Is 42umol/m2/sec enough for H callitrichoides?

[pepetj]

I was fortunate to get three somewhat banged up yet still alive "samples" (likely 2 square inches each) of Hemiantus callitrichoides.

These plants spent four days bagged in damped environment (freezer quality Zip-Lock) and made it home with me from Boston (I got them at Petco go figure).

I planted them in a tank in which 9 days ago I got measures of 45ppm of CO2 at 6pm (after 8 hours of photoperiod, with 4 more hours left) using the Hach CO2 test kit.

I measured 42 umol/m2/s with the Apogee MQ-200 after placing three T5HO 24W lamps (one of them with 8 months of use, the other two with 5). I need to clean the reflectors yet. The leveling plate was not perfectly leveled either (the best I managed to do was to get the air bubble to touch the circle mark, maybe cross it a little).

I wonder if that level of light will be enough or if I should aim to increase it.

The tank is Aqueon 26bow; lamps are placed roughly at 4" of water surface... I haven't measured the height to the substrate yet. I expect the plants to be stressed but I would like to do whatever is best to save them. Last week pH was 5.7, 4dGH, 1dKH... I did add ferts to the substrate today before planting them.

No fish at the tank at this moment.

Thank you.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[Gerryd]

Pepetj,

Did you measure these values at the SURFACE or the SUBSTRATE?

Many folks have found that 50 micromoles at the SUBSTRATE will do fine for most plants...I think HC would fall into this category.. Plus this is a much smaller tank so that may play a role as well.

A lot as you know is based on other factors such as c02 and other dosing, flow, etc.

 

[pepetj]

I measured this values at substrate level. I added another lamp (CFL clip lamp with white reflector) and got values of 62 umol/m2/s.

I'm going to replant at least a portion these samples in a separate tank (lower height) to try to spread them faster.

Pepetj
Santo Domingo

 

[ArnieArnie]

I would not get to much into the light. It is better to have good dosing of ferts and CO2. I have HC in a low (lower lowest) light tank with a single T8 tube (15 W + reflectors) and it is growing good. I have a nice dense carpet at the moment. More light means more attention and care.