I recently purchased a 240 gallon tank to replace my 135 gallon. Prior to the new tank, I redid my floor which forced my to move my 135 gallon tank twice. During the move I used tupperware filled with substrate and planted into these. I intended on moving the tank, completing the floor then moving the tank back to its original spot. Long story short I lagged and most of my plants melted or got severely stressed out.
When I purchased the new tank and set it up, I bought a few plant packages to fill in the tank. I have noticed that most of the plants from the old tank either melted in the new set-up or are now doing very poorly.
For instance my HM flourished in my old tank to the point of being a pain. After the stress period and the move they ended up melting. Other plants like Ludwigia repens which in my old tank would grow inches a day and required weekly hacking (trims), is now stunted. I have 3 plants that are only 4 inches tall. They haven't grown in 4+ weeks and the little new growth I see is green instead of the deep red I'm used to. Another "old" plant that did really well was Hydro "sunset". It was bright green with that magenta color we all love. Now the plant is bright white.
My question is: Have I stunted my plants through severe shock or does this sound like deficiencies in nutrients? I've tried upping my iron to get the sunset red again but this hasn't worked. My Nitrate and phospho levels are in line and CO2 drop checker is lime green. My next step is to increase my dosing of micros and see if that helps out. Figuring out the dosing of this larger tank sounded easy in theory but is proving more difficult. This is probably due to nutrient flow, maybe I have some dead spots in the tank making it difficult to get even distribution of nutrients. Another possibility is the new plants are outcompeting for nutrients causing deficiencies. Basically having an 8 foot long tank is great but I'm having issues getting everything back in balance.
I currently do the following:
CO2 at a million bps (kidding)
Dose Potassium Sulfate 3 tsps 3x a week
Dose Potassium Nitrate at water change (Nitrates hover around 5-20 ppm) I have 3 large fish that supply plenty of N and P.
Dose 1/4 tsp ferrous gluconate 3x a week
Dose 1 tsp of CSM + B 3x a week
At water change I add 2 tbs of baking soda and 1 tsp on barrs GH mix. PH = 6.6-7.0 depending the time of day.
Does any of this look funny for a 240 gallon tank? Any advice is welcome.
When I purchased the new tank and set it up, I bought a few plant packages to fill in the tank. I have noticed that most of the plants from the old tank either melted in the new set-up or are now doing very poorly.
For instance my HM flourished in my old tank to the point of being a pain. After the stress period and the move they ended up melting. Other plants like Ludwigia repens which in my old tank would grow inches a day and required weekly hacking (trims), is now stunted. I have 3 plants that are only 4 inches tall. They haven't grown in 4+ weeks and the little new growth I see is green instead of the deep red I'm used to. Another "old" plant that did really well was Hydro "sunset". It was bright green with that magenta color we all love. Now the plant is bright white.
My question is: Have I stunted my plants through severe shock or does this sound like deficiencies in nutrients? I've tried upping my iron to get the sunset red again but this hasn't worked. My Nitrate and phospho levels are in line and CO2 drop checker is lime green. My next step is to increase my dosing of micros and see if that helps out. Figuring out the dosing of this larger tank sounded easy in theory but is proving more difficult. This is probably due to nutrient flow, maybe I have some dead spots in the tank making it difficult to get even distribution of nutrients. Another possibility is the new plants are outcompeting for nutrients causing deficiencies. Basically having an 8 foot long tank is great but I'm having issues getting everything back in balance.
I currently do the following:
CO2 at a million bps (kidding)
Dose Potassium Sulfate 3 tsps 3x a week
Dose Potassium Nitrate at water change (Nitrates hover around 5-20 ppm) I have 3 large fish that supply plenty of N and P.
Dose 1/4 tsp ferrous gluconate 3x a week
Dose 1 tsp of CSM + B 3x a week
At water change I add 2 tbs of baking soda and 1 tsp on barrs GH mix. PH = 6.6-7.0 depending the time of day.
Does any of this look funny for a 240 gallon tank? Any advice is welcome.