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Re: Giant C wendtii & straw



> > A lot of these are stem plants and might tend to hide the lace plants
> > if they surround them. Cryptocoryne wendtii is very nice foreground
> > and in front of A. mad.
> 
> Not all Wendtii is so restrained.  In my tanks I have both red and green 
> varieties, and they are 16-18" tall ;-)

Wish that I had your problem! My two year old wendtii has leaves and
stems around 6" but they grow kinda sideways so don't attain a large
height. I've heard there are many varieties of this plant. What makes
the difference between a variety and a species? Would mine attain these
proportions given a different environment? How large can I hope to
grow them? These leaves are much larger than the ones it had when I
first got the plants. Mine have not produced any runners. Is there
a way to propagate them for instance by root cuttings?

Subject: Straw for algae control?

I suspect the straw contains allelopathic chemicals which suppress
algae growth. Straw comes from wheat, barley or oats which are just
big domestic grasses; dead grass probably works too. Ever notice how
nothing much else grows in a healthy lawn but grass? Same principle.

> From: gomberg at wcf_com (Dave Gomberg)
> Subject: Green water
> 
> But now the water has a residual green tint to it (sort of like there
> was some food coloring in it).

Hmmm, new tank, green colored water.... algae? ;-)

This *relatively* harmless algae inhibits other algaes from growing
so its a good time to try to clean them up. When you've had enough green
water, a micron or diatom filter will do the job. If it's really not
algae, but a dye, the carbon should do the trick. The diatom will take
care of anything in suspension (not dissolved).

Steve