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Cabomba



I'm not having a lot of luck growing Cabomba. Is anyone growing it in
large amounts? I have two tanks both well lit with 250w MH pendants.
49g tank with gravel substrate enriched with a few tetra tabs and
Terrapur cones. (recently added several plant fertilizer sticks but
it's too soon to count that). Both red and green Cabomba survived for
a time but didn't grow much and the stems tend to rot at the roots.
75g tank with vermiculite, soil and gravel: the green Cabomba 
(caroliniana) didn't fare well but the red Cabomba pyhuiensis is
growing but not rapidly. Both tanks get DIYS yeast CO2 and ~weekly
doses of Flourish.

What's the secret?

Here's my theory: I think these plants, like many, need a steady supply
of Fe in order to display strong growth. The pyhuiensis seems to develop
more roots than the caroliniana; this leads me to think it is better
able to utilize the Fe available from the soil.

Do those people using a daily Fe supplement have much better luck
with this plant (and possibly others too ;-)? My suspicion is that
the chelated Fe that I add every week or so is being oxidized much
more rapidly than I'd though so that daily doses would make a BIG
difference.

My other theory is that maybe some of the other plants are producing
allelochemicals which inhibit the Cabomba. Those of you growing
Cabomba with many other species could disprove this notion.

Steve        spush at hcsd_hac.com            Vancouver, BC.
(What's that bright yellow thing in our sky?   ;-)