Improving My Hygrophila Without Co2 ?

[davidw]

Hi

Can anyone suggest how I can improve the health/growth of my Hygrophila without adding CO2 or additional lighting ?

I'm currently only using Seachem Flourish and Excel.

Thanks - David

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

What substrate are you using?

Chris

Also what type of growth are you after, upwards or outwards

 

[Kevstir]

since stripping the tank down and adding tropica plant substrate under the sand my Hygrophila polysperma has went wild, i also started dosing seachem potassium as the leaves were showing signs of a deficiency and they show no signs now , weird thing is the wisteria (part of the Hygrophila family) isn't growing to well and it used to grow like a weed before i stripped down the tank.

i also don't add co2 to the tank, i did use seachems excel for about 3 weeks after i redid the tank , its now run out and the plants are still doing well..

If you could tell us what Hygrophila species you have it might help..

Kev

 

[davidw]

If you could tell us what Hygrophila species you have it might help..
Kev

Hi - As far as I can tell it'd Polysperma.

Substrate is just fine gravel.

As for "what type of growth - upwards or outwards" - it does grow upwards quite well but doesn't thicken out - the main thing is it seems to be "struggling".

BTW lighting is just the standard Juwel Rekord 120L single 30w.

- David

 

[Kevstir]

i found that mines was agetting a bit thin, i put it down to the lights needing replaced, what i did was replace the lights and put in tropica sand substrate under the sand.

here is a few pics to show you the progress since

20/11/07, the day i re-did the tank

9/12/07

21/12/07

and he is a close up of the Polysperma

between the 9th and today i have had to cut back the Polysperma and the plant on the left hand side.

as you have the standard lighting i would recommend at least an upgrade to a better tube as juwel tubes arent very good..

in my Juwel vision i have 75w, 1 arcadia freshwater, 1 interpet daylight plus and 1 arcadia original , the original realy brings out the reds and blues of the fish..

Kev

 

[davidw]

i found that mines was agetting a bit thin, i put it down to the lights needing replaced, what i did was replace the lights and put in tropica sand substrate under the sand.

Thanks for that Kev.

Yes the photos certainly show the difference - very nice - looks as good as most CO2 tanks.

Is there a way to do this without emptying the tank I wonder ?

My tank has only 1 light (30w) so I'm rather limited with that.

- David

 

[Kevstir]

hmm you have 1.06 wpg, adding another 30w is going to take you into co2 territory, if you dont want to go co2 how about getting a 25/30w arcadia light controller form pets at home (£13.99), then adding a 25w tube Arcadia original and an Arcadia 30w freshwater tube( all in i recon it wouldn't be more than £35), that would give you exactly the same wpg as me at 1.7, with that and some good quality root tabs (an alternative to ripping your tank apart)you would definitely see a marked improvement.

edit: just remembered , its best to also add reflectors..

 

[davidw]

hmm you have 1.06 wpg, adding another 30w is going to take you into co2 territory, if you dont want to go co2 how about getting a 25/30w arcadia light controller form pets at home (£13.99), then adding a 25w tube Arcadia original and an Arcadia 30w freshwater tube( all in i recon it wouldn't be more than £35), that would give you exactly the same wpg as me at 1.7, with that and some good quality root tabs (an alternative to ripping your tank apart)you would definitely see a marked improvement.

edit: just remembered , its best to also add reflectors..

OK - I completed the above suggestion 3 weeks ago and added the 25w tube + Seachem Root tabs.

At the same time I started dosing with Seachem Flourish and Excel plus Seachem Potassium and there is a noticeable improvement.

However the older leaves are still turning yellow/brown and dying off.


Any thoughts on this ??

 

[Luketendo]

I get huge polysperma growth on my 30g with 48w T5HO, Tetraplant complete substrate.

No CO2 or ferts yet but I'm gonna add dry ferts soon, they are currently being delivered.