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Barclaya Longifolia
Last week I purchased my first Barclaya Longifolia, a beautiful tall (~12
inches) red plant with 4 good sized leaves. The fish store said that red
plants need intense light to survive. Current lighting in the 125g tank is
only 60watts, but a VHO retrofit kit was due in the mail. Unfortunately, I
found out yesterday the ballast is on backorder. My concern is that 2 of
the large leaves have "rotted off" of the plant. Where the stem attaches to
the leaf, the leaf tissue seems to have dissolved and I find the whole leaf
floating at the surface. The plant has produced one or two small growths
that will eventually become leaves. I just don't know how tall quite yet.
There are several small holes developing in the other original leaves. I
don't know if this is old snail damage (didn't notice the holes when washing
the plants after purchase) or new. Barry James' book _Aquarium Plants_
states that lighting is "not critical" but Ines Scheurmann's _Aquarium
Plants Manual_ recommends 2 watts per gal. The Krib doesn't give details on
this plant and the aquatic-plants archives just talk about other people's
success with the plant. How critical is the lighting? Could low lighting
over a 1 week period cause the holes and rotting? I moved another 15watt
light over this plant yesterday. Once the lighting retrofit is complete,
I'll have 190watts, approx. 2 watts/gal of water. Hopefully, the ballast
will be here by next weekend. Scheurmann's book also says excess CO2 causes
holes to appear in the leaves. Tank parameters are: pH ~6.5, Fe 0 (I keep
adding Kent fert and just get algae), PO4 2.0, CO2 6 ppm, nitrate and
nitrite are zero. Current problems in this discus community tank are red
algae (SAEs are in quarantine with 2 more weeks to wait) and a nitrogen
deficiency. 5 Cory catfish are also in isolation so nitrogen should
increase in 2-3 weeks. There are no hydroponic shops in the Atlanta yellow
pages and local stores carrying pond supplies have only fertilizers with
nitrogen AND phosphates - I don't need any more PO4! I think I'll mix a
very dilute solution of garden store fish emulsion and test the nitrate,
nitrite and phosphate levels. If there is no PO4 and low nitrate/nitrite, I
will add a few drops to the tank.
Any comments or suggestions are very welcomed!
Rochelle Williams
williaro at ftmcphsn-emh1_army.mil
Avid gardener and aquarist,
who does a little air pollution work on the side.