Again, this is a first pass and a rudimentary level of testing.
Yesterday, the dissolved oxygen went to 7.25mg/l just before the photoperiod ended at 20:00. (NOTE: photoperiod is still only 6 hours at 25% lighting). This morning at 08:00, the DO remained at 6.10mg/l - which is safe and healthy level for fish.
I know this is obvious to the UKAPS experts (I am still learning by doing!), but it shows:
Yesterday, the dissolved oxygen went to 7.25mg/l just before the photoperiod ended at 20:00. (NOTE: photoperiod is still only 6 hours at 25% lighting). This morning at 08:00, the DO remained at 6.10mg/l - which is safe and healthy level for fish.
I know this is obvious to the UKAPS experts (I am still learning by doing!), but it shows:
- How vital the plants are in building up 'oxygen reserves' during the day to carry through the non-photoperiod times.
- How highly planted aquariums with limited observable surface agitation or airstones can support a moderate amount of fish.
- How aquarists can run into (almost silent) trouble when plant mass is low, plants are dying/large algae outbreaks, and you don't have a lot of artificial aeration to compensate.