Dwarf Ambulia turning brown

[Pellington]

Spotless water is supposed to be really good and is a LOT cheaper (like 4P/L) if you have one near you:

Ultra Pure Water Refill Locations | Spotless Water

Our national coverage ensures you don't have to travel far to access our ultra pure water self-service network. View our different locations.

www.spotlesswater.co.uk

Thanks for this Barney, all makes sense, and wow never heard of Spotless Water before but what a good idea and as you say, a LOT cheaper! And believe it or not there is one about 15 mins from my house

 

[Pellington]

Hey Byron, thanks again for the assistance here

I posted my source water KH and GH yesterday above ( 20 and 25 respectively) albeit I appreciate these were with strip tests so maybe not that accurate. I've placed an order today for a liquid tests and they arrive on Saturday, so hopefully i'll be able to do proper tests this weekend. Once I have the proper facts and figures i'll start a separate thread to get everyone's thoughts specifically on the subject of my high PH (and whether I should leave it alone or attempt to bring it down), and would of course welcome your input on that one too! Keep your eyes peeled!

And BTW, the problem with your Ambulia has nothing to do with pH

In terms of my plants going brown, and noting the above, i am back to the question of whether it's lighting or nutrients.. Starting today i have decided to increase the dosage of Microbe-Lift, and I have also adjusted the timer on my lights, as I realised that although they are on for 11.5 hrs, actually 3 hrs of that is a gradual sunrise/sunset and so the lights are only actually on full blast for 8.5 hrs! Plus (as we discussed above) I am a fair way underneath the 20-30 lumens p/litre guideline. I have basically brought the sunrise forward by 2 hours, so I now have 13.5 hrs total but only 10.5 hrs at full blast.

I hope you agree with my plans.. I think I will also start another thread specifically on the subject of my lighting, as I am keen to get to the bottom of whether 4250 lm is enough for my 300L tank.

Cheers

 

[Byron]

On the pH, the GH and KH re very high. You will not have any success lowering the pH unless you dilute the water to lower the GH/KH. Dilute means with pure water like RO. But I can guarantee the pH is going to stay where it is unless this is done.

On the lighting...duration cannot make up for intensity problems, or vice-versa. Six hours of light at the intensity needed for the plant species (they vary somewhat), and always provided the spectrum is OK and the 17 required nutrients are available, would be OK. Eight hours would be OK provided the nutrients were increased to balance. Same for ten hours, and so forth. The balance has to be there.

Thirteen hours is a lot of light. This can cause trouble for the fish too.