Restarting after a 5~6yr break

[inque]

IMHO, the concept is GOOD and the tank is ready for boom after the HC is ready. Try reducing lumination period if algae persist or get worse.

i'm increasing the lighting duration in hopes that the HC will respond well.
All pushed a quarter of root+ in some areas below the HC. Suspect its mine
substrate problem also .............

The Concept was an "adaptation" of someone's tank lol. Except his is more pro
and natural looking.......

[barmby]

In my experience, I cannot compensate light intensity for lighting duration. When the plant is not ready to make food..it is simply isn't ready even if increasing of the lighting duration. However, we can help to get going by turning on and off at a fixed and regular time. Once you see them growing (means they'r making food) and not pushing any further....perhaps they are ready for longer duration. But train them step by step because algae is always ready to make food

[inque]

In my experience, I cannot compensate light intensity for lighting duration. When the plant is not ready to make food..it is simply isn't ready even if increasing of the lighting duration. However, we can help to get going by turning on and off at a fixed and regular time. Once you see them growing (means they'r making food) and not pushing any further....perhaps they are ready for longer duration. But train them step by step because algae is always ready to make food

i'm not worried about the intensity ( 36W X 4 ) just that some how the HC
isn't responding well in the tank. CO2 level is 3bbps. PH 7 ........
dun know what is wrong ..............

Will continue to monitor. Now lookin at Glosso for the alternative "lawn" i need

[Verminator]

(following paragraph simplified for newbies)
The higher the light levels the faster your plants food making process will be. The lower the light levels the slower this process will be, and so too will the amount of CO2 needed and nutrients required to make enough food to grow. Different plants require different minimal amounts of light to survive, the higher this minimal light requirement just means they naturally need to work at a faster rate to survive and so too will need more nutrients and CO2 content. So more nutrients and CO2 need to be provided to reach this minimal 'factory production' of food per day. If this makes sense. Adding more light for a plant will not make it grow any faster, if either there arent enough nutrients in the water column or the CO2 level isnt high enough then the plants growth will be stunted, and/or it will begin to die. You have to provide the correct balance of all mentioned. I remember seeing a tank the other day by George Farmer from ukaps.org who created a stunning tank without CO2, so as long as you have enough nutrients in the water column for each day of photosynthesis for your provided light setup you should see good growth.

Hope this provides a simply insight to you and others on plant care on a basic level. I also found reading up on dosing the Estimative Index method for plant ferts gave me great understanding on plant care. I'm not the brightest spark in the universe and the thought of the those formulae were daunting, but its a piece of cake to understand Try it out. You might be surprised like me

[inque]

(following paragraph simplified for newbies)
The higher the light levels the faster your plants food making process will be. The lower the light levels the slower this process will be, and so too will the amount of CO2 needed and nutrients required to make enough food to grow. Different plants require different minimal amounts of light to survive, the higher this minimal light requirement just means they naturally need to work at a faster rate to survive and so too will need more nutrients and CO2 content. So more nutrients and CO2 need to be provided to reach this minimal 'factory production' of food per day. If this makes sense. Adding more light for a plant will not make it grow any faster, if either there arent enough nutrients in the water column or the CO2 level isnt high enough then the plants growth will be stunted, and/or it will begin to die. You have to provide the correct balance of all mentioned. I remember seeing a tank the other day by George Farmer from ukaps.org who created a stunning tank without CO2, so as long as you have enough nutrients in the water column for each day of photosynthesis for your provided light setup you should see good growth.

Hope this provides a simply insight to you and others on plant care on a basic level. I also found reading up on dosing the Estimative Index method for plant ferts gave me great understanding on plant care. I'm not the brightest spark in the universe and the thought of the those formulae were daunting, but its a piece of cake to understand Try it out. You might be surprised like me

Woooo ....Information overload ......

well i've observe the plant leaves for the pass 2 weeks ....and they're not lookin good:

1) No pearling
2) Plant leaf colours looks dark green
3) Plant is not spreading well

possible reasons
1) CO2 injection
2) Lapis sand grain size too large
3) Base Substrate "dried up"
4) Lighting duration ( currently on 7hrs )

[Verminator]

Information overload - i thought that was just about sufficient to relay the message across

1) A lack of pearling isnt a sign of bad growth, it just means your tank hasnt hit its saturation point, whereby no more O2 can dissolve into the water so its forms bubbles on the plant tips. Don't worry by it not pearling.

2) Leaves that seem a little off colour usually mean theres a lack of nutrients, so dosing Macro + Micro nutrients will probably help if you don't already do so.

3) Can be linked to a lack of nutrients aswell, a plant not growing well won't spread. Once it can sustain itself then it'll happily spread around your aquarium. It's not just down to grain size. Bigger grain sizes just mean the overall cover you achieve with a 'lawn' like plant might be a bit more sparsely grown in to that of the same plant in finer grain substrates.

Certainly check your CO2 injection, make sure its not fluctuating and is remaining constant. Might sound daft, but make sure its off during the night.
Your substrate could be 'dried up', but most substrates take years to be drained of nutrients fully so unless yours is 2+ years old i wouldnt worry to much about that. What substrate do you have?
Lighting period is fine, what are you running? T5? T8? MH? It all adds up.

[StanChung]

Try at almost the end of the photoperiod, turn off the filter for awhile. Most of the plants will show you pearling.

With 2X2026 filters running for a 3ft, it's a wonder you can get pearling for HC.
Riccia maybe but HC I don't think so.

[inque]

Information overload - i thought that was just about sufficient to relay the message across

1) A lack of pearling isnt a sign of bad growth, it just means your tank hasnt hit its saturation point, whereby no more O2 can dissolve into the water so its forms bubbles on the plant tips. Don't worry by it not pearling.

2) Leaves that seem a little off colour usually mean theres a lack of nutrients, so dosing Macro + Micro nutrients will probably help if you don't already do so.

3) Can be linked to a lack of nutrients aswell, a plant not growing well won't spread. Once it can sustain itself then it'll happily spread around your aquarium. It's not just down to grain size. Bigger grain sizes just mean the overall cover you achieve with a 'lawn' like plant might be a bit more sparsely grown in to that of the same plant in finer grain substrates.

Certainly check your CO2 injection, make sure its not fluctuating and is remaining constant. Might sound daft, but make sure its off during the night.
Your substrate could be 'dried up', but most substrates take years to be drained of nutrients fully so unless yours is 2+ years old i wouldnt worry to much about that. What substrate do you have?
Lighting period is fine, what are you running? T5? T8? MH? It all adds up.

1) O2 still will form but cannot dissolve into the tank. so it will appear at the
tip of the plant right?
2) Dosing Micro and Macro 1 squirt per water change only due to
BBA ( spotted some samll bits starting to pop up )
Using the Snails , yamatos and cherries plus otto to keep the other algae
in check.
3) Substrate is JBL base fert will Lapis Sand laid on top 6yrs old, previously
use only for 1yr plus.Left sitting in the tank for 6yrs lol. Lighting 4X36W PL
currently 8hrs duration.

Try at almost the end of the photoperiod, turn off the filter for awhile. Most of the plants will show you pearling.

With 2X2026 filters running for a 3ft, it's a wonder you can get pearling for HC.
Riccia maybe but HC I don't think so.

I using only 1X 2026 ..... considering another pump or filter to drive a
Chiller.

[Verminator]

Sorry, that last point i made about the CO2 sounds a little contradicting to itself after re-reading it.

Pearling is when the water is so full of CO2 that any O2 bubbles created from photosynthesis cannot dissolve into the water forming bubbles on the plant tips/leaves. A lack of pearling isnt a sign of bad growth, so don't be disheartened by this. It just means the amount of CO2 your pumping in isnt enough to have this effect, but the levels you are pumping in could still be satisfactory.

That sounds like i cleared up my error Sorry again lol.

[inque]

ic was wondering is the Color temperature or K value of the lamp is in question? i know pl light is 65k and T5 is 80k and above ?
what about MH light ?

[inque]

planted glosso and hairgrass hope they turn out well