deep aquarium, problem?

what is the substrate?

 

Not All That Deep

Hi Dario,

65-cm deep should not be a problem.

I suppose it is relatively low light, but as long as the plants are happy, no algae, I do not see the problem.

Biollante

 

Light drives growth, so if you want faster growth you could mount reflectors on your T5's. This will boost the light in the tank around 30 to 50% and will still keep you at a reasonable PAR level.
If your friend is already using reflectors, make him change the standard Juwel tubes for another brand, like Dennerle. PAR output of these tubes is 30% higher than the standard Juwel tubes.
Keep in mind that CO2 and nutrition demands will rise too.

regards,
dutchy

 

With reflectors there's enough light with the standard fixture. I measured a Juwel tank some time ago with my PAR meter which gave a good value of around 50 micromols at the substrate. Philips and Sylvania tubes don't fit in Juwel fixtures. JBL and Arcadia have tubes that fit, but I don't know what the PAR output is of these tubes.

Based on your info there's not much to diagnose. How's tapwater there?
If there's no algae, everything seems to be ok. Some plants just don't grow fast.

regards,
dutchy

 

I've told her at the gathering that her light is enough
I forgot how she distributes co2 ...
She says that her dc is yellow , right?

 

My guess is that if her ferts dosing is ok, non limiting , than she should try to improve her co2 ..
Increasing the amount little by little every week, watching the fish for signs of stress , than if the fish are fine, increase co2 some more etc.
There should be results.

 

Is there sufficient flow in the aquarium?

 

i agree with higher light. i have a 24 inch (61cm) aquarium with 6 T5HO lamps, pressurized CO2, and EI dosing, and my plants grow so fast that they need to be trimmed every 2 or 3 days. my NO3 is 10, PO4 is 1-2, Fe is 0.4. they also pearl a TONNE. i have about 1400GPH (5300LPH) flow in the tank, and with the addition of the sump, another 1000GPH (3785 LPH). what plants do you have? are your lamps T5 NO, or T5 HO? either way, IMO 2 T5 lamps are not very bright for most plants.

HTH!

 

huh... my post didnt appear.

 

oh, never mind

 

Hi folks,

Can we agree for the moment that a yellow DC does NOT ENSURE adequate or stable c02 levels?

A DC simply tells you what the c02 MAY have been 1-2 hours in the past. That is not accurate enough to guage good c02 during the entire photoperiod. Tom has shown that c02 concentrations change ALL THE TIME thru space and time. You may want to use a second and move them around the tank a bit. Check them at diff times, etc. Get an idea of your entire tank....

If using EI in non-limiting amounts and IMO you have plenty of light, I would look to either c02 and/or general current/flow.

I would slowly increase the c02 a bit weekly. Observe the fish and plants. Look for nice, algae free new growth. Good color, shape, etc. Fish should not be stressed: darker colors, heavy breathing, gathering at surface, hiding, etc.

Please remember that it takes 2-3 weeks for plants to recover after stress of stunting/periods of poor growth.

You may not get 'overnight' results. Water changes help a great deal. An extra 50% weekly won't hurt anything.

What is the tank size and EI dosing regimen again?

I would not be TOO concerned with the hardness, but I also know that some plants do better in hard water. Remember that plants will pull c02 out of the water hardness if no gaseous c02 is around. So, these plants do okay, but remove c02 for the other plants, which causes issues.

Are some of the plants doing well and others not? Which ones are okay? Val, elodea, sag?

Hope this helps.

Scorpio_125,

I assume your post made it? Want me to delete the other 2?

Do you like the amount of trimming you do now? Lowering your # of tubes will still give you nice growth, but will reduce the amount of trimming.

Just curious. Light is what drives plant growth and nutrient/c02 demand. 6x5 t5ho is driving a very high demand. This may eventually prove too much to provide even if all seems okay now. As plant bio-mass increases, c02 and other ferts also need to be increased.

Just want to ensure you don't have issues later on.........