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Re:Aponogeton & lighting & substrates
Sylvia writes:
> I was curious about this, because I had attempted to grow some aponogetons
in
>
> a 80 watt over 55 gallon tank, not really successfully. I finally gave up
> and
> put some of the plants in a higher light tank and some in a dark tank for
a
> dormant period. I had initiallly thought they could handle lower lighting.
>
> I wondered whether the fact that he was growing in a laterite substrate
> could
> lead to this type of growth, with low lighting. I have plain old river
> gravel
> in my tank, with some Flourish tabs pushed in the substrate here and
there.
> (I add flourish via the water column periodically.) If it is the laterite,
> it
> would appear that iron would need to be supplemented via the roots, rather
> than the water column, for these plants to grow in my tank, no?
I have A. ulvaeceous growing in a 55 gallon with 80 watts. I would suspect
the laterite vs. river gravel issue to be at play here. I have a pumice
substrate with pyrophillitic clay and peat, which (theoretically, anyway)
supplies iron and all other needed minerals. The addition of flourish tabs
would not be sufficient to motivate root hair development. I also use
Natural Gold in the column and every five or six months I add fern and palm
spikes. My ulvaceous flowers non-stop. If I had a sxecond plant, I could
probably get seeds.
Bob Dixon
Cichlid Trader List Administrator
http://cichlidtrader.listbot.com