# missing a trick



## nilo (6 Jan 2008)

I have recently upgraded my aquarium to a "high tech" fire extinguisher set up and the plants are visibly healthier but there is one thing which bothers me...

I have never seen any of the plants "pearl", does this matter too much as the plants are doing well?.

Below is a list of what i have in my tank, i would be greatfull if anyone thinks i may be "missing a trick"

ph: 6.8
ammonia:0
nitrite:0
nitrate: 20 ppm (my tapwater is 10ppm!)
phosphate: 1ppm (again already in my tap water)
Fe: 0.25mg/l 
10ml of Ferka k divided over a week (daily)
gh: very hard 
kh : 200ppm (according to my nutrafin test kit, i repeated the test twice but with the same result.
1/10th of a teaspoon of iron powder 3 times a week
Lighting is 1.8 wpg

25% water change weekly
half the recommended amount of fish inches per gallon.

the K.h bothers me a bit too, any ideas?

Thanks guys


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## Graeme Edwards (7 Jan 2008)

Hi,
Im not a chemist, but from basic chemistery, your stats look fine,your water is very hard, this could be why your not seeing pearling. If i remeber right, and im abit sketchy on this so forgive me if im wrong but, The higher the KH then the more Co2 is needed to match it up to the ideal ppm on the co2 table.
If your plants are doing well then i wouldnt worry about it. If you want pearling, you could try uping your light period. You have 1.8 watts per gallon ( is that US gallons? ), this is reasonably low, so this could be another reason for not pearling.

Have a look at this site ,http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm  acording to the table and your stats, your Co2 level is fine. You could possible just add a little more.

Graeme.


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## ceg4048 (7 Jan 2008)

Hi nilo,
          Like Graeme says, add more CO2 without gassing the fish. It's not clear what your dosing scheme is but if you are measuring with test kits or using the water report you may be lower than you think on nitrate and phosphate.

Cheers,


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## nilo (7 Jan 2008)

Cheers Graeme

Whatever literature i read about C02 and hard water (sometimes my water is so chalky it looks like skimmed milk!!) the common thread is to up the C02 input, i will give it a shot, i feel better now as everything else is in place, maybe its just a bit of tweaking with the C02 and lights (its uk gallons btw)

many thanks


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## nilo (7 Jan 2008)

indeed clive!

I never go 100% by what the kits say,just a indication. Sometimes it says the tapwater has the same nitrate as my tank!! (this cant be true due to the bioload adding further nitrate into the water in my tank) but i will definately "tweak" the C02 and hopefully not gas my beloved fish..(crosses fingers!!)


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## Graeme Edwards (8 Jan 2008)

If you've based your watts on UK gallons, then your even lower on light than first though.

Work out the tanks liters, divide that by 3.8 to give you US gallons, on which the watts per gallon rule works and then divide your watts into that new figure.I think it will be even less than your 1.8, which will probably be even more of an indicator for not seeing pearling. But its not a big issue, as long as things are health, then its all good!


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