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Re: Neil and his Glossostigma

Stuart said:

I see from your post that you are having success with your Glossostigma.  I
really want to use some in my tank but I understand that the plant prefers
soft, <7ph water.  My local tap water has a GH of 12.3 dH or 219 mg/l and a
pH of 7.5.  Should I even attempt to grow this species under these water
conditions?  Considering that I probably will not take extreme measures to
alter my hard water (i.e. R.O. or Ion Exchange).  I plan to use straight tap
water for the initial fill and then use distilled water for water changes so
the GH doesn't get out of whack.  All of the plants that I have selected can
handle the hard water except for the Glosso.  (FYI - 3 watts per gallon VHO
florescent and CO2).  What do you all think?

I reply:

My water is liquid rock.  It comes out of my tap at around PH of 8.  I do
nothing special to my water short of controlled CO2 injection.  At around
15-20ppm, the PH drops to 7.1-7.3, and I keep it in that range.  My GH is
probably upwards of 10dH also, and the glosso is doing very well.  I bought
some from Dwight where I suspect they had less light than mine (taller
stems).  In my tank, they grow almost exclusively horizontally, starting to
carpet very nicely, and only grow up under shade.  I suspect that as it
grows in thicker, it will grow over itself.  I have good lighting and good
CO2 injection.

I say go ahead and try it.  As an interesting anecdote, I have read that
tanks that can grow lillaeopsis well (microswords) tend to have problems
with glosso and vice versa.  While I cannot make an overall judgement, my
anecdotal experience is as follows:  my microswords did nothing but slowly
(very very slowly) throw runners and die away.  They didn't spread at all,
and I ended up pulling the dead/dying bunches out of my tank.  When I got
the glosso, I planted individual stems at about 1 per every few square
centimeters.  Just spaced em out evenly.

I was expecting the growth to be slow and agonizing, so I wanted to spread
it out as far as possible.  Within a matter of a few weeks, I had little
green plantlets popping up just about everywhere that wasn't already planted
and now they're starting to fill in.  Looks really good.  Also, I am using a
85% flourite substrate (some tiny sandish gravel mixed in there, don't
ask!!)

I don't bother to fertilize substrate for the glosso, but I do do water
column fertilization with PMDD.  I am reconsidering this since my hair algae
is vigourous.  The growth is slowing down and now I'm getting massive hair
algae die off, which is a worse and more unsightly problem than the hair in
the first place, but once I get it under control, the tank should look
great.

I'll do pictures when it does, until then, my tank can suffer in anonymity.

Neil
Whose grindal worm culture is producing strange and exotic new breeds of
unwanted stuff.