Fluval 3.0 LED - 40 gal Planted - Fertilizer Dosing

[Bodul67]

Good afternoon,

New to the group and have questions about new plants. I have a 2 year old established 40 gal long tank with approx 40 mollies, platties & tetras. I have Fluval Stratum partially in tank for my planted 4 Ludwigia Repens & 3 Water Sprite which is just wedged between lava rocks. The rest of the substrate is sand. Also have the Fluval 3.0 LED light & using Bentley's Settings from YouTube. The plants were growing just OK and nothing to brag about. I was adding Seachem Iron, Pottasium & Flourish every 3rd day. And just recently add CO2 injection.

I re-arranged my tank to add more plants. I now have 4 Ludwigia Repens, 3 Water Sprite, 6 Brazilian Pennywoth & 12 Hornworts. I also have now your Co-op all-in-one fertilizer which I plan to use. My question is what do you think the light settings for these plants should be & how much dosing for the all-in-one should be used weekly. Sorry but reading some of your previous discussions on other threads is just confusing to me.

Any feed back would be helpful

Thanks

Edited January 13, 2021 by Bodul67

[StephenP2003]

I also have a co2 injected 40 breeder and a fluval 3.0. I use Bentley's day Sim, but I have modified it and extended the peak lighting period by 2 hours. I grow a mix of high, mid, and low light plants (crypts, dwarf sagg, rotala, ludwigia, montecarlo, etc) and fertilize 5 days a week.

I use a modified E.I. daily dosing method mixing my own dry ferts, so that potassium and micros are dosed E.I., but only adds 1ppm nitrate and no phosphate. My fish load adds nitrate and my tap water has phosphate. 

Check your nitrate levels. Water sprite and co2 I imagine would really suck down the nitrates, and fast growing stems like ludwigia would hog a good bit of the fertilizer as well. 

I would say stick with the day Sim setting (especially if you aren't also blasting co2 to the 30ppm range) and dose your all in one fertilizer as often as possible, daily if you can (but a low amount, say a quarter to a half dose). Then test your water right before you do your usual water change. When I make light and fert changes, I will usually test for potassium, phosphate, and nitrate. 

A current pic of my tank...

In the center there I'm still trying to get pogo helferi to grow from a tissue culture, and on the right I'm trying to convert s Repens to submersed. 

The red on the tree stump ornament is BBA that I killed last night. It grew as a result of over fertilization before I modified the day Sim settings to increase lighting period. 

Edited January 13, 2021 by StephenP2003

[Bodul67]

Thank you for the info. I really appreciate it.