The shotgun approach to planting a tank

Ludwigia... NOT!

I was told at the LFS that the red plant I bought was a red ludwigia. I've been watching the odd post here and there about other people's ludwigia and wondering why mine looks just a bit different. I figured it was due to low light. Today I also noticed that it has come unstuck, yet again, from the driftwood that I attached it to. I would just plunk it in the substrate but getting it closer to the light seemed like a better option... that and the stems are just not sending out ANY roots so the darn things will not stay in the sand.

Today I finally got around to trying to properly ID this plant. Step one, check out all ludwigia varieties... there are a number. No real match. Next step, red aquatic stem plants... found one and did some relative images and, BINGO! plants that look exactly like mine.

Nesaea, red leaf. African plant... possibly flowering.

Apparently it is very difficult to grow and requires high light levels (I assumed being it is red)1

My next project (java mat) ended up being delayed for a number of reasons.

The dwarf hygrophila are getting out of hand now and I feel that my tank is nicely stabilized so I will be pruning some back and NOT replanting all the cuttings. I would like to free up some space for a couple more plants and relegate the DH to background duty from now on.

I know that any aquascaper will probably say that fewer species of plants look better, or might even be more natural, but I like the varied greens and the odd reds and just figuring out what works for my tank setup. The other advantage I think that I am seeing is that there is no single draw on nutrients that a more homogenous plant cross section might have. My nitrates have yet to cross 5ppm and I don't perform large water changes unless necessary, (twice so far while getting fish setup). I'm not certain which variety is responsible for that, probably duckweed is top of the list.

Fertilization has been minimal but I may step that up from once a week to twice a week and see if there is any noticeable difference... there is just so much plant material now that I anticipate more ferts would be prudent.

Jeff.

Well, that was the first time that I had to toss plant material after a pruning. Did a 60% WC change and some gardening.

I pulled some dwarf hygro stems from the centre area, put a few more along the rear to the right and gave everything a severe haircut. I was tossing a lot of stem pieces that were 12" or longer. (Sorry Jen, they wouldn't travel well anyway).

I stuck the Nesaea in the centre front. Even though these stems have never produced roots in two months they managed to stay in place for the day. I redirected the flow to reduce water movement on one side more than the other.

The only small concern is that removing so much plant material MIGHT reduce the ammonia sink capacity of the tank. I know that it has also cycled but it cycled based on lots of plants. I'll watch for a day or two and see if that remote possibility arises.

I noted that the brazilian pennywort has now reached the surface, that makes it over 20" tall and growing. I am curious what it will do now that it has a leaf at the surface. Interestingly the base of the stem has very little root growth... I think that this plant would do well in a still surface as a floater... It might even be a more natural method to coral my duckweed, although keeping it thinner is serving the same purpose.

Jeff.

I should clarify, Java Fern mat. Basically tie a bunch of java fern rhizomes together to create an underlying mat with lots of ferns growing out of it. I tend to think that plants do better when planted close to other same species of plant. That's partly why pretty much everything in my tank is in fairly tight groupings

Anyway, the mat lets me provide a different level for plants as well. i have a vertical driftwood with ferns sort of stuck into it but it was done hap-hazardly. I would like to have a well done version with the new ferns and will probably go with vertical again just due to space restrictions. I may even consider suspending it.

The java moss that I have I had to prune this weekend, took almost 1/3 of it out as it was getting a little out of hand... slow growth under low light? Slower than some other plants, maybe. Considering how small the branches are, I would say that, based on relative growth rates, it is in line with everything in my tank other than the dwarf hygrophila and the new Bacopa Caroliniana.

On that note, the BC is supposed to be a slow grower... Right now it is shooting up as fast as the DH. I have literally inches of growth over the weekend since cutting back the DH... probably a combo of more light and less competition for nutrients. I see that it does grow submerged with the tops growing emmersed and perhaps flower... I thought as much based on the look of the stem. Too bad my lid is so tight to the water... I think I will transfer a small stem to my jug project and see how it does there.

My wife would be much happier if that "jug full of green crap" were a little nicer looking... I don't see what the problem is though.

Jeff.

New plants, new plant names and just some rattling on

I was at the LFS yesterday and they had a decent selection of plants, more than normal. Of course when I ask about certain ones I still get the "plant shipment will be in tomorrow"... I don't know how many times I get that line while there, it's nuts.

Anyway. I picked up a new cryptocoryne wendtii but realized upon putting it my tank, it almost disappears against the sand. pic one.

I was looking for a really nice crypt that grew longer narrower leaves with less stem part and they fanned up in a nice tan/rust undulated leaf. They had about 6 of them in the display tank and would not sell me even one.:evil: I think that the display tanks are treated as staff owned... so I guess I get that... it was a nice looking tank and I just realized that I should have taken a picture of it. It'll be there next trip anyway.

I picked up a java fern that I was expecting the last time that I bought java fern only to realize it is a different variety. The old one is pic two and is actually java fern "windelov" and pic three is the straight up java fern . The windelov is in the shot but I am letting the little sprouts grow out so it looks a little craggy.

Pic four and five are the two shots, old and new, of the same baby giant vallisneria. I think that it is doing well. I am considering some spiral variety... my daughter really likes the spirals. Oh, the scale is off, the one that really big is just a close up shot. The tallest leaf is about as long as the shortest on the newer shot.

Pic six is a brazilian pennywort with a small cling on dwarf version. I sort of like it there as opposed to trying to keep the little bugger planted or just having it float around the top.

Pic seven is a current end view of the tank with the now surfaced pennywort.

I think that I am going to get into some more smaller or narrower crypts to fill in some sand spots that are open. The catfish seem to be more active where there is more cover for them as they are often all hiding behind the vertical driftwood in the corner. Even just the couple of new ones brought them out some more... as you can tell by the shots... even though that was feeding time I normally can't get close enough that they don't run to the corner even when food is laying about.

The store rep was telling me that he ordered a bunch of low light plants to help get more people interested in planting their aquariums. There is also a bit of a symposium on this weekend and that is one of the topics so he is also being smart and having stock to support the topic.

Jeff.