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dstephens · 06-19-2006, 07:59 PM

This has been an interesting ride for me and part of the problem is that I am not thinking things through enough. My tank looked so good for so long that I took it for granted that things would stay that way. Felt like I could grow anything and wow, have I had some disasters. I have a 90 gallon planted and I started it 7 months ago. Lot's of fast growing stems, CO2 was jamming away, PH consistent around 6.7 -6.9, not much algae problems. Then I decided to pull stuff out and start trying difficult plants without giving a lot of consideration to the parameters that work best for a specific plant, or grouping of plants, spent too much money buying plants.......

Anyway, I learned a great deal from folks like yourself on the APC forums. I really like the look of my tank now but I have been trying to force this CO2 issue. I have a large area newly planted with HC and I'm trying to bump the CO2 to enhance whatever chances I have of getting the HC to take hold and take off. I currently run my lights about 11-12 hours a day. I have 390 watts of PC 6700k lights over 90 gallons. Injected CO2. In the past I have run the air diffuser at night to hedge against any issues with the fish. I have always had a pearling effect, up until now, and that makes me think that my growth has diminished and I have green dust/brown crusty algae on the glass. I also dose excel, nitrogen, potassium, flourish, phosporus, iron and trace elements. I keep the temp around 76-78.5. PH 6.5 - 6.8. recently, the PH has been creeping downward. I change 20 gallons or so every week. I probably have 70 nominal gallons considering all of the substrate, which is flourite. KH of 3.5 - 4.5. I don't check the others very often, usually going on the visual to see how things are going. I also have a UV sterilizer in-line. Anyway, that's the ticket.

I don't see or really have any major issues. I would just like to grow my plants to their optimal capacity. I am really sorry if it seems like I have highjacked somone else's thread. I should be calling Dr. Phil maybe instead of all this blabber. Always open to feedback/suggestions. Thanks for letting me share. Darrell

06-19-2006, 07:59 PM	#28 (permalink)
dstephens Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Southlake, Texas Posts: 368 iTrader Ratings: 28 iTrader Positive Rating: 97% Plant Points: 9613	This has been an interesting ride for me and part of the problem is that I am not thinking things through enough. My tank looked so good for so long that I took it for granted that things would stay that way. Felt like I could grow anything and wow, have I had some disasters. I have a 90 gallon planted and I started it 7 months ago. Lot's of fast growing stems, CO2 was jamming away, PH consistent around 6.7 -6.9, not much algae problems. Then I decided to pull stuff out and start trying difficult plants without giving a lot of consideration to the parameters that work best for a specific plant, or grouping of plants, spent too much money buying plants....... Anyway, I learned a great deal from folks like yourself on the APC forums. I really like the look of my tank now but I have been trying to force this CO2 issue. I have a large area newly planted with HC and I'm trying to bump the CO2 to enhance whatever chances I have of getting the HC to take hold and take off. I currently run my lights about 11-12 hours a day. I have 390 watts of PC 6700k lights over 90 gallons. Injected CO2. In the past I have run the air diffuser at night to hedge against any issues with the fish. I have always had a pearling effect, up until now, and that makes me think that my growth has diminished and I have green dust/brown crusty algae on the glass. I also dose excel, nitrogen, potassium, flourish, phosporus, iron and trace elements. I keep the temp around 76-78.5. PH 6.5 - 6.8. recently, the PH has been creeping downward. I change 20 gallons or so every week. I probably have 70 nominal gallons considering all of the substrate, which is flourite. KH of 3.5 - 4.5. I don't check the others very often, usually going on the visual to see how things are going. I also have a UV sterilizer in-line. Anyway, that's the ticket. I don't see or really have any major issues. I would just like to grow my plants to their optimal capacity. I am really sorry if it seems like I have highjacked somone else's thread. I should be calling Dr. Phil maybe instead of all this blabber. Always open to feedback/suggestions. Thanks for letting me share. Darrell