My Plants Grew 30 Inches In 10 Days!

[mibson]

After recent holidays when I put in the “plaster” fish feeders in to my tanks, my plants grew an obscene amount. I had some rosifolia and cabomba (sorry don’t know how to spell) grow almost 30 inches! In 10 days! Literally the fish had no place to swim after 10 days!

This makes me think something in the plaster feeders was also good for my plants, since Ive never seen my plants grow this much.

I have a co2 system, 4wpg and I do EI dosing with potassium nitrate, Iron chelate, potassium phosphate, potassium sulphate and I use Seachem micro. I was under the impression that the dosing Im doing combined with weekly 50% water changes was the right thing to do. Perhaps I need to be adding something else that was in the plaster fish feeders, into my water?

Thanks for any tips.

 

[saz326]

Just a thought - but did you have a timer set for the lights to be switched on and off with? Did you have this before you went on holiday or just while you were on holiday?

I remember I used to manually switch my lights on and off, but when I changed to a timer switch the plant growth increased as I had unknowingly increased teh hours of daylight and made it more consistant. (i.e. at weekends the lights used to be switched on at around 10 am. wheras durin the week it was 7.am.

 

[aaronnorth]

I have a co2 system, 4wpg and I do EI dosing

There's your answer, 4wpg is very high lighting

 

[mibson]

Ive had a timer on this tank for 3 years now.

Just a thought - but did you have a timer set for the lights to be switched on and off with? Did you have this before you went on holiday or just while you were on holiday?

I remember I used to manually switch my lights on and off, but when I changed to a timer switch the plant growth increased as I had unknowingly increased teh hours of daylight and made it more consistant. (i.e. at weekends the lights used to be switched on at around 10 am. wheras durin the week it was 7.am.

 

[mibson]

I have a co2 system, 4wpg and I do EI dosing

There's your answer, 4wpg is very high lighting

But I do have another tank (90g) with only about 2.5 wpg and it did the same thing when I was away. I feel strongly that each time I go away and use the plaster feeders that my plants grow much more than normal. Im 98% sure there is somthing in them that is feeding my plants?

I have had these tanks for 3 years and never seen the plants grow like this except when I go away and use the plaster feeders.

 

[three-fingers]

After recent holidays when I put in the “plaster” fish feeders in to my tanks, my plants grew an obscene amount. I had some rosifolia and cabomba (sorry don’t know how to spell) grow almost 30 inches! In 10 days! Literally the fish had no place to swim after 10 days!

This makes me think something in the plaster feeders was also good for my plants, since Ive never seen my plants grow this much.

I have a co2 system, 4wpg and I do EI dosing with potassium nitrate, Iron chelate, potassium phosphate, potassium sulphate and I use Seachem micro. I was under the impression that the dosing Im doing combined with weekly 50% water changes was the right thing to do. Perhaps I need to be adding something else that was in the plaster fish feeders, into my water?

Thanks for any tips.

What kind of CO2 system do you have? Because if plaster dissolving in the water caused that plants to grow much faster, then carbon is still limited in your tank.
Considering you have 4wpg, this seems a fair deduction, since light obviously isn't a limiting factor.

When plaster dissolves, it releases bicarbonates into the water, which is why when these holiday blocks are used in tanks with no plants, the KH rises.

If you want the faster plant growth, I would suggest adding more CO2.

Adding tufa rock (you can hide it at the back of the tank, partially buried in substrate) or crushed coral to the filter is an alternative if you cant afford this or do it for any other reason. These should provide a slower more steady release of bicarbonates than plaster, but will raise the pH and GH of the water too (I think plaster does too anyway) - so if your fish cant handle hard alkaline water, don't add too much.

Remember hoverer, that if the rate of photosynthesis increases, other nutrients may become limiting, so you might have to step up dosing to avoid signs or deficiencies and/or algae.

Personally, if I was happy with the tank anyway, I wouldn't bother changing anything. After 3 years, it should be fairly stable and not have too much algae due to thriving plants. Unless you really want faster plant growth, I wouldn't risk messing things up.

 

[mibson]

After recent holidays when I put in the “plaster” fish feeders in to my tanks, my plants grew an obscene amount. I had some rosifolia and cabomba (sorry don’t know how to spell) grow almost 30 inches! In 10 days! Literally the fish had no place to swim after 10 days!

This makes me think something in the plaster feeders was also good for my plants, since Ive never seen my plants grow this much.

I have a co2 system, 4wpg and I do EI dosing with potassium nitrate, Iron chelate, potassium phosphate, potassium sulphate and I use Seachem micro. I was under the impression that the dosing Im doing combined with weekly 50% water changes was the right thing to do. Perhaps I need to be adding something else that was in the plaster fish feeders, into my water?

Thanks for any tips.

What kind of CO2 system do you have? Because if plaster dissolving in the water caused that plants to grow much faster, then carbon is still limited in your tank.
Considering you have 4wpg, this seems a fair deduction, since light obviously isn't a limiting factor.

When plaster dissolves, it releases bicarbonates into the water, which is why when these holiday blocks are used in tanks with no plants, the KH rises.

If you want the faster plant growth, I would suggest adding more CO2.

Adding tufa rock (you can hide it at the back of the tank, partially buried in substrate) or crushed coral to the filter is an alternative if you cant afford this or do it for any other reason. These should provide a slower more steady release of bicarbonates than plaster, but will raise the pH and GH of the water too (I think plaster does too anyway) - so if your fish cant handle hard alkaline water, don't add too much.

Remember hoverer, that if the rate of photosynthesis increases, other nutrients may become limiting, so you might have to step up dosing to avoid signs or deficiencies and/or algae.

Personally, if I was happy with the tank anyway, I wouldn't bother changing anything. After 3 years, it should be fairly stable and not have too much algae due to thriving plants. Unless you really want faster plant growth, I wouldn't risk messing things up.

This all makes sense to me except, I am pretty sure my co2 is high, at about 25ppm due to my ph 7.0-6.9 and KH of 90. my tap water kh is always 90 and my tanks seem to always be 90 when I test them. (ive heard kh tests are not accurate, perhaps this is an issue?) My kh seemed to stay at 90 even when I used RO water(50% RO and 50% tap) in the past, Ive since stoped using RO water except for top ups)

I have a cheep nutrafin co2 ladder in this 55g tank (I plan to upgrade my co2 reactor) and a red sea reactor in my 90g tank. Ive only had the co2 system for 3 months now, and I used DIY co2 in the past. Im certain my co2 was low in the past. Perhaps it took the plants a few months to get accustomed to the new co2 and lighting levels? (I increased my lighting in the past month).

I realize now that the fact that I increased my lighting in my 55g tank was important info i left out before however my 90g tank has the same lighting and it has grown more than usual too, although the 90g didnt grow nearly as much.

 

[SuperColey1]

KH 90? That is off the scale isn't it?

I wouldn't have thought RO would be the same KH as tap either!!!

AC

 

[mibson]

KH 90? That is off the scale isn't it?

I wouldn't have thought RO would be the same KH as tap either!!!

AC

There are two different scales used for KH. Im using 90mg/L. Using Nutrafin KH test kit.

I have suspected my test might not be accurate since the KH seemed to remain at 90mg/L when I was using 50% RO nd 50% tap water in the past (important note - I was using DIY co2 at this time and my co2 was low and inconsistent therefore my plants didn’t grow very well). Ive since gone to 90% tap, my tap KH is also 90-95.

 

[three-fingers]

Try testing KH and pH first thing in the morning as the lights turn lights on, and then at night as they go off.
The other thing is that IME (and many others) yeast based CO2 kits sometimes give fairly varying amounts of CO2.
Your CO2 levels are likely fluctuating and becoming limited at some point/points during the day.

I use the same KH test kit...my tanks water is 40-50ppm calcium carbonate, the test doesn't work with pure RO water because there shouldn't be enough calcium carbonate. I just now tested half tank and half RO water, and got exactly the expected results: the reagent changed after 3 drops, indicating 20-30ppm.

Do you mean you tested the tanks water at a time when you were using half tap and half RO water for partial water changes? Or do you mean that you got 90ppm of calcium carbonate when testing half tank and half RO water?

Because if the latter, then your test kit is flawed.

Also, you mentioned that you have only added the lighting within the past month, if that's the case, then I'd suggest that aaronnorth's answer was pretty much stop on . In the past the bicarbonate would have been limiting, so the plaster may have had a positive effect. But in this case, it's just that you have returned from holiday to find the results of your new lighting.

 

[mibson]

Try testing KH and pH first thing in the morning as the lights turn lights on, and then at night as they go off.
The other thing is that IME (and many others) yeast based CO2 kits sometimes give fairly varying amounts of CO2.
Your CO2 levels are likely fluctuating and becoming limited at some point/points during the day.

I use the same KH test kit...my tanks water is 40-50ppm calcium carbonate, the test doesn't work with pure RO water because there shouldn't be enough calcium carbonate. I just now tested half tank and half RO water, and got exactly the expected results: the reagent changed after 3 drops, indicating 20-30ppm.

Do you mean you tested the tanks water at a time when you were using half tap and half RO water for partial water changes? Or do you mean that you got 90ppm of calcium carbonate when testing half tank and half RO water?

Because if the latter, then your test kit is flawed.

Also, you mentioned that you have only added the lighting within the past month, if that's the case, then I'd suggest that aaronnorth's answer was pretty much stop on . In the past the bicarbonate would have been limiting, so the plaster may have had a positive effect. But in this case, it's just that you have returned from holiday to find the results of your new lighting.

Makes sense I think the new lighting must be the factor, thanks. Ive changed my tanks enough recently that its hard to tell what is the cause. Ill just observe and enjoy my fast plant growth and clean glass...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!