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Micranthemum umbrosum



I had a large bunch of Micranthemum umbrosum growing in my 75g tank.
It was kind of pale, and older leaves seem to be dying off.  I noticed
a message on TheKrib by Tom Barr noting the same problem.   George Booth
commented that it looked like a possible Iron deficiency when I gave him
some of the M. umbrosum.   No other plants in the tank are showing any 
signs of deficiency.

Tom's comment on TheKrib (from 5/2/99):
> the plant does very well for a few weeks(maybe 2-4 weeks or so)
> then yellowish leaves start setting in and the holes in the leaves
> appear(turning to complete degeneration of most of the leaf), turning

Same basic thing I saw.   Now for the unusual twist:  I put a small
bunch in my 29g tank.  This tank has 80w of light, gets no added 
fertilizers (the occasional Seachem Flourish, or maybe a little PMDD
once a week)  The substrate is mostly LARGE smooth river rock.  No
substrate fertilizers have been added recently, only some jobes sticks
more than 6 months ago.  And the CO2 is a DIY yeast bottle, and I didn't
bother putting a new bottle on last month when it ran out!  

What's all that got to do with my M. umbrosum problem?  Well, the small
bunch in the 29g tank was BEAUTIFUL.  Full round leaves, bright green,
perfect growth.  It doubled in size, and reached the surface in the 29g 
and started spreading out from there.  No signs of trouble.

So, does the plant not like CO2?  Or is it growing too fast with CO2
so that it's running out of some nutrient?   The bunch in the 29g tank
grew as tall as the bunch in the 75g, so I don't think it's a height
issue.  The 75g has 6x40 watt tubes, with a mix of triton, Actinic, and
GE Sunshine, while the 29g has 4x20w, with 2 sun-glos and 2 Actinic.
(I got the actinics from a reef guy when I bought the lighting fixtures!)

I have since pulled the poor growing bunch out of the 75, and swapped
it with the beautiful bunch from the 29g.  Until I come up with real
solution, this will keep the 75g looking great.  The good bunch has 
been in the 75g for about a week now, and it's still looking good.  I'll
let everyone know if it starts dying off...