HC Turns dark green

[KITTY]

Hi bros,

anyone can advice what has happen to some of my HC and tips to make it lush green

Temp: 28 degree with fan on
Temp: 29-30 when fan is off (usually i off at night)

Its is not as bright green as the first time i bought, some has turn dark green.

This is my water parameter so far for my 2ft tank

Day 2
1) Co2 2 bbp
2) Lighting hours- 3hrs
3) KH-O
4) PH 6.0
5) NO3-10
6) NH3-1.0

Day 3
1) Co2 2bbp
2) Lighting hours - 4hrs
Added flourish phosphorous and Potassium

Day 4
1) co2 2bbp
2) before pouring KH/Ph plus - KH=1
3) PH - 6.50

I will be testing for NO3 and NH3 later

[Shadow]

You light ON hour is too short. You should not ON shorter than 4hrs a day. My personal opinion, 6hrs is the shortest to get reasonable growth.

You can inject more co2 if you dont have fauna yet. I also worry about your substrate, if I remeber corectly from other threat that you are not using soil. What is your substarte arangement/composition/brand?

[KITTY]

Hi Shadow,

i'm using HELP ADVANCED SOIL for plants, added JBL ferts undernerath the substrate
just tested the rest of the components
1) ph drop to 6.0 @
2) no3 = 10
3) nh3= 4.0 spike back
added sera florena

How do i get to achieve pearling effect?
by the way, i put my co2 diffuser cup near to the surface skimmer and get it run into my eheim and flow out, will it be better this way or other better ways for placing the co2 disffuser? i intending to get my co2 drop checker to see if the tank will get sufficient c02.

using a rainbar to spread the waterflow better, will lily pipe be better?

Thanks.

[KITTY]

advanced soil is about 3-4cm high and i have 2 mesh of HC, will it better to burry it or just rest on top of the soil and let it have freedom to crawl? the rest behind is i use a tweezwer and plant small portion .

[KITTY]

this is my humble set up, still not completed yet, need to make sure my HC prob settle before i add in 2 more species of plants.
First time into HC, so just wondering how to solev the probs of dark green portion

[Shadow]

advanced soil is about 3-4cm high and i have 2 mesh of HC, will it better to burry it or just rest on top of the soil and let it have freedom to crawl? the rest behind is i use a tweezwer and plant small portion .

Never use advance soil so can't comment. For HC normally I plant strand by strand. The other way is to cut the mesh small pieces and use tooth pick to stick it on the ground.

[KITTY]

Thanks shadow, but doing it with strands ??? its on ther mesh and the roots are already grow steadily and i wouldn't want to hurt them by pulling them out?

[Shadow]

yeah, I normally buy the one grow on pot. 1 pot, $1.50, enough for 2ft tank

[KITTY]

where can i get those? been to many LFs but they always sell mesh wire form.

any where near East area?

[Shadow]

I only know C328 and SeaView sell it. Not sure about east side

[KITTY]

i see, shadow after turning to 3bbps, i start to see some pearlign on some green leafs i think co2 works hahaha..

[goose]

Hi bros,

anyone can advice what has happen to some of my HC and tips to make it lush green

Temp: 28 degree with fan on
Temp: 29-30 when fan is off (usually i off at night)

Its is not as bright green as the first time i bought, some has turn dark green.

This is my water parameter so far for my 2ft tank

Day 2
1) Co2 2 bbp
2) Lighting hours- 3hrs
3) KH-O
4) PH 6.0
5) NO3-10
6) NH3-1.0

Day 3
1) Co2 2bbp
2) Lighting hours - 4hrs
Added flourish phosphorous and Potassium

Day 4
1) co2 2bbp
2) before pouring KH/Ph plus - KH=1
3) PH - 6.50

I will be testing for NO3 and NH3 later

Hi, I used to plant HC with only fans. 3ft tank with 2 fans and the temperature is around 27-28 but recently bought a chiller. My experience with HC is it will melt and it takes about 3 weeks to 2 month to settle down and start spreading. I buy my HC from Polyart aquarium in Blk 328. The same block as c328. The reason is because their HC doesnt come with wool. The best is not to cut the HC. It is better to pull them a part so as to not to damage the root.

HC growth is slow. Pressurised co2 is a must and HC loves co2. For start up try 4hrs of light but after a week or so may be you could leave your light on longer. For start up all you need is potassium add in the rest after it has taken root. I turned on my light for 8hrs and switch off 30min after 4hrs. Recently, I changed my tube to dennerle because their T5 comes with anti-algae effect.

[KITTY]

Hi goose, thanks for the recomendations.

Now i already on for 8hours at least and pump in many co2 and i see some pearling though some melted. and i add every 2 days potassium, florish florena, iron, phosorus, not sure if this will overdose?

i actually pluck out 1 mesh into small ports and planted around behind as from the photo and 2 mesh in front did not want to touch it and slightly set into the substrate , not that deep. will that be fine?

[goose]

Hi goose, thanks for the recomendations.

Now i already on for 8hours at least and pump in many co2 and i see some pearling though some melted. and i add every 2 days potassium, florish florena, iron, phosorus, not sure if this will overdose?

i actually pluck out 1 mesh into small ports and planted around behind as from the photo and 2 mesh in front did not want to touch it and slightly set into the substrate , not that deep. will that be fine?

Hi Kitty, the reason why I mentioned to on the light for 4hrs and add only potassium is to prevent algae from taking over the tank. Your plant might not have taken root yet so the extra light and nutrient will be taken up by algae.

I dont see any pic... as long as you have a mean to keep HC from floating it will be fine. I have tried planting them directly into the soil, tie them to a plastic/stainless steel mesh and buried them into the soil - they all works. But the melting process to me was a pain. A lot of clean up to do everyday.

There are a few nice places to get plant. Most of them are in the west. Polyart in C328, colourful tropical aquarium and my favorite LCK farm - cheap and fresh.

[Azzurri3]

Turning dark green means it is going to melt soon... or there is GSA on it..