This is the second time I observe this phenomenon:
A tank with very high KH, GH, and a lot of CO2 and light turns the plants into photosynthesizing machines. Think Anubias covered in Oxygen bubbles. The first time I had that happening there were plants growing at an insane rate - 2 inches per day.
The first time I experienced that was about 2 years ago. I posted on the rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants newsgroup about that but noone had an explanation.
Here are the similarities between the 2 tanks in which the above happened:
- new set up
- KH=16
- GH=15
- CO2=30-45 ppm
- No Fe/Traces added
- around 2 wpg
- N and P are unreadable
- No additional K or Mg added
- No fish
- The plants were received directly from the supplier (never been held in a LFS tanks)
The first case was a mishap - I had used limestone as gravel. The more I increased the CO2 bubble rate the more the KH grew. The tap water was KH=2 but it increased to 16 in my tank. I didn't measure GH but I imagine it was sky high. As I mentioned above - some plants grew up to 2 inches per day with 2 wpg.
The second case is a 250 gal. tank that has EcoComplete mixed with inert gravel. The tap water is KH=16 and GH=15 and we have pH= 7 (with tons of CO2). N and P are inreadable. Light is 640 watts of T5's. I went to see the tank today and I was shocked to witness A. nana and cafeefolia covered with bubbles and producing long strings of bubbles. I don't know how fast will the plants grow but the pearling is very heavy. The tank has been set up for 3 days now.
What is your explanation to the above?
The first thing that comes to mind is that the plants that come directly from the supplier are loaded with nutrients and they are using them up. But I'm not sure that is everything.
--Nikolay
A tank with very high KH, GH, and a lot of CO2 and light turns the plants into photosynthesizing machines. Think Anubias covered in Oxygen bubbles. The first time I had that happening there were plants growing at an insane rate - 2 inches per day.
The first time I experienced that was about 2 years ago. I posted on the rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants newsgroup about that but noone had an explanation.
Here are the similarities between the 2 tanks in which the above happened:
- new set up
- KH=16
- GH=15
- CO2=30-45 ppm
- No Fe/Traces added
- around 2 wpg
- N and P are unreadable
- No additional K or Mg added
- No fish
- The plants were received directly from the supplier (never been held in a LFS tanks)
The first case was a mishap - I had used limestone as gravel. The more I increased the CO2 bubble rate the more the KH grew. The tap water was KH=2 but it increased to 16 in my tank. I didn't measure GH but I imagine it was sky high. As I mentioned above - some plants grew up to 2 inches per day with 2 wpg.
The second case is a 250 gal. tank that has EcoComplete mixed with inert gravel. The tap water is KH=16 and GH=15 and we have pH= 7 (with tons of CO2). N and P are inreadable. Light is 640 watts of T5's. I went to see the tank today and I was shocked to witness A. nana and cafeefolia covered with bubbles and producing long strings of bubbles. I don't know how fast will the plants grow but the pearling is very heavy. The tank has been set up for 3 days now.
What is your explanation to the above?
The first thing that comes to mind is that the plants that come directly from the supplier are loaded with nutrients and they are using them up. But I'm not sure that is everything.
--Nikolay