Aponogetons

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Aponogetons
From: Stephen.Pushak at hcsd_hac.com (Stephen Pushak)
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 95 18:55:09 PDT
I'm posting Dave's reply to my questions as he indicated that were
sensible questions for the mailing list.
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From: DAWB.DSKPO33B at DSKBGW1_itg.ti.com (David Webb)
Subject: Re: Aponogetons

>So you're saying you just leave the fish feces on the bottom? no gravel 
washing
>even during water changes? Are you feeding lotsa fish or letting them nibble
>the algae mostly? How's your algae situation?

I try to keep the loose waste off of the gravel.  I use a gravel vac with an 
inline ball valve to vacuum the surface of the gravel.  I usually vacuum the 
gravel when I'm doing weekly water
changes, but I also do it in-between if I get a mound of algae-eater debris.  I 
don't jam the gravel vacuum into the gravel for two reasons:  1. I'm worried 
about injuring my plants.  2. I'd wind up with the small gravel on bottom and 
the large gravel on top.  The small (3 mm) gravel is a barrier to prevent 
debris from rapidly sinking into the substrate.  My corys and ottos pretty much 
keep it loose, so I just have to vacuum it into a net suspended above the sump.

>Do you just lower the water level or raise the lights off the top of the tank?
>I'm thinking it's good to retain humidity by keeping the glass covers on.

I have one of the glass covers slightly propped open.  I am building a 
free-standing hood to stand astride my tank.  I will hang my lights from it and 
eventually lose the glass covers.  I can add water any time I want with my DIY 
carbon-filter python.

>Lowering the water level would introduce lots more turbidity from the outflow
>of the filter resulting in more O2 in the water but less Co2.

N/A  Currently I have two of my diffusers at the top of the tank pointed down.  
The Dupla book recommends a lateral whirlpool flow instead of a vertical flow.  
I will set up an under-the-substrate plenum with diffusers sticking upp about 
2" next teardown.

>Are you using Co2 tank method (as opposed to yeast reaction)?

Yeast.

>Do you use clay pots for the aponogetons? It seems that they can live
>upto a year or more on the stored food in the bulb.

Planted in the gravel.  I currently add the Tetra Fertilizer when one starts to 
look sorry.  I'm planning on going to Dupla, just ahven't gotten around to 
ordering it yet.

>Did you also observe dramatic reduction in algae problem with introduction
>of Co2?

Yes.

>Do you use low phosphate fertilizer tablets? Where can I find them if so?

I fertilize infrequently and change water frequently.  I don't have a 
phosphorus test kit, but I think my phosphates are pretty low.

>Please excuse all my questions; this plant mailing list is great but I wonder
>if some people are getting inundated by mail. Thank you for your advice.

I personally think these are great questions for the plant list.

 David W. Webb
Enterprise Computing Provisioning
Texas Instruments Inc.
(214) 575-3443 (voice)		MSGID:		DAWB
(214) 575-4853 (fax)		Internet:	dwebb at ti_com
(214) 581-2380 (pager)
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