Yeah, I'm trying to rule out issues rather than place blame on any one.

I did upgrade to a 20lb CO2 cylinder so I could crank it up. I placed a Sweetwater stone inside the filter intake pipe, and if I listen closely I can hear it when it's on, there's that much coming out. I marked the needle valve where the fish goes wonky, and I always get at least a 1.0 pH drop, so I think I'm good there.

I upgraded the lights to ludicrous speed with 1x175W 14K MH and 1x250W 65K MH lamps on Icecap ballasts. Since this tank is effectively an 80 gallon because of the in-tank sump at one end, that works out to better than 5 WPG of high PAR lights.

I've calibrated my NO3 and PO4 test kits and I know I'm good there. I dose KNO3, monosodium phosphate (Discus Buffer) and K2SO4 per the APC fertilator.

After all this, most of the plants just yawned. The Mexican Oak Leaf (s rivularis (sp?)) is doing the best and does grow wider/pinker leaves lower in the water with the new lights. Since it's native to these waters that made me want to reconsider the Ca/Mg thing.

I currently use an alternating combo of Flourish and CSM+B. A switch to TMG would be the final thing to change, I'll give it a try.

If I'd done all this when I was in Austin, I'd be hacking the plants back with a Texas chainsaw. We made the one move in the one direction in the one place in the entire US where you can pass through all the water quality zones and go from the best water to the worst water in less than 100 miles:





Thanks again Tom, always illuminating as usual!