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How do you know?

Carpman

Member
Joined
5 Sep 2016
Messages
329
Location
London
How do you know when you have got to your peak settings?

Let me explain, I feel like I have passed my peak.:shh: I'm running Fe co2, EI dosing, 8hr Photoperiod @80%, My Mc is growing slowly the Reineckii mini and Staurogynes repens has slowed so much if it has not stopped. Eleocharis has never shown much growth but I can see new tendrils so maybe just slow.

Freshly planted
20181223_210246-2.jpg


4 days on
20181227_163406.jpg


today
20190105_152916.jpg


Tank maintenance is due today/tomorrow and lighting is due to be adjusted from current 80% - 85% but if it is causing more harm then good obviously it cant be done. Can you have to much light?
 
As things are growing slowly or not growing at all I'd argue that you haven't found your 'peak' yet, you're only a month in and have made a lot of changes so everything takes time to find it's feet and settle in

When everything is growing well with no algae, then you have reached your peak
 
Be cautious about increasing light intensity and/or photoperiod, it could be that the CO2 flow and distribution is not optimised and/or your fertz are inadequate. I always try to keep my light intensity fairly moderate until my carpet plants have transitioned and started to spread well; they release a lot of organics during transition and that coupled with too much light can lead to algae issues. For instance, I'm currently using a TwinStar S series and it's on for 6 hrs/day @ 60%, and my plants are growing well and I have no algae whatsoever. But at the end of the day patients is a virtue when it comes to starting out on a new adventure so whatever you do take your time and monitor the results closely.
 
Would be more inclined to increase photoperiod by an hour,and observe for a couple weeks rather than increase light energy for reason Tim mentioned (may need CO2 increase as well).If after a couple weeks the plants still grew slowly,then maybe increase photoperiod by another hour.
Opinion varies.
 
Be cautious about increasing light intensity and/or photoperiod, it could be that the CO2 flow and distribution is not optimised and/or your fertz are inadequate. I always try to keep my light intensity fairly moderate until my carpet plants have transitioned and started to spread well.
Hi, Tim, I started out with low light levels and was not getting any growth from the carpet plants. The MC has only really started growing/spreading after I planted the new pots previous plants looked more like they were shrinking instead of growing, the Eleocharis mini just didn't do anything; I think this may have been down to fact that I'm using a trigon tank and the light has to travel further, therefore, is a lot weaker by the time it gets to soil level than that of a standard aquascaping tank.
I have been working/checking on flow for a few weeks now using 3 drop checkers placed vertically measuring the lower, middle and upper water column at the same time in multiple positions around the circumference of the tank than from front centre to rear centre, results are here in last post https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/mountain-range.55755/page-5.
Ferts should be ok; I'm dosing full EI micro/macro over 14 days no rest days because of auto dosing.
I have been lucky/careful or patient with regard to the ----- (I'm not going to say it); I did get a minuscule amount of BBA at the start, but I brushed it off at water change and it never came back:woot:.
 
Sounds like you've been working through the problem methodically. If lighting is the only variable left to alter, I'd go ahead and increase the intensity, but only by 5-10% at first. Keep the photoperiod the same for now. Altering one variable at a time means you will know for sure an increase in intensity is working...or not as the case may be. Just make sure you stay on top of the CO2 so it doesn't become a limiting factor.
 
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