as for my crazy fan being faced the opposite . the pump is facing the front, but pointing down to give the bottom leaves a chance to get co2. the AR plants showed a good sign like this. but it can be due to me increasing Co2 LOL. so you are saying to place the pump next to the lily but face it slightly downwards. wont this cause a somewhat negative effect as well since one is point down and one across. or will they meet in current and move the same way?
I think it's beneficial to have the flow all going in one direction, most will put spray bars at top facing front slightly down creating flow from back to front or go from left to right. I would put the fan heading left to right same as the lily but lower down on the tank glass so you are getting all the water pushing in one direction at all levels of the tank. The way you have it now the lily outlet is going left to right then hitting the fan outflow about two thirds along the tank creating a mish mash of directions.
my low tech gives me 0 problems... no co2 added only top offs and sometimes a 20% Wc. tank has soil. growing anacharis , ludwigia which some leaves did die on bottom. bacopas. crypts moss. mylo green, recently added ludwigia arcuata. and looks like its working its way to a nice plant. arcuata planted in med light
Low tech and high are two different concepts. Without a doubt injection co2 into a tank speeds up growth but it does come with its own set of problems. I'm assuming your low tech tank also has lower lighting so the plants aren't pushed. Plants adapt to their environment, and while they do this they tend to do what's best for themselves for survival. They're not fighting you, although that's how it seems at times they are just making the best of the situation they're in. If a plant feels like its best way of surviving is to ditch some leaves in favour of some other leaves that stand more of a chance it will ditch those leaves and spend its energy on the ones that will. In low tech the plants get used to the fact that there's not much co2 about and this is pretty stable. The plant adapts to that, knows what's coming on a day to day basis and the lighting isn't pushing them to grow while they're in unfavourable conditions.
It can take plants 2 to 3 weeks to adapt to their conditions so in low tech they adapt then find themselves living in those conditions and steadily grow albeit more slowly. In co2 injected tanks things can be up and down, they adapt to the situation then there's more plant mass, flow changes and more co2 being consumed and before they know where they are at they need to adapt again consuming more energy in doing so.
Once you start injecting co2 and pushing up lighting everything needs to be on point and try as much as possible to keep things stable, make changes incrementally and give them a few weeks before trying something else. As
@Zeus. EI should cover your ferts so you can feel comfortable about that and concentrate on the co2 and flow..the two hardest bits. If you have the ability to turn down your lighting I would do that also. Sounds to me like you are still fine tuning your co2 injection. Lower lighting will give you more chance for error, high lighting has a chain of give me co2 and give me ferts now, one not right and the growth process crashes, plant gets weakened, algae capitalise and jump in. Its not cast in stone that co2 and EI need to have high lighting.
Aim for the 1 ph drop by lights on, when the lights come on that should be when your PH is at its lowest for the day. Takes some messing with either injection rate or timing but like I say if the lights are lower the plants won't freak out as much if it's not right. Once you get to that point where you think the injection is sitting nice, leave it for a couple of weeks and monitor. No problems, then maybe crank that light up a touch. Again, monitor for a couple of weeks until you think you've hit the point where your level of lighting is married up to the plant growth and injection. How far you go with the lighting depends on how much hassle you want the tank to be. The higher the lighting the more work is required from you, more water changes, more trimming and keeping the co2 and tank cleanliness at its peak at all times. The higher the lighting the finer the line you're walking.
Some people do this because they want to, some do it because they enjoy filling out a scape quick, photographing it then scrapping it and starting another and some do it for competitions they are entering but its not necessary all the time. I personally subscribe to the mantra of slow and steady growth, I find it makes the hobby more enjoyable and relaxing and I can spend more time looking at it than working on it.
You can have tanks with no co2, tanks with some co2 and tanks with high levels of co2, the lights will decide which one you need. They all grow plants though.
