Anacharis

[RoK]

I bought 2 anacharis plants 2 days ago and one of them was dying so I got rid of it. It turned brownish, seperated, leaves were coming off, etc. The other plant is doing fine. Could it be there was something wrong with it when it was at the store? Needed fertilizer? Or it needed more light? Any suggestions why it started dying, especially so quickly?

[Toirtis]

They like lot of minerals in the water, especially calcium, so harder water is best for them. My water is reasonably hard, and I find by doing very regular water changes on my tanks with anacharis in them, that the plants grow like crazy.

[RoK]

Hm, my water is soft and I don't really want to make the water harder, is there an alternative that will get them to live better even with soft water? Do those fertilizers they have at pet stores for aquatic plants have those minerals and do they affect fish in any way?

Wow 200 posts in less than a month, I'm on a roll, huh?

[Toirtis]

Yes, many of those supplements have a good combination of appropriate minerals.

[youronlysin]

Anachris will turn brown and mushy in low light. It will usually perk up once conditions get better. Ive never lost one, they have always come back and grown like weeds. Your substrate might have something to do with it also, but I've been able to grow it in plain gravel. I use sand over a laterite mix now with lots of light and [acronym:053ff83133="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:053ff83133], so my anachris grows like a weed. I agree on the regular water changes though. Changing the water in planted tanks is essential to replace nutrients that the plants consume. Fast growing plants like Anachris really deplete nutrients from water quickly.

[Aquaboy]

What kind of lighting do you have? This is a very importand factor with these plants. I had that same problem w/ my anacharis until I got better lighting. Get a few supplements as well. Add them after a water change(This will affect the fish less). Flourish and Flourish Excel are good ones supplements.

[Toirtis]

I am not sure how much light it really needs, as I have it thriving in tanks that get only 1.25W/gallon. Much of my anacharis is not planted, either...it grows just fine floating as well.

[Talon242]

I have some in my tank which is almost 2 [acronym:0eefab9a8b="Watts Per Gallon"]wpg[/acronym:0eefab9a8b]. I fertilize with Kno3, flourish potassium, flourish, and fourish iron. It tends to grow very fast.

[RoK]

I only have a 40 watt light, it's what came with the 75 [acronym:47fd04dd0c="Gallon"]gal[/acronym:47fd04dd0c] tank. Can it still grow even with the low light, like say if I added the fert? or is more light indisputably necessary?

[czcz]

I would forget about the one that was dying quickly, especially if it looked unhealthy when you bought it. Anacharis will grow fine under 60w incandescent and doesn't need ferts given regular [acronym:a712acb41c="Partial water change"]pwc[/acronym:a712acb41c], [acronym:a712acb41c="In My Experience"]ime[/acronym:a712acb41c]. It is very hardy. Suggest you just let it float until it grows long, to maximize the 40w.