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A. ulvaceous question
First the question, then some background. What might cause Aponogeton ulvaceous to stay more horizontal instead of vertical?
Installed June 12, 10 weeks ago
All-Glass 125 gallon
2 x 96 watt 6700K compact fluorescent (AH Supply) on 2 timers, 12 and 14 hours
Terra-Green (Profile/Turface-like, made by Oil-Dri Company) under 2-3mm gravel
CO2 from cylinder to intake of Fluval 404, 1 bubble per second
Dosing Natural Gold (2ml) and KNO3 (5ppm target) daily
Temp 80F
pH 7.2 (Hagen)
KH 8 (LaMotte)
GH 6 (Hagen)
NO3 8ppm (LaMotte)
Fe 0.1ppm (LaMotte)
30% water changes every 2 weeks
I planted 2 large specimens, purchased from Arizona Aquatic
Gardens. Shipping was hard on them, as all leaves were mush,
but no bother, I cut them back and planted them, confident
that new growth would appear quickly, and it did. Within one
week several new leaves per plant appeared. They produced
new leaves and many flowers for the first 3-4 weeks. Healthy
growth, leaves were not just wavy, but spiral shaped, with
somewhat of a pinkish color. This growth was mostly vertical
as expected. Now growth wants to hug the substrate. So what
has changed?...well within the last couple of weeks I seem to
have achieved that nice balance (CO2/light/nutrients) we all
strive for, and all other plants in the tank are very healthy
:-> This change good, suspected change just ahead...Close by
was a large group of Elodea nutallii. Early on I let this
stuff go nuts to help manage nutrients, and it was providing
some cover for the A. ulvaceous, but thinned it out
significantly 2 weeks ago. I figure initial vigorous growth
was due to the plant tapping into reserves from the corm.
Three weeks ago I added about 2/3 Jobes palm and fern stick
under each plant but have seen no improvement to date.
This seems to be obviously related to lighting, but Tropica
Aquarium Plants manual and other references lists medium to
very high lighting requirements. I have grown this plant
before with nice results, although under less light. This
was supposed to be a nice contrasting background filler
behind a few large boulders...and come to think of it, the
leaves laying in amongst the boulders is _filling_ <g> :-(
So, has anyone else experienced this type of growth with this
plant, and is there something else I should try?
Mike Grace