Originally Posted by
plantedpot
1 very important factor i discovered for red e.quin - strong light, and I mean really really strong light.
I bought quite a few from GC. After 3 weeks planted at different locations in my main tank, the ones that are really doing well are those that are planted in pots suckered to the surface near the light where i can see faster and bigger growth. Initially, i tot it was due to the base fert that i used for the pots but even after adding root tabs to the e.quins planted on the substrates, i still see signs of melting.
On one chance occasion of meeting Roland (GC), I asked him what was the secret to his entire of healthy looking e.quin. He just said [i paraphrase] "I don't care about parameters, just strong light and heavy fert".
I came back to my main tank and wondered, I am already using Evo Green Element, (which is visibly way brighter than the old Beamworks I had previously) and I am also using enhance red/blue light, how can it not be strong enough?
So i diy-ed a lampshade, and fix a OSRAM 12.5W LED (which claimed to output 120W) and used it to focus light just on the substrate last week.
Yes, I got more GDA on the hardscape where the light focused on. But for the first time, I saw my plants (eusteralis stellata, vietnam, echindorus, rotala macendra, alternatera reineiki) pearled just about an hour after i switched on the diy spot light. 3 days later, i saw new shoots coming out from the inner core of the 2 e.quins which the light is focus on. Today, the e.quins look firmer, no signs of leaves melting and new shoots appearing still.
I did not change my fert regime. The only change was strong light, and in my case, very very strong light indeed.
So I think either I find a way to deal with GDA, or i need a dedicated low profile tank to plant e.quin if i really want to keep this plant.
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