HC Cuba Seeds DSM

[DanosCichlids]

Another update. C02 is setup. I know I'm going to cop some bad feedback for this. I trimmed some of the plants, flooded, setup C02 to roughly 1 bps it's running around 35/psi. PH/C02 indicator was showing blue with no C02 and now its a light green/yellow color. (Is the C02 a little high? Should it be a deep green?)
The carpet has gone crazy if you look back to my older photos you could see the small rocks in the middle.
4 days later after adding C02 the rocks are nearly completely covered. The gap between the main rocks has gone.
These plants were supposed to be small and only grown to 2cm.
I'm running the light for 6 hours, C02 turns on 1 hour before the LED's and off when the light does (is that right?) I am noticing some of the leaves (but not all) going brown this time. I'm guessing that's what you meant when I was told after flooding they may fail. I thought I'd just try anyway if all fails ill rip it all out.
Any suggestions guys? I think I need to do a major trim haha after 4 days of C02 the plants have gone just nutz 😀
Here's some pics

PS After flooding the Cobwebs went away

 

[DanosCichlids]

Also one other factor I didn't consider was my led light has a 3 stage dimmer inbuilt into it, meaning every time the lights go off and on it switches mode intensity automatically
eg:
Mode 1 = 1/3 leds
Mode 2 = 2/3 leds
Mode 3 = All leds
After reading this post (https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/can-you-have-too-much-co2.20034/)
Therefor I'm wondering if because I'm not adjusting the C02 daily and the led light changes daily that the plant nutrients uptake will be out of whack due to the element changes.
Currently I'm not adding fertilizers either.
So many factors makes my head spin

 

[sparkyweasel]

Can you set your timer to give a quick on-off-on-off-on at the start of each photoperiod? So that it ends up on the same mode each time.
You really want the intensity to be the same every day.

 

[DanosCichlids]

Can you set your timer to give a quick on-off-on-off-on at the start of each photoperiod? So that it ends up on the same mode each time.
You really want the intensity to be the same every day.

Interesting idea. I can do it. It would just take 4 minutes to complete the cycle. There's no fish in there atm but when I do get some I don't think they would appreciate it too much ha ha
I've had a touch sensor led aquarium light converted to a hard switch once but it wasn't cheap from memory cost like $160

 

[sparkyweasel]

Maybe not 🙂
If it was just seconds it would be ok.

 

[DanosCichlids]

Maybe not 🙂
If it was just seconds it would be ok.

Unfortunately all the timers I have only work by minutes not seconds

 

[alto]

running the light for 6 hours, C02 turns on 1 hour before the LED's and off when the light does (is that right?)

Depending on tap water parameters, CO2 may need to come on 30min to 2-3 hours before lights (this time increases with increasing water hardness) and is usually shut off an hour or so before lights off

As shown in your photos, the new leaf structures are very different than the initial seedling leafs (actual seed may be some sort of Hygrophila sp), you can try to recover the “carpet” effect by trimming

Some of the larger leafs appear to be taking on a brownish color, if you remove some of these, close examination should reveal whether it’s a melting/deteriorating leaf vs a color change (re light, CO2, leaf maturation)

 

[alto]

PH/C02 indicator was showing blue with no C02 and now its a light green/yellow color. (Is the C02 a little high? Should it be a deep green?)

Yellow indicates higher CO2 levels
Green with some yellow tint is usually fine for most livestock (& most plants)
Blue green usually indicates low CO2 re plants

There should be a color chart available with your indicator solution, showing color/CO2 ppm estimate

 

[DanosCichlids]

Depending on tap water parameters, CO2 may need to come on 30min to 2-3 hours before lights (this time increases with increasing water hardness) and is usually shut off an hour or so before lights off

As shown in your photos, the new leaf structures are very different than the initial seedling leafs (actual seed may be some sort of Hygrophila sp), you can try to recover the “carpet” effect by trimming

Some of the larger leafs appear to be taking on a brownish color, if you remove some of these, close examination should reveal whether it’s a melting/deteriorating leaf vs a color change (re light, CO2, leaf maturation)

Ok cool thanks for the reply appreciate it. The tap water here is fairly hard and I use fkc aquarium salt as a pH buffer which raises the GH as well. I haven't tested it yet but I'd assume the GH is around 12. So maybe at first try turning the C02 on 2 hours before the lights then off 1 hour before lights off?
Yeah the structure looks different around the middle where I'm guessing the light intensity is strongest. The brown colour is also only in the middle on the new growth too and the edges are green and staying like a small leaf structure.
When I get some days off I'll trim the crap out of it guessing it will take ages. How do you guys get the trimmings out just with a net?
I was going to trim then do a water change with my electric syphon and suck the leaves out.
How do I tell the difference between melt and maturation?
So about all the questions, was also wondering how do you trim along the glass line without scratching it?

 

[DanosCichlids]

Yellow indicates higher CO2 levels
Green with some yellow tint is usually fine for most livestock (& most plants)
Blue green usually indicates low CO2 re plants

There should be a color chart available with your indicator solution, showing color/CO2 ppm estimate

I do have a chart on the back of the packet I can use. I dialed it down slightly it's a pretty nice green now

 

[MJQMJQ]

Ok cool thanks for the reply appreciate it. The tap water here is fairly hard and I use fkc aquarium salt as a pH buffer which raises the GH as well. I haven't tested it yet but I'd assume the GH is around 12. So maybe at first try turning the C02 on 2 hours before the lights then off 1 hour before lights off?
Yeah the structure looks different around the middle where I'm guessing the light intensity is strongest. The brown colour is also only in the middle on the new growth too and the edges are green and staying like a small leaf structure.
When I get some days off I'll trim the crap out of it guessing it will take ages. How do you guys get the trimmings out just with a net?
I was going to trim then do a water change with my electric syphon and suck the leaves out.
How do I tell the difference between melt and maturation?
So about all the questions, was also wondering how do you trim along the glass line without scratching it?

For melt the leaves will turn yellowish almost transparent then just "melt".For maturation the leaves will turn a darker green or such.U cant really take the trimmings out with net.Siphoning as u thought is ideal as it also keeps the substrate clean.Trim perpendicular to the glass not along and be careful.I know theres some glass thats more resistant to scratches but is more expensive.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

There are a few aquascaping shops in sydney, one is ada distributor who may have carpet plants they can ship to you?
I know the selection of plants in Australia is limited due to customs and the risk to native aquatic life...

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[DanosCichlids]

There are a few aquascaping shops in sydney, one is ada distributor who may have carpet plants they can ship to you?
I know the selection of plants in Australia is limited due to customs and the risk to native aquatic life...

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Thanks for that. But everywhere I've read shops say they won't ship to Tasmania due to quarantine regulations

 

[DanosCichlids]

For melt the leaves will turn yellowish almost transparent then just "melt".For maturation the leaves will turn a darker green or such.U cant really take the trimmings out with net.Siphoning as u thought is ideal as it also keeps the substrate clean.Trim perpendicular to the glass not along and be careful.I know theres some glass thats more resistant to scratches but is more expensive.

I near need 90° degree scissors to trim it due to space restrictions.
Not sure what's happening with it all. Maybe my two packets of seeds where different? I'm starting to think it's not Glosso either now. Before C02 was added it looked great. Just looks like a 3 layer jungle now

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure what species they are either yet, and I also suspect not Glosso. They're still alive and thriving so I guess they must be aquatic plants of some description. If they keep growing at that rate I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

If you can, try and get your hands on a pair of wave scissors...

 

[DanosCichlids]

I'm not sure what species they are either yet, and I also suspect not Glosso. They're still alive and thriving so I guess they must be aquatic plants of some description. If they keep growing at that rate I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.

If you can, try and get your hands on a pair of wave scissors...

Yeah the leaves are growing on top of each other. Looks like 3 layers now ha ha. Pity it does not look like a proper carpet anymore.
I have looked into those scissors before the trouble with them is they are usually 25cm long and my tank is only 600mm. I wouldn't be able to get them into all the tight spaces I have or to the front or back glass properly

 

[ArinRizk]

Yeah the leaves are growing on top of each other. Looks like 3 layers now ha ha. Pity it does not look like a proper carpet anymore.
I have looked into those scissors before the trouble with them is they are usually 25cm long and my tank is only 600mm. I wouldn't be able to get them into all the tight spaces I have or to the front or back glass properly

Dear , can you provide an update ? a picture perhapse 😀.