Responding to my weblog

Jeff, I like the weblog format to see progress on the tank.

I thought one comment you made was particularly interesting, which was about 'cold feet'. You were talking about rotalas specifically, and they are stem plants. I have 100% flourite with undergravel heating cable in my main tank. But both are being under-utilized by me, because I no longer plant most of the stems plants into the substrate, for ease of maintanance. I just use plant weights to weigh down the bunches. Some bunches even float in mid water without actually touching the substrate. I just pull the bunch up and cut off the lower half for pruning. I only decided to do that after reading Tom Barr saying that aquatic plants take nutrients only through leaves and that's why I do water column dosing exclusively. All rotalas do very well for me that way. My tank water is warm, 83F.

Dennis,

Since I consider my nov-dec online gaming binge seasonaly related, yes all change is seasonaly related.

My crypts have always shrunk back in winter. This time last year my spriralis was little 4" wisps. At the begining of oct that crypt tropica, left center, was 5 times larger with leaves 10 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. The remaining leaves now are 3 inches long and perhaps 1 inch wide. mid oct. through late feb. is a very discourageing time of year for my aquatic gardening. I am lucky that the AGA showcase happens during my prime time of year. It seems I can do nothing wrong during August and September and my tank amazes me.

Shalu,

Miser that I am, my heater is set for 72. Temperature stratification is not limited to the substrate. It is also very noticable around the bases of large stands of stem plants where circulation is reduced. I can feel the cold areas with my hand, its quite dramatic.

Greg,

Ply me with tests of my water parameters and you might get a private veiwing. I am kinda intrested in trying the PPS method but lack sooo many of the requisite tools and ingredients that it seems very unlikely at this point.

defdac said:

Did you do anything about it or is that the way L. glandulosa should look like?

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All my difficulties with L. glandulosa were related to how well a plant was rooted. Whenever this plant fails in my tank it always begins in the buried part of the stem or the main stem just below a side shoot with roots. If a tip fails I always find more advanced symptoms lower down that stem. I do have reoccuring curl problems with hygro kompakt but I attribute it to excessive momentum rather than calcium deficiency. Lowering my co2 concentration and/or shortening my light period usually repairs the curl on my H.kompakt.

Magnus, you read my statement correctly. My interest in aquarium husbandry waxes and wanes. Participation in local aquarium clubs helps to keep my interest up and makes my efforts much more rewarding. Inviting people over to see my tanks has been super fun every time. There is nothing quite like seeing a tank 1st hand and discussing it with like minded aquarists. It feels good to see that happen around a tank that you created.

While I agree through my own experience that reducing mementum(lower light/CO2) always helps with deficiency symptoms, nonetheless, the existence of those symptoms in high momentum tanks always indicate sub-optimal nutrients levels/ratios causing uptake issues in plants. True? I have been able to fix most of my leaf curling problems with addition of Ca regardless of my high GH. The H. compacta I got from you has huge leaves.

About 'cold feet', I think my undergravel cable makes a great heater in that regard, even though I am not really dealing with the substrate. The heated water rises from below, efficiently heating the whole tank. So it is not money wasted after all.

So how cold is too cold for most plants? I am considering setting up some unheated tanks, the temp might get to low 60s in the room overnight.