Hope this is the right place, though it might be specific to one of my plant species.
I have a 65W PC, hung about 6" over my 20H. EI, Injected CO2, Koralia nano, and Fluval 205 (goosed), so I get good circulation. Lighting 10 hours per day, CO2 on 1 hour before, at each end of the lighting period. The bulb is less than 2 months old.
I should add that on micro days, I used to dose Flourish iron, along with Flourish comprehensive. A recent problem with restocking the tank - went to all cardinals, for my top swimmers, and lost a lot of them upfront - led me to forego iron separate dosing, esp. as the Comprehensive has a good amount (at least when compared to TMG, apparently). As Tom Barr prefers either Flourish or TMG over CSM+B, and, well, I've relied on his expertise a good deal, and I've also read of some folks trouble with algae and CSM+B, I've continued with the Flourish for micros/traces. I also seem to recall reading somewhere on the Barr Report that the issue of iron and red coloring, at least, is overrated. I admit I might have completely missed it, but this is my recollection.
At any rate, little algae, most plants doing very well, but my foreground parva isn't doing much of anything, and my recent L. glandulosa is dropping leaves, and getting an odd green/red bandedness to the leaves left. I've read on the APC plantfinder that this can be a problem with glandulosa, even under good circumstances, but I love this plant and would like it to thrive.
A representative pic of the tank, the glandulosa, and a leaf detail:
(I've recently moved the glandulosa to the back, on advice from a member at TPT - the lower-stem leaf drop really was turning unsightly).
I've thought to lower the PC/mount it on coralife legs (2-3" above surface), but as it's a Coralife, reflectors are poor (wish I knew a mere couple of months ago what I have learned here and on TPT), and lowering it just kills the coverage.
My question is: does this seem like an inadequate lighting issue, and adding another 1x65W on top would be a responsive cure, or is something else coming to members' minds?
Basically, with a PC giving an estimated 80 mmols at the substrate, is this enough for high-light demand plants?
I have a 65W PC, hung about 6" over my 20H. EI, Injected CO2, Koralia nano, and Fluval 205 (goosed), so I get good circulation. Lighting 10 hours per day, CO2 on 1 hour before, at each end of the lighting period. The bulb is less than 2 months old.
I should add that on micro days, I used to dose Flourish iron, along with Flourish comprehensive. A recent problem with restocking the tank - went to all cardinals, for my top swimmers, and lost a lot of them upfront - led me to forego iron separate dosing, esp. as the Comprehensive has a good amount (at least when compared to TMG, apparently). As Tom Barr prefers either Flourish or TMG over CSM+B, and, well, I've relied on his expertise a good deal, and I've also read of some folks trouble with algae and CSM+B, I've continued with the Flourish for micros/traces. I also seem to recall reading somewhere on the Barr Report that the issue of iron and red coloring, at least, is overrated. I admit I might have completely missed it, but this is my recollection.
At any rate, little algae, most plants doing very well, but my foreground parva isn't doing much of anything, and my recent L. glandulosa is dropping leaves, and getting an odd green/red bandedness to the leaves left. I've read on the APC plantfinder that this can be a problem with glandulosa, even under good circumstances, but I love this plant and would like it to thrive.
A representative pic of the tank, the glandulosa, and a leaf detail:



(I've recently moved the glandulosa to the back, on advice from a member at TPT - the lower-stem leaf drop really was turning unsightly).
I've thought to lower the PC/mount it on coralife legs (2-3" above surface), but as it's a Coralife, reflectors are poor (wish I knew a mere couple of months ago what I have learned here and on TPT), and lowering it just kills the coverage.
My question is: does this seem like an inadequate lighting issue, and adding another 1x65W on top would be a responsive cure, or is something else coming to members' minds?
Basically, with a PC giving an estimated 80 mmols at the substrate, is this enough for high-light demand plants?