# photo period Question?



## mos90 (Jul 7, 2009)

here is the senario. 125g tank 72x18x22 ,200 or 400 w 6700k cf. c02 inj with ph controller. 
all my plants are low-moderate light plants. and i use ei fert method. with excel and iron supp. 

i was doing a 7 hour photo period set at 200w. was not getting any pearling with optimal co2 levels.
i was growing some spot algea and slight problem with brush algea. So i added a 2 hour miday burst at 400w. all this did was make more algea problems and still no pearling. so from what ive gathered so far is 7 hours @200w was too much light? 

so what im going to try is a 5 hour photo period at 200w. 

the big question is how can i tell if the plants are getting enough light? 
why am i not getting any pearling? 

what im trying to do is get the least amount of lighting the plants need, thus redusing algea. 

when i first set up my tank 8-9 months ago. i did a 10 hour photo @400w. use to get tons of pearling but algea was impossible to control.


----------



## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

mos90 said:


> here is the senario. 125g tank 72x18x22 ,200 or 400 w 6700k cf. c02 inj with ph controller.
> all my plants are low-moderate light plants. and i use ei fert method. with excel and iron supp.
> 
> i was doing a 7 hour photo period set at 200w. was not getting any pearling with optimal co2 levels.
> ...


Are you using a drop checker with 4 kdh water to monitor your co2 levels? If so, is the water displaying green? The problem might be related to your co2 level. You would want co2 in the 30 ppm range.


----------



## aquatic_clay (Aug 17, 2009)

To me this sounds like a problem with nutrients mainly CO2. What makes me think this is the algae that's been popping up. What are your co2 levels and how are you diffusing co2? Usually lighting won't have very big effects on algae growth.


----------



## Brendan Redler (Jun 1, 2008)

Unless you really like the look of pearling, I don't think it matters much. If the plants are growing fine, why bother?


----------



## Shad0w (Nov 13, 2006)

you might want to check you CO2 level and fertilizer dosing. Since you already use EI, assuming you dose correct amount, left with CO2 level. By the way, what plant species that you have?


----------



## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

If your plants are low light that usually translates to slow growing. Slow growing might not show much pearling. You see the pearling when the plants are growing so fast they are putting out more O2 than the water can absorb at any given time. Are your plants slow growing?


----------



## mos90 (Jul 7, 2009)

my co2 levels are perfect if not high , i use a calaqua double drop checker. i have a calaqua inline diffuser on 1 of my ehiem canisters. i found my n03 to be kinda high 45ish so i stopped dosing kn03 but i dose the k2s02 and k2p04 and csmb on an alternate daily schedule. i also dose 2x the recommened amount of excel twice a week . its possible i may need to does extra iron. 

plants are ludwigia,microsword,javafern,cycptocoryne,anubis nana,narrow chainsword and amazon swords. all are considered moderate i think. 

the plant store i purchaced them at said 9-12 hours of lighting at 2wpg. im at like 1.6wpg using 1/2 my lights and 3.2wpg using them all . 

maybe i should try 9 hours at 200w for a while and see how it does. 

i konw pearling isnt important but is a sign of thing going right. dont u think?


----------



## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

Yeah, maybe try the 9 hours at 200 watts. Another thing that might help you to see if you are getting close, plant some Rotala or Mayaca stems. It doesn't take much to make them pearl. Since you are using a diffuser, are you seeing the bubbles flowing through out the tank? It could possibly be insufficient flow since you get BBA as well.


----------



## mos90 (Jul 7, 2009)

i find it hard to believe i have a lack of flow with 2 ehiem 2080's and a 200gph powerhead. the ehiems are rated at 450gph but flow around 275gph through gph meter.turnover is 4.5 times per hour.


----------



## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

mos90 said:


> i find it hard to believe i have a lack of flow with 2 ehiem 2080's and a 200gph powerhead. the ehiems are rated at 450gph but flow around 275gph through gph meter.turnover is 4.5 times per hour.


I think you're right, probably not a flow issue.


----------



## mos90 (Jul 7, 2009)

bosmahe1 said:


> I think you're right, probably not a flow issue.


no need to oops. lol it is a valid point u make. but in my case i think its not a flow issue.


----------



## wearsbunnyslippers (Feb 18, 2008)

mos90 said:


> plants are ludwigia,microsword,javafern,cycptocoryne,anubis nana,narrow chainsword and amazon swords. all are considered moderate i think.


like tex gal said i have rarely or never seen anubias, microsowrd or crypts pearling, as long as they are growing well, i wouldnt worry about it...


----------



## mos90 (Jul 7, 2009)

they do grow ok but with the lights on for 9 hours all the plants seem to get some sort of algae bulild up on the leaves. looks like it could be spot algae. hard to tell. ill try it for a few weeks sticking with a good fert schedule and we will see. 

ive heard but not sure, that csmb desent have enough iron in it. can someone verify this? i dose 1/2 tsp 3x a week.


----------



## bosmahe1 (May 14, 2005)

I use CSM+B and haven't had any iron difficiency. Just recently, I started adding Seachem iron and didn't really see any improvement. I have two species of red plants and didn't see any color change. From that, I think it is safe to assume that CSM+B is quite adequate for my setup. If you have Green Spot Algae, that often indicates a need for more phosphates. By the way, my Crypt Wendtii does pearl. Not as much as my stems of course but, it is noticable.


----------

