Hi Anthony,
Mate, you mustn't get disheartened. In fact the results of your experimentation are actually quite revealing.
The fact that an injection rate increase improve performance confirms that the tank suffers CO2 shortfall. Of course we knew that all along but also, I assume that the pearling occurred while the two units were set to the 20% maximum? If so then this proves unequivocally that you do not need massive lighting to drive excellent health & growth. This is an exciting revelation man, be happy!
Yes indeed, the photoperiod is as above, the right hand unit has a 10 hour photoperiod, left hand unit a 6 hour photoperiod, both peaking at 20% intensity.
Would you call the growth healthy / excellent? I don't know. I still am noticing algae but I would say it's reduced somewhat.
So now we know that we have to work on gas dissolution and or flow/distribution.
I feel this is something that's under-appreciated by many in the hobby, with a lot, like me chasing peak PAR figues while not including CO2 output / water flow / CO2 distribution high up the list.
really wouldn't worry too much about red. People fret over red all day long and it's such wasted energy.
Were you aware that red and other colors are a result of a pigment production when the plants are subjected to light stress?
So instead of using the energy they have to grow, they have to divert the energy to production of the pigments, which is very expensive. The pigments fluoresce the excessive energy and in some ways is analogous to sunburn in humans.
The loss of red is actually a good thing as it is a visual indicator that the plant is no longer under light stress.
Very interesting information, thankyou, seems that it's a stress response to high PUR / PAR levels then?
I assume the red is something that can be worked on in the future as we get to grips with the basics first...
When the plants are healthy again and when CO2 and nutrition are excellent, the plants will once again produce other pigment types that are even more pleasing. Those pigments will be about the plant optimizing their use of the various wavelengths of light. You can also trigger various pigment response by changing the color of your bulbs. You'll be able to experiment with various color temperatures and after a few weeks. When CO2 is excellent, you will also be able to increase the Radion power and will trigger the same response without also triggering algae.
This seems very similar to reef tanks and corals then, when you acclimate them slowly to reduce the chance of bleaching and die back of zooxanthellae algae within the structures. Throttle back initially, optimise flow of nutrients via water flow then ramp up lights after everything else.
I'm really appreciating the help, i'm trying to learn as I progress in this hobby so I can not only learn and overcome issues while gaining knowledge - I can pass this on to others eventually
You really need to forget about red for now and focus on solving the injection/distribution puzzle for your tank.
It's odd as I feel that the flow / distribution os relatively good - though my plants are saying differently.
meter makes things easier, but you can slowly increase the injection rate a few bubbles at a time and monitor the fishes' response.
At the moment i'm at 6BPS (though as it turns out BPS is a misnomer and not the be all and end all to plant health / growth / vitality), i'll see how the fish are going forward.
I'm thinking of adding an air pump during the night time as I read it can promote beneficial bacteria populations due to increasing pH levels that have been supressed during the day due to CO2 injection?
I need to review the previous posts to determine why the flow rate or distribution scheme is failing and what tweaks are needed.
Can you please post photos of your revised pump and filter output installation?
Also, please drop the water level to below the spraybar so we can see the spray pattern.
Can you re-state the amount and type of filter media?
Cheers,
At the minute I have an Eheim professional 3 350 which has a supposes output of 1050 LPH.
I run the standard Eheim intake, along with a double spray bar (one is stock, one is shortened with bored out holes from a previous install). On the filter outlet is a CO2 atomiser, and there will be an inline external heater there also this week (reducing flow even further).
The spray bar is situated along the back of the tank, to the back left where there is a deadspot due to the sheperds crook / tubing, I have the Hydor powerhead here, as in level with the spray bar as I can manage
(Excuse the woeful photos)
Filter in situ :
20171127_202253 by
DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr
Outler tubing going to spraybar with atomiser :
20171127_202303 by
DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr
Powerhead to far left, spraybar to centre and right, intake to far right :
20171127_202234 by
DEAF N1NJA, on Flickr
Here is a video of the spray pattern (the flow output looks VERY disappointing, see my footnote regarding this) :
Now regarding filter media, the Pro 3 comprises 4 'baskets' using a bypass filtration system.
Basket 4 contains Eheim 'mech pro' mechanical media - filter basket is 100% full. Link :
https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/filter-media/mechanical/mechpro.
Basket 3 and 2 contain Eheim 'subtrat pro' biological media - filter baskets are both 95% full. Link :
https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/filter-media/biological/substratpro
Basket 1 (top basket) contains a coarse blue filter sponge. 100% full.
I am considering upgrading the filter to the biggest Eheim classic - 1500XL with a flow rate of 2400 LPH; The reasons for this are three fold :
1) Much improved flow rate thus better in tank distribution. Also a much larger media capacity for a larger bacterial colony / media choices.
2) Classic design forcing water from top to bottom through ALL media rather than then more modern 'bypass' design, which, once clogged compromises media flow-through.
3) The pump is a self contained Eheim 1260 circulation pump which can be upgraded to the 1262 eventually rated at 3400 LPH.