Joe that is what I was referring to. Rotala’s with extreme color don’t come that easily. It’s still a balancing act, but of a different kind.
Now this is an interesting thought. Goes to the theory of keeping things stable and no sudden movements. I have no scientific reason to believe this, but it seems plants get used to what you are providing and adapt.
This might explain how plants can react differently depending on where they are sourced. For instance, I received some Lobelia Cardinalis small form from Maryland Guppy. Our tanks are quite different in our approach. In his tank the L. Cardinal gets HUGE. I think he sent me four giant plants.
Within a week every single leave had come off. Almost like going from emersed. Three of them melted completely and vanished. One root seemed to have some life in it, so I just left a nub sitting there. Well it took a while, but now that plant is a healthy as can be, and normal (for me) size.
On the flip side, I sent him some Pantanal, and in 24 hours it melted into nothing. Just vanished in the wind.
Now when I get plants from you Joe, in general there is almost no transition, it’s usually like they don’t skip a beat. And our parameters are very similar.
So I think there is something to the sticking your toe in the cold water analogy. Once you get in it feels completely different a few minutes later. And more than likely we would see different results if we adjusted dosing VERY slowly.…..and had the patience to let things evolve. Might be worth messing around with.
Interesting. I’ll get a picture of mine for you. Some pink on the tops, but not heavy. My N is at least as high as yours. Might be a good one to focus on with gradual drop in N to see what happens.
And one last thought. My first post on this site was about how to approach dosing in a heavily stocked tank.
https://barrreport.com/threads/first-time-poster-seeking-a-little-advice.13633/
Vin basically told me to try just dosing K and forget N & P. I immediately did and let's just say that didn’t work out too well. Now was it because I went straight from full EI to nothing? Well in retrospect, very well could be. Could also be I had no idea of what I was doing (not that I really do now!) and had not optimized other parts of the planted tank equation. But even today, every time I try lowering macros, many plants seem to rebel. But maybe it would be different if phased in very slowly?
Anyway, sorry to ramble, but these tanks you and Vin are experimenting with bring up lots of food for thought, and may point to some new paths. I'm all for change. Look at larding on custom micros and front end loading macros. Who would have thunk it?
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