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A. ulvaceous question



 First the question, then some background.  What might cause Aponogeton ulvaceous to stay more horizontal instead of vertical?
 
 Installed June 12, 10 weeks ago
 All-Glass 125 gallon
 2 x 96 watt 6700K compact fluorescent (AH Supply) on 2 timers, 12 and 14 hours
 Terra-Green (Profile/Turface-like, made by Oil-Dri Company) under 2-3mm gravel
 CO2 from cylinder to intake of Fluval 404, 1 bubble per second
 Dosing Natural Gold (2ml) and KNO3 (5ppm target) daily
 Temp 80F
 pH 7.2 (Hagen)
 KH 8 (LaMotte)
 GH 6 (Hagen)
 NO3 8ppm (LaMotte)
 Fe 0.1ppm (LaMotte)
 30% water changes every 2 weeks
 
 I planted 2 large specimens, purchased from Arizona Aquatic 
 Gardens.  Shipping was hard on them, as all leaves were mush, 
 but no bother, I cut them back and planted them, confident 
 that new growth would appear quickly, and it did.  Within one 
 week several new leaves per plant appeared.  They produced 
 new leaves and many flowers for the first 3-4 weeks.  Healthy 
 growth, leaves were not just wavy, but spiral shaped, with 
 somewhat of a pinkish color.  This growth was mostly vertical 
 as expected.  Now growth wants to hug the substrate.  So what 
has changed?...well within the last couple of weeks I seem to 
 have achieved that nice balance (CO2/light/nutrients) we all 
 strive for, and all other plants in the tank are very healthy 
 :->  This change good, suspected change just ahead...Close by 
 was a large group of Elodea nutallii.  Early on I let this 
 stuff go nuts to help manage nutrients, and it was providing 
 some cover  for the A. ulvaceous, but thinned it out 
 significantly 2 weeks ago.  I figure initial vigorous growth 
 was due to the plant tapping into reserves from the corm.  
 Three weeks ago I added about 2/3 Jobes palm and fern stick 
 under each plant but have seen no improvement to date.
 
 This seems to be obviously related to lighting, but Tropica 
 Aquarium Plants manual and other references lists medium to 
 very high lighting requirements.  I have grown this plant 
 before with nice results, although under less light.  This 
 was supposed to be a nice contrasting background filler 
 behind a few large boulders...and come to think of it, the 
 leaves laying in amongst the boulders is _filling_ <g> :-(
 
 So, has anyone else experienced this type of growth with this 
 plant, and is there something else I should try?
 
 Mike Grace