A story of plant... success!

[OnlyGenusCaps]

I tend not to grow plants in my tanks.  I don't like dealing with the issues, I have very hard water which I have attributed many of my struggles with, and I keep (mostly) fish that don't care and use rocks more.  But I got fish a while ago that really need plants.  They are semi-agressive and my tricks from cichlids didn't work!  When I tossed a live plant in there, out of sheer desperation, it worked!  A fish chasing another would go after it through and around rocks, but one turn around a plant and the attack was over.  Instantly.  So, I needed plants!

I've tried many, many plants in the past and they just languish for me or die outright.  Or worse, introduce algae!  But now armed with the RR technique, I could at least reduce the likelihood of any unwanted hitchhikers.  I like stem plants the most, but they also are the least likely to root and survive for me.

Well, the local shop here was out of plants, so I decided to order from ACO.  I've avoided the plants there knowing full well the water in Seattle and that I have here in Minnesota is...  Different, to say the least.  I'd always been told to get plants from places that have similar water so they would already be acclimated.  But I needed plants.

So I took the dive and bought a couple hundred dollars in plants (it's a big tank) expecting they would work to stave off the aggression until I could figure something else out (I really want these fish!).  I treated them with RR, and tossed in the pots.  I didn't even plant them, figuring they wouldn't be around long enough.  They did the trick with the fish beautifully!  Plants are needed with this species! 

Then, I went tout of town for a week.  To my utter astonishment, the plants were not only alive, but thriving upon my return!!!  I had plants.  And they were happy.  And they came from soft water into my liquid rock (my water is hard enough the leaves tend to get encrusted with minerals).  I don't know what magic ACO does with their plants, but I'm gobsmacked!  I succeeded with plants from ACO, nd I've not really done so from anywhere else.  That's all I know.

[lefty o]

couple hundred dollars in plants, it must be a big tank.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

I mean the smallest tank I own is a 20 for fry.  The largest is over 300.  So there is a range.

Glad you saw this one @lefty o.  I was thinking of you and your similar struggles with stem plants when I mentioned that aspect.  I've got to say, the pogo octopus from ACO is the first stem plant growing for me.  Maybe it would for you?

[lefty o]

oh no... i gave up on stem plants a long long time ago. i stick with anubia's, java ferns, crypts, and vals. i even manage to keep amazon swords alive, but they do struggle. plus im currently snail free, except for a few nerites.

[redfish]

I’m having mixed results with stem plants.  Pogo seems to fade away over a few weeks in a couple different tanks.  I have another round of Pogo now, hoping a more seasoned tank will help it grow.  Water sprite is hanging around both planted and floating but not  exploding with new growth.  Hornwort is doing the best so far for a floater.  Swords seems to be growing well along with the anubias.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

Interesting!  The other thing is I have the plants this time under a light with more blue and less reds.  Does that help?

Don't know!

[dasaltemelosguy]

The little I know about this suggests red light favors hormones and blue light favors chlorophyll production. So red light tends to make plant hormones like auxins grow faster and longer and blue seems to increase chloroplast counts. 

Growth of rice plants under red light with or without supplemental blue light

What that means for results, I have no idea!

Ask me anything deeper than that and I'll sound like Ralph Cramden: Homina, Homina, Homina!!!???

 

Edited October 29, 2022 by dasaltemelosguy
Duplicate removed

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 10/29/2022 at 2:36 PM, dasaltemelosguy said:

What that means for results, I have no idea!

That's right where I am with aquatic plants on this.  For crops where there is data...  I'm on it.  Underwater...  I am no longer confident, because there is so little data!

[Torrey]

On 10/29/2022 at 4:22 PM, OnlyGenusCaps said:

Underwater...  I am no longer confident, because there is so little data!

Hard relate, although I am discovering (now that the microscope arrived) a lot of the data seems to apply above and below the waterline... the plant modifications due to subaquatic living (or is it the reverse, since "life" started in the water🧐) are species specific adaptations due to specific environments, similar to the land crops we raised on the farm. At least there's not the added air cross-pollination adding yet another layer of complexity to maintaining healthy plants in the offspring!

If anyone else is struggling with the hardwater adjustment, I tried something with my last two shipments from ACO:

I put half in RO water, and gradually increased the hardness with 10% water changes every time I had time (TDS and water chemistry testable by the ACO strips matched their predetermined tanks within 3 weeks) and had marginal melt (last shipment had melt because different USPS driver kept the box on the truck until later in the day, and inside the box got pretty warm).

Reverse Respiration on the other half of the plants saw the damaged parts removed by snails (kept in my growout tanks for just this purpose) much faster, but the healthier parts of the plants went untouched by the snails. I didn't do the slower transition with the RR plants.

My TDS out of the tap is over 400 by a TDS meter, GH is an extreme purple well above 300 on the ACO strips (and more drops than I can use on the liquid API) and KH is only 80 on the ACO test strips as a comparison for anyone struggling.

Our tap water has so much calcium that drinking tap water yields kidney stones in humans and pets, and leaves a severe calcium ring on all faucets in less than 90 days... which is why I invested in both Pur *and* ZeroWater for our tanks and for our cooking water.

Congratulations on your plant success @OnlyGenusCaps!

(I start the day with blue lights to stimulate my pineal gland courtesy of my tanks, and end the day with red lights to soothe my brain to be quiet and let me sleep. I don't know if it does anything for the plants, though. My mid-day siesta periods of 4 hours each have almost stopped algae growth, I added a third 4 hour photo-period [extended to 5 hours] so my algae eaters wouldn't starve.)