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Re: lileopsis
Michael Nielsen wrote:
> I checked in the archives and the consesus seemed to be that to get "micro
> sword" to grow you need a rich substrate and good light.
>
> I have had a tank with lileopsis in it for about 3 years with very poor
> growth. THe substrate is 1-2mm sand only with lots of fish waste and food
> accumulated over time. Other plants do amazing in this 10 gallon tank
> with 60 watts of triton and vita lite.
[snip]
I had lileopsis in a brightly lit 10 gallon (30 watts + sunlight) with
sand blasting grit substrate and lots of mulm. It died back rather
quickly after I first put it in and then it held on for a couple years as
just two or three chewed-on looking leaves.
Last year I moved the last little tuft of leaves to my nursery tank and
that dormant little bit of vegetation started growing. Now I have almost
enough to move it into a different tank.
The main difference between the nursery tank and the 10 gallon tank are
CO2 (DIY, low concentrations), less light (2.5 watts/gallon, no sunlight),
a slightly finer substrate (it has some fine sand in the mix), regular
trace element fertilizing in the water and a smaller fish load - hence
less plant-available nitrogen in the water.
I'd guess that in my case, the lower light and addition of CO2 was most
responsible for the change in growth.
Roger Miller