Re: [APD] Hemianthus micranthemoides & Limnophila Sessiflora problems

["william ruyle" <inquartata at comcast_net>]

Hi Graham,
You didn't mention the dimensions of your tank or how many gallons okay
liters it is. Or what you use for a substrate (just sand?). Both these
plants benefit from CO2 injection but can be grown albeit slower, in a
soil-based tank with good lighting: at least 2 watts per gallon of compact
fluorescent lighting such as AH Supply (or Brit
equivalent:). The T8s, over a  year old? Probably overtasked for these
plants, a couple of my favorites. I have both growing great in my wife's
minibow-7 using Fluorite with some peat in the bottom layer (a nod, no a bow
to Tom Barr) and no CO2 injection using one 13watt cf at 6500k and the
German-made Mirro reflector which is probably about 9 inches away from the
substrate surface. Planting Hemianthus micranthemoides by separating the
stems and inserting into the substrate individually would help, same with
the Limnophila (but a pretty hairshirted go of it). What nutrients are you
using? Sorry for all the questions but more info would help. At first blush
I'd have to say too little light and nutrients. Also
look in any of Amano's books and you will see that he uses CO2 for
Hemianthus. I have Limnophila thriving in
several of my insta-plant tanks where they are free-floating
like hornwort (and no CO2.)
Regards,

Bill

> Hello all,
>
> I was wondering if anyone has any hints on how to grow Hemianthus
> micranthemoides. I've had some for about two weeks and initially it didn't
> look too bad, but then it all started turning brown and has basically
> disintegrated. The stems are so delicate and I tried to be very careful,
but
> I think they got kinked when pushing the bunch into the sand. All of my
> other stem plants have sprouted hair roots, but these haven't (hadn't!).
Are
> they supposed to?
> Also, I have some Dwarf Ambulia (Limnophila Sessiflora) which when bought
> was quite tough and tightly curled, it's now raced to the water surface
> (12"), is soft and could be classed as "leggy". Presumably this is
> insufficent light (I have two T8s with reflectors, which I thought would
be
> enough with only 12" of water column). If this is the case, how can a
> planted aquarium be "light limited"?
> Graham
> PS: I don't use C02 (definitely 'low tech").
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