Why so slow?

[cbong]

I have rescaped my 15" cube tank in office to have a X'moss flooring. Its been two months since my rescape, but the rate of growth is SUPER slow.
Some conditions:

pH - 6.7
temp - 22C
CO2 - 1 bps
Light - PL 36W

How can I increase the growth rate of the moss????

Pictures ....

http://sg.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...;.dnm=622a.jpg

http://sg.f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/...;.dnm=97bd.jpg

[PeterGwee]

Drop the light down to 2w/g instead...you don't need that much light for those plants. What is your KH? Check and double check your CO2 level. Make sure it is good at your current light level.
Dose slightly more than 1/16 tsp of KNO3 2x a week
1 rice grain of KH2PO4 2x a week
2.5ml of traces 2x a week and later 3x a week as the tank grows in.
Keep the CO2 in the 20-30ppm range
50% weekly water change
Get a small powerhead to circulate the tank at least since there is no filter.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[cheeboonyong]

why would dropping the lights help?

I understand moss is a low light plant but having more light shouldn't have any impact, unless it enourages the growth of algae which would then suffocate the moss. But if there is no evidence of algae, is it necessary to lower the lights? I'm very curious if excess light would actually "stunt" low light plants, not just moss but also nanas, cryptos, etc.

[PeterGwee]

Yes, its for inhibiting possible growth of algae if you don't keep up on things like CO2 or nutrients. But the point is do you need to waste energy when a plant doesn't really need that much of a light? Plants in lower light tend to grow better and much fuller than a plant growing at break necking speed (Nutrient uptake for Ca and Mg tends to be slower and forcing plants to grow very fast might risk inducing Ca and Mg looking deficiencies due to them not able to keep up with things). Anyway, you can keep the high light if you want...I'm just telling you that you don't need that much light. Taking care of the CO2 would enable plants to utilize the available light to them even at low levels.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[cheeboonyong]

I guess it's an issue when you have a mixture of high and low light plants in the same tank. Maybe this is an aquascaping issue in the first place. Would be much easier if all the plants were either all high or all low, but many a times, we plant what we think would look nice.

Anyway, just a point of discussion. Thanks Peter for clarifying that high lights by itself doesn't do any harm BUT if the rest are not in balance, problems can set in. Just needed to know that.

[confusekid]

Very high light may inhibit photosynthesis in low light plant. that is the reason, bobitis will turn black under strong light.

[cbong]

thanks for the comments so far, much apprciated. One question:
why is the weekly 50% water change necessary? to bring down minerals that may cause algae growth???

[chua]

I think the other reason is that tap water also contain other other minerals that is essential to the plant but are usually not dosed.

[bclee]

[quote:7d411066b0="cbong"]thanks for the comments so far, much apprciated. One question:
why is the weekly 50% water change necessary? to bring down minerals that may cause algae growth??? [/quote:7d411066b0]

50% water change is usually advocated by folks who have high light and CO2 set ups and dose nutrients, especially macro-nutrients, in relatively higher amount. They will change water and re-add the nutrients. It is to help prevent accumulation and depletion of any nutrients.

Some other folks who would wish for lower-maintenance tank will go for lower lights and sometimes no CO2. And they dose lesser nutrients and sometimes omit the macro-nutrients.

BC

[confusekid]

currently I am not dosing or water change in any of my tanks. The plants are doing well. But I do feed quite a lot.