[APD] Anubias

["Karen Randall" <krandall at rdrcpa_biz>]

David Whittaker wrote:

>> Anubias barteri grows best for me close to the surface directly under
bright MH lighting. About 12 - 15 ppm CO2 is added. KH is 2 - 3, dH is
2- 3. I add PMDD and I don't get a lot of spot algae accumulating on the
leaves. Of course they will do fine with minimal light. My neighbour has
more problems with spot algae. He grows them in low light. It may seem
contradictory to some that a shade plant would grow best under very
bright light, but that is the case.<<

I think the thing with Anubias is that they don't compete terribly well with
fast-growing neighbors.  They are an old-time favorite, because they do
exceptionally well in VERY low light "fish" tanks, with no plant competition
and lots of fish waste.  In a situation like this, they will grow (slowly)
where even algae struggles.  I've seen really huge old plants, completely
free of algae, with beautiful glossy leaves come out of tanks like this.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you can balance your system such that
your Anubias are never starved for nutrients in a high light/fast growth
system, you can get them growing fast enough that they don't suffer from
algae any more than any other plant in the tank.  Like you, David, if I'm
taking excellent care of my tanks, the Anubias show little, if any algae.
If I let things slip, they are they are not the first to show nutrient
deficiencies (because they simply slow their growth) but they ARE the first
to start collecting algae.  Oh, and when you ARE growing them in high-speed
mode, you also have to divide them much more frequently than you might
expect.

Karen


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