I think you're heading in the wrong direction chasing maximum growth in a low-tech tank.
For maximum growth, grow in emersed or inject CO2.
For maximum growth, grow in emersed or inject CO2.
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Hello - Discussion Starter, here. Looks like we've turned into a "How to Transition to Dirt From an Established Tank" all-purpose thread - which is great.
Two weeks into the purchase of a water lily rhizome, it does seem to have stalled out, undoubtedly due to the lack of sunlight as @dwalstad has pointed out. I was hoping it would have sent out a vertical shoot or two by now. But, right now it looks more like a miniature geranium. Mind you, it isn't dying; it just isn't exploding.
My main concern is a rather persistent 0.2ppm ammonia spike that seems to have coincided with several events:
1) the purchase of my sixth danio.
2) the sudden appearance and subsequent wiping clean of a suspected diatom colony.
3) the introduction of a small clump of peat moss packed around the lily rhizome.
4) the use of several root tabs underneath the lily rhizome.
It could be one of the above or all of them in combination that is causing the NH3/NH4 spike. I've already replanted the rhizome once into a pot of pure gravel; the only other step that I have any control over (other than returning one of the fish) is to repot the lily for a second time, but without any artificial fertilizer. How long will the rhizome continue to nourish it all by itself?
The salvinia minima look green and healthy and I should probably double up on them since they only cover about a quarter of the bowl's surface.
I'm actually very excited by all of this as it seems to suggest that the entire ecosystem is at some sort of tipping point as the plants, animals and other living things duke it out over what water conditions will prevail.
Here's a snapshot:
![73380]()
Two weeks into the purchase of a water lily rhizome, it does seem to have stalled out, undoubtedly due to the lack of sunlight as @dwalstad has pointed out. I was hoping it would have sent out a vertical shoot or two by now. But, right now it looks more like a miniature geranium. Mind you, it isn't dying; it just isn't exploding.
My main concern is a rather persistent 0.2ppm ammonia spike that seems to have coincided with several events:
1) the purchase of my sixth danio.
2) the sudden appearance and subsequent wiping clean of a suspected diatom colony.
3) the introduction of a small clump of peat moss packed around the lily rhizome.
4) the use of several root tabs underneath the lily rhizome.
It could be one of the above or all of them in combination that is causing the NH3/NH4 spike. I've already replanted the rhizome once into a pot of pure gravel; the only other step that I have any control over (other than returning one of the fish) is to repot the lily for a second time, but without any artificial fertilizer. How long will the rhizome continue to nourish it all by itself?
The salvinia minima look green and healthy and I should probably double up on them since they only cover about a quarter of the bowl's surface.
I'm actually very excited by all of this as it seems to suggest that the entire ecosystem is at some sort of tipping point as the plants, animals and other living things duke it out over what water conditions will prevail.
Here's a snapshot:
61 - 80 of 205 Posts
