leading me to believe the rotala is using the majority if the ferts before the other plants have a chance so should i up my dosage to supply the other plants with the nutrients? Is there any reprocussions i should look for with the increase of the nutrients?

Could low flow in the tank be a contributing factor to my GSA growth?
 
Updates and changes:
- I decided i'd give the higher flow a shot and got a powerhead for the top half of the tank and angled the filter output towards to bottom half. Its not a high flow on the bottom but i can tell the water is at least moving a little now. My hope is this might help combat some of the algea thats been forming.
- I got a couple more Nerite snails to help with some of the algea control
- i've upped my phosphate dosing by 1/4 tsp (unless someone knows why i shouldn't) to also help stop the GSA.

CO2 question: i have been running at 6bpm (PH 6.5) for the last few weeks and my drop checker is still bright green. Should I increase the bpm?
 
I'm in more or less the same boat as you currently (freaking GSA), so I can only describe what I'm doing, but not necessarily if it will work, but...

Increasing flow is certainly a plus. I've got a Koralia 425 coming tomorrow that I'm going to add to the tank, which already has an eheim 2217 and Koralia 240. I'm think that getting CO2 to the plants has been an issue in my tank, so I'm hoping that will fix things. I'm also going to start bumping up the CO2 as the increased surface agitation is causing some offgasing. And yes, I've bumped up my phosphate as well.
 
aqua_chem said:
I'm in more or less the same boat as you currently (freaking GSA), so I can only describe what I'm doing, but not necessarily if it will work, but...

Increasing flow is certainly a plus. I've got a Koralia 425 coming tomorrow that I'm going to add to the tank, which already has an eheim 2217 and Koralia 240. I'm think that getting CO2 to the plants has been an issue in my tank, so I'm hoping that will fix things. I'm also going to start bumping up the CO2 as the increased surface agitation is causing some offgasing. And yes, I've bumped up my phosphate as well.
Click to expand...

The power head i bought yesterday is a Koralia 425. I have noticed a pretty big reduction of flow since i put on the reactor for the CO2 system. I've been doing higher phosphates for the last week or so and i noticed that some of the GSA that had been previously impossible to scrub off is now starting to come off with very little effort. Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come.

I noticed that before I installed the powerhead I was having a hard time keeping my PH at 6.5 but it stayed steady all day yesterday and was still 6.5 when I woke up this morning. I wonder if I was getting incorrect readings due to the low flow.
 
I've noticed that my PH has been really stable since i added the powerhead. The plants are now starting to grow at the rate they were again (the delay might have been due to the massive trimming i did?) and i'm feeling a little more confident about the distribution of the CO2 and ferts throughout the tank.

Aqua, how are you liking the Karalia you just got? And what size tank is it in? Also, any updats on the new Iron fert?

P.S. notice the new thread name since this had almost nothing to do with my Sword anymore :)
 
I've been tinkering with it for the last few days trying to find a good spot for it. It will knock over rotalas something horrible.

I'm not sure so far. I've been having issues with my CO2 lately so I'm not sure what's doing what or being caused by what. So far it seems to be working nicely though.
 
Since i trimmed my Diandra i have had almost zero new growth and the bottoms of the stems have started melting in spots. Could the trimming have shocked it?

I'm also seeing almost no pearling from it. The rotala has been growing like a weed and pearling non stop so could it be hogging the majoity of the CO2 and ferts? If so would spot treating the diandra help?
 
Even if the rotala stems that are shorter than the diandra are pearling? The flow of water has to go through the Diandra to get to those stems. Every plant in the tank is pearling, even the dwarf sag, except for the diandra. I've noticed it has gotten really brittle also.
 
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I'm perplexed, it seems like all the plant growth in my tank has come to a screatching halt. Here is what i've been doing/done lately, maybe someone has some suggestions.

I have been keeping up with the EI dosing, no problem.
Upped phosphates to combat GSA
The flow from my canister was low so i added a Koralia 425 powerhead (keeping surface aggitation as minimal as i can without negative effects)
Changed two WavePoint 12000k bulbs out for two Giesemann midday 6700k bulbs
Reduced photo period by a couple hours
Increased CO2 bpm to 8-10 to compensate for offgasing by powerhead
Removed some fish from my tank (4 platy, 20x .5" fry and my Apisto died :-( )
 
What kind of gph do you have going through your filter? Could you be flushing it through before it has a chance to diffuse? That's a LOT of CO2 going into a tank.
 
aqua_chem said:
What kind of gph do you have going through your filter? Could you be flushing it through before it has a chance to diffuse? That's a LOT of CO2 going into a tank.
Click to expand...

I'd say maybe 50% of what my 406 is rated for then it slows down with the reactor so i'd say about 400 gph maybe. I've noticed it usually takes almost the full photoperiod before the plants start pearling if that is any help at all.
 
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On a lark today i turned down the CO2 to 5-6bps and downed the flow from my filter a little. When i got home there were so many bubbles from the plants it looked like a massive can of 7-up!! Every one of my plants are completely covered in bubbles, i've never seen them this pearled.
 
aqua_chem said:
Are the bubbles coming from the plants or your reactor?
Click to expand...

They are coming from the plants. I see fewer bubbles than normal coming out of the reactor.
 
aqua_chem said:
Do the same thing tomorrow and see what happens. I'm following intently.
Click to expand...

So i left my system the same today and all my plants were heavily pearled when i got home. Not quite as intense as yesterday but still more than usual. The only difference between what i did yesterday and today was dosing my ferts this morning.

When is the best time to dose the ferts or does it really matter?
 
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