Dielectric

why is it my plants do most of their pearling on the day after WC?

i find myself adding 3x the EI dosing for NO3 to keep the nitrates up and dosing on micro days. according to the fertilator 3 tsp should yield me 21ppm but after a few hours i test and results are only 5. are my plants really using that much nitrates? yes my tests are calibrated.

ive had to trim a few times so far and have replanted the tops of polysperma, but they melt within a few days, any idea why?


thanks.

Tex Gal

It's possible that your plants are just nutrient hogs. Try dosing more. If your plants are melting that leads me to believe that they are needing more.

Maybe your tap water has a lot of phosphates and nitrates in it. So the day after is when your plants have enough nutrition to actually do some growing.

Dielectric

i use R/O reconstituted with Barr's GH Booster and baking soda. they are growing like weeds, its just when i top them off and replant the tops, the tops melt.

Tex Gal

When you replant can they get enough light or are they shaded? OR- Sometimes the CO2 doesn't get mixed well enough around the tank. Could that also be the issue since they are lower and water flow is usually impeded by stems?

About the pearling - maybe the plants are using all the CA and MG and by the time you change water you are giving them enough finally to do some fast growing again?

Trying to come up with some ideas....

Dielectric

well i ruled out the light by trying some in bright light and some in a shaded area. i was also guessing it had to do with co2 or CA/MG. if i turn the co2 up much more i will get an air lock in my reactor (its just one of those tube ones with a power head on the top but its pinched between both canister intakes) i had an DIY inline one but it started leaking awhile a back.. yesterday i really cranked the co2 up and woke up to my fish gasping. i guess i need an airstone at night.

as to the flow, if i add anymore my plants will blow down. but i suppose i could try strategically placing some powerheads. today is WC day, so i will bump up the GH Booster a little and see if that helps. i also need to trim today (im not used to trimming every week!) so im hoping these cuttings will make it.


i havent had any algae issues since the brown diatoms went away after cycling. i do have some minor BBA that came in on some plants, and i am now just seeing GSA on the glass within the past few days.

thanks for your input!

Dielectric

per usual its the day after water change and my tank looks like a soda bottle. i added a little extra GH Booster. i also hacked down some stems and planted a bunch of 3 -6" cuttings. i'm hoping they wont melt this time. i also upped the co2 just a tad, and added a power head behind a big mass of stems.

Tex Gal

It'll be interesting to see what happens. I can't imagine why healthy cuttings would die when the original plants are still doing well. The suggestions I gave are all that I can think of..

One other thing... could you have some anaerobic pockets of gas where you are planting the new cuttings? (last idea here! )

Dielectric

i do occassionaly see a large bubble burp up fom the substrate.

i dont get it either. the stems are branching and growing huge leaves. but i can already see a few polysperma cuttings wilting. while one a few inches over has doubled in size. i can tell which ones will melt because they dont close up when the lights go out. its only hygrophilia doing this.

today is the 3rd day of pearling, this is normally when it starts to fizzle out.

Dielectric

uuuughhhh. WTF. once again i come home from work to find plants pearling like crazy, the original stems have already made up for my hack job and then some. but the cuttings are turning clearish black and melting. i would say 4 out of 5 polysperma cuttings dont make it, while one right next to it that was shipped to me is thriving. and its only hygros... polysperma, tiger, & stricta. the ceylon and angustifolia does fine. i think that ive eliminated N,P,K. could it possibly be my micros? not enough? or too much iron?

Tex Gal

This is so weird! I'm out of guesses! Hopefully someone else will be able to help.