RE: Plants which are too big for typical aquariums

["Eric Wahlig" <ewahlig at earthlink_net>]

I have been using soil based substrates for about 12 years  As such, the
plants have access to a pretty rich growth medium and many of the swords,
Aponogetons, jungle Val, etc. grow too large for my 18" wide tanks; 75gal
or 125 gal. They also grow too tall in these tanks with the leaves of the
swords and Aponogetons reaching close to 30" and the Jungle Val reaching
6'. I have not even tried the common Crinum spp.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I just cut the roots to stall the growth
rate but I have started now to plant them in pots without a lot of soil and
then submerge the pot in the substrate in an effort to starve the root
system a bit. Maybe this will work better. I think the real solution may be
to move away from a soil based substrate completely and then supply a rich
substrate in the areas where I plan to plant those species that need it.
So, in effect, have only "hot spots" directly under certain plants that
need it or that I would like to grow more vigorously. I just set up a 60
gal cube in this manner. Time will tell.

However, in looking at Amano's work, he has put Echinodorus osiris and
Crinum natans in a 30" x 18" 40 gal tank (book 2, p. 168). Now, I don't
have any experience with Crinum but I have kept E. osiris for years and it
always grows into a monster. The substrate he used in this tank is his
Power Sand, which If I remember right is a pretty labile under layer in the
substrate. So how does he keep these plants in perspective with the
aquascape? Another example is on p. 142 where he has put E. parviflouris in
the metric equivalent of a 20 gal tank; again with CO2, 4watts /gal
lighting, and a rich substrate. If I tried this the sword plant would blow
the glass out within a month.

--- Eric