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From: BRIDGE@rcgl1.eng.ohio-state.edu (JOHN BRIDGE)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria,rec.aquaria
Subject: Re: A talk with the Coralife Plant Fertilizer people
Message-ID: <3951@quanta.eng.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 17 Jan 90 15:07:27 GMT
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It doesn't sound like they really want to talk that much about
Coralife fertilizer or maybe I am just dense. I can say that I am
not unhappy with its performance. I was using the Tetra stuff and
had the impression that Coralife seemed to be doing more for the
plants. I am also becoming aware of the effect of light timing on
plant growth. I don't think there is a universal "correct" time
of light and time of dark. It seems to depend on the plant type,
amount of light (lumens), plant location in tank relative to
the lights, amount of fertilizer in tank water, and time between
water changes. Under all conditions I have become convinced that
12 hours of light is too much time. Even poorly lit tanks seem
to do better with 9, 10 or 11 hours of light. I also notice that
the plants in slightly acid (pH between 6.5 and 6.9) water seem to
do a little better than those in water at 7.2 (tap water pH here).
It still is an art for me. I don't really do much for the plants
using rational judgement. I appreciate the discussion of various
other peoples experience. Please do give some idea of the water
conditions you have (tap water, RO, whatever) with a pH and salt
content at least.               John