I have bought melon sword before 1 week and I buried its root under the gravel. What I am done is correct ?? Next thing I want to know melon sword leaves are red but my melon sword leaves are green. So there is any problem. And I am going to put DIY CO2 soon just it will help or I have any thing more. Please help me somebody??
Help on melon sword
- Thread starter milindsaraswala
- Start date
Im pretty sure in saying that you have to have very high lighting to have the leaves turn red, with lower lighting the plant will live, but its leaves will be green. What wattage per gallon, and what type of light (example incandescent, or compact fluorescent) light do you have?
I have Melon Swords, so perhaps I can help.
Put the plant in the substrata up to the point where the leaves connect, or a little bit above. I believe it's better to be sure not to put the plant in to deep. However, when planting it, you can gently pull it up a bit to get it right.
As for the color, mine have streaks of brownish red in the leaves. I believe color may very slightly with the amount of light you have. I have a low light, low tech tank, so I may not be getting all of the color in the plant that is possible.
I don't use CO2 at this time, so I can't help you with questions there.
I use fertilizer tabs, as swords are heavy root feeders and as I understand it, they need iron. Mine were getting "see through" leaves until I started using the fert tabs. They are growing nicely now.
Hope this helps you.
I dunno...thats a good start for the type of lighting for your planted tank. How many bulbs do you have and what wattage are they?
As long as the light distribution is fine with one bulb, that would work. For smaller tanks, I try to stay around 2 WPG if no additional CO2 and ferts are added. Try the root tabs, especially if adding CO2.
Are you sure that it is a Melon Sword? Could you perhaps post some pictures for a positive ID?
The plant is a sword but I'm not sure it is a melon. Let me tell you that many swords can get really big for your tank size and the melon sword is one of the biggest. I had a melon in a 30 gal that was 14 inches tall and occupied about 1/3 of the whole tank. Now I have in the same tank a Bleher's sword that is around 13 inches tall and leaves spread 10 in. across and 7 in. back.
As far as light is concerned, yours is good enough. Stay with it; 3 watts per gallon is around perfect for most plants with your type of bulb.
Use in the gravel the root tabs that were suggested to you.
Good luck!
As far as light is concerned, yours is good enough. Stay with it; 3 watts per gallon is around perfect for most plants with your type of bulb.
Use in the gravel the root tabs that were suggested to you.
Good luck!