Switch to EI, sorting flow and increasing lighting
Have been pondering the tank for a few days, reading some articles on ukaps that I hadn't really engaged with properly before (particularly clive on flow and EI).
Here's how the tank's looking, from each side. [EDIT - now that I've posted this, and can compare it easily to the picture just above, can see I'm getting quite a bit of growth. Just shows keeping a journal is pretty useful.]
The other side is much harder to take decent photos from, as there are reflection issues
🙁
Am still having little joy with the carpet, even though the drop checker right above them is pretty much yellow, so have decided to crank up the light, putting one flourescent tube back into action, and getting a reflector on it. (As an aside, am cross with the shop for not selling me a reflector, instead flogging me more lights

.)
I'm also biting the bullet and moving to EI dosing:
Plan to mix up 1L at a time of each mixture, using
these dosing bottles,
recommended by hogan 53.
And finally, I'm now convinced the flow isn't good enough too. The tank is very narrow - just the width of a brick wall - and the bits of redmoor in the root leave almost no room around them. Looking in detail at the stems in the redmoor shows the leaves are melting a bit, which is I think a sign of CO2 shortages.
So I'm going to take one bit out, which will leave more space for flow, and plants as they grow through... Will post pictures in a week or so when it's settled down a bit.
So, I'm basically pretending clive is in my living room, telling me to switch to EI and sort the flow. (And I'm increasing the lighting too, which he'd probably tell me not to do! But then you have to make your own mistakes...

)