May Joint Meeting

[jweis]

Aaron, I appreciated your presentation too. I did have a question about timing of the macros and the micros. I have my lights come on from 3pm -10pm each day. Should I does the N, P, and K at 1pm, and then the micros an hour later at 2pm? Or do I need to wait longer between dosing the micros and macros?

I'm not Aaron, but I'll answer anyway. I dose micros and macros within minutes of each other, and have had no problems.

Thanks Judi. I won't be so concerned about it any more.

[Aaron]

@Tim - How's your lighting? That's a really tall tank you have. Do the plants get red when they reach the top of the tank?

@Julie - I agree with Judi. Just don't put them in the same dosing solution. Dosing at the same time has never posed problems for me though.

[150EH]

They do get a little more color near the top but I have super high lighting, I run 4 x 65w and 2 x 96w, and I have 2 more 96w that I've been leaving off. I've noticed most of the tanks with the best color are using AS but that's not a rule, there are some Flourite and others that get good color. I have Flourite, I dose a low EI regime with Fe.

[ingg]

I get more color starving a tank of nitrates than not.

Good lighting always helps too.

[150EH]

Maybe I'll try adding the other 2 x 96 w bulbs to my burst but I hate to play with it when everything is going so smooth.

[mrkillie]

I want to thank Aaron for a great talk on plant nutrients and fertilization and all GWAPA members that came for making the trip and making it a great meeting. We'll have to do it again soon. I know a lot of our members appreciate the chance to get some of the plants that we don't normally see in the stores or in our auction.

Joel

[Judi]

I had fun! Great seeing you all again!

[Aaron]

They do get a little more color near the top but I have super high lighting, I run 4 x 65w and 2 x 96w, and I have 2 more 96w that I've been leaving off. I've noticed most of the tanks with the best color are using AS but that's not a rule, there are some Flourite and others that get good color. I have Flourite, I dose a low EI regime with Fe.

It sounds like you're using a power compact fixture. Wattage doesn't matter so much as how much light gets into the tank.

Is this a fixture or AH supply retrofit?

Check out the PAR readings I just posted on the google docs spreadsheet.

I suspect with such a tall tank you're still only getting low-med light at the mid level and down.

Ludwigia should be red no matter the nitrates so that's why my guess is lighting and / or not enough iron possibly too.

[150EH]

Thanks, I'll try to play with the lighting a little and maybe bump up the Fe a little too. I'll take a look at the spread sheet too, thanks for the help.

One fixture is a Coralife 4 x 65 power compact with poor reflector, I use half of it for most of the photo period, and the other half during my burstmaybeby 2 hours?
The other is a Current USA Orbit with 4 x 96 with excellent reflectors and I've only been using half of it at the shortest portion of my burst, maybe 1.5 hours. My growth is good, my plants pearl like crazy, but lack the deep red tones.