Specific Plant Questions

[Aries]

I am finally getting a hang (sort of) my planted tank (at least I am not getting huge algae break outs like I have several times before).

I have a few plant questions:

1. I have two bulbs Tiger Lotus, Red (Nymphaea zenkeri) - how do I plant these? Do I leave them in the gravel completely, half showing or just leave them ontop of the gravel? If I leave them on the gravel I am sure my cichlids will play soccer with them! They dug one up and were playing with it already!

2. Anacharis (Egeria densa) is densely planted in the right corner of my 30G and some of the stems are getting yellow at the bottom - near the gravel? Is this because they are too close together and not getting light down there, not enough iron (see below) or something else?

3. Asian Ambulia (Limnophila sesiliflora) densely planted on the left side of the tank - this is getting a brown/red coloring in the middle of the top of them (going from stem to middle of needle on the most top part). What could be causing this - could it be algae - it actually looks nice to me (kind of red but could be brown - hard to tell) but should I be concerned?

4. Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides) - these arrived semi poor but they have not improved or degraded - is this cause for worry? They do pearl though.

All plants pearl with no issues.

Otherwise, my two Red Rubin Swords (Echinodorus ‘Rubin’), Ludwigia Peruensis (Ludwigia peruensis), Wendtii, Bronze (Cryptocoryne wendtii v. ‘Tropica’), and Coffeefolia (Anubias barteri v. ‘Coffeefolia’) are doing great


Thanks for any help!!!!

Aries


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Specs are:

30G (4 Juvinile Yellow Labs, 2 Adult Yellow Labs, 2 Adult Blue Zebra, 3 SAE)
Fluval 404 at half power
CO2 injection into Fluval (poor mans diffuser)
Average CO2 = ~18ppm (range 14PPM - 25PPM)
96W PC 6700K ColorMax Bulb (on straight for 12 hours (I think))
Flourite Gravel (no peat or soil)
PH Lite On = 7.4 (CO2 on)
PH Lite Off = 7.6 (CO2 off).
Ammonia = 0ppm
NO2 = 0ppm
NO3 = ~5 to 10 ppm
Phosphate (not regestering yet keep adding more slowly per daily dose)
Iron - just registering under .1ppm (adding more slowly per daily dose).
KH = 13-16 depending on time with CO2
GH = 23 (i have REALLY hard water and without a water softener)
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[Aries]

Bump

No ideas or thoughts from anyone - I am sad

 

[NowherMan6]

No ideas or thoughts from anyone - I am sad

Sorry, I know the feeling though... it happens sometimes.

Anyway, I only know about a few of the questions you asked, so here goes:

The asian ambulia is doing just fine. When it grows in medium-high light settings, the tops will turn brownish-red as it nears the light source. It's a good sign where asian ambulia is concerned - basically means your light is good. I'm not sure how you purchased it, but when I bought mine from an online vendor the tops were brownish-red as well, from growing under MH lighting.

As for the ancharis, it doesnt sound like a iron def. to me, only because as far as I know, those are stem plants and aren't heavy root feeders and aren't as dependent on iron as, say, swords are. My guess would be to maybe space them out a little and see what happens from there. You can also just trim off the dead parts and replant the clippings.

 

[Timmain42]

I'll kick in on the lotus bulbs:

A good way to get these growing in to plant them halfway into the gravel with the "pointy" end up. As long as the bulb is currently active, it should get growing. I've been known to leave a bulb completely out of the gravel and wait to plant it until it gets some roots, but that's generally for bulbs that are active from day one.

I've heard you can put them in a damp paper towel, put the towel into a sealed plastic bag, and then pop the bag into the fridge for a few days to simulate winter conditions and fool the bulb into thinking it's time to grow again. I don't know for sure that this works, but it sounds plausible.

However, you may have problems with these, especially if you have cichlids/diggers. Lotus plants can be hardy, but they need a good start before they can be resistant to digging and accidental fish pruning. Good luck.

 

[Aries]

Hey Thanks!

Thanks for the info!

My cichids have pretty much arranged their home to how they like it. My original placement of the bulbs was near the entrance/exit of one of their undergravel tubes and they did not like it there, so they moved it - and decided to play with it (grr on those fishes ). I will make sure they are half up with the pointed side up - thanks!

I will have to space out my anacharis more when I get home to hope that will help their stems. It is only on a few of them (of the bunch) but I dont want it to be a big problem in the future when I get to expanding the plants. Thanks!

I am glad to hear that I am not killing my asian ambulia. I had green cambomba before in this tank and it was NOT pretty - it died fairly quickly so I looked for a similiar plant that is easier to take care of and I arrived at this plant. I like the "needle" aspect of these types of plants. Yes, the tops are close to the light since they are pretty tall - I still like the look of the "brown/red" tops. Thanks!

Update: Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides) - they seem to be sending off side shoots (which is what I want) so I can hopefully get some ground cover now. The existing leaves that was shipped are dying but the new ones are coming in nice and clean and pretty which is ok I guess - cant have everyhing perfect right?

Thanks for the help - muchly appreciated