Really cool plant I got from the Adirondacks!

[7Enigma]

Well as my luck often has it, many of the plants are now dead/recovering. I was on vacation for 8 days, did a large PWC and HEAVY pruning prior to leaving, dosed heavily with the ferts, and hoped for the best. I came home to a tank that doesn't look like anything had grown in over a week.....uh oh....

Turns out my 1-2 year old Coralife 65w CF light decided to blow up. Or more accurately it looks like the ballast blew up (bulb is dead as well). There is a dark area on the reflector near where you plug the straight pin into the bulb. I had hoped it was possibly just a blown bulb but it took me almost 10minutes to get the two pried apart and you can clearly see it's shot. Also of note was rust around the connections, which I find odd because I was running with a closed glass top. I had the acrylic piece that protects the bulb from splashes removed for added light, but there was no direct moisture that should have gotten to the connections. Any electronics gurus feel free to chime in if any part of this light is salvageable, as I am coming into a 55 gallon tank shortly and if I get a chance to use it (house is a bit small for the tank) I would need two 24" lights.

I immediately went back to hellolights and ordered up another of the same model (it was good until it stopped working and I've heard good things about it), but this time added in the legs (before it was just resting on top of the glass hood), and since I was blowing money decided I had always wanted an LED for night viewing (never got around to the DIY, and couldn't justify the outrageous prices as the local stores). I got a 3/4w blue LED that looks fantastic (I'll post pictures in a bit). At first I thought I needed 2 as the single LED only illuminates 1/4 or so of the tank, but now I actually like it. You see fish come and go and gives them some dark privacy if they want to get some rest.

I took my really crappy 17w NO hood light that came with the tank (<1wpg) that was at work on the low-light dwarf puffer tank (exclusively anubias barteri) and used it. I would turn it on at 7am when I would leave for work and turn it off at 10pm (disconnected the pressurized CO2) so the plants would at least get some usable light.

So basically it looks like the tank got no light the whole time I was gone and so there was a lot of dying plant matter to deal with. Fortunately it seems I caught the really nice looking milfoil RIGHT before it kicked the bucket. There are just 2 tiny growths that appear healthy, the rest of the plant lost most of its foliage. All of the dwarf crypt-like plants bit the dust, I've kept a couple in to see if they make a miraculous return, but it looks to be just roots as all the leaves have turned clear and started to fall off. The large plant lost most of its lower leaves, and the new leaves are brown at the growing points, but I think it may just make it.

One change I made after lots of back and forth was to switch to a 6700k instead of the 50/50 I was previously using. I like the 50/50 for the more vibrant colors the actinic displays on the fish and plants, but at only 65w for a 20gallon high tank it really is not that much light. With a CO2 tank and fert dosing, while I hate the thought of more frequent pruning, I also have read several members on here saying some of the mystery ailments of the plants were improved/fixed by the higher lighting. Here's hoping that will be true for me.

So it's been 48hours since the new lighting was installed and already there is some nice growth of my stargrass and rotala. I'm really pulling for the milfoil, as I could definitely see it complementing/replacing the stargrass, similarly to how the stargrass replaced the wisteria I used to have in the tank. OK enough babbling. I'll get some pics tomorrow.

[7Enigma]

Wanted to update on the milfoil. While the other plants from the Adirondacks have almost died off (one other remains but seems to have staghorn algae on it's leaves?!?), the milfoil has finally taken off. I have a 20 gallon high, and it is now 1" from the surface and pearling beautifully. Also included a couple other shots of the pearling. While the trimming is more frequent I really do like the higher light level than the 50/50 bulb.

Close-up of the milfoil now with healthy growth. Interesting in that it has not sent any side arms as of yet. I'm wondering when I trim it the base will start new growth..


Rotala mac. starting to close up the leaves for the night even though there's about 45min before the tank light shuts off. Pretty incredible that they adapt so well to the light/dark cycle and open before the light turns off and close before lights out!


Surface shot of just how much pearling is going on. There's so many bubbles at the surface it's affecting the light getting below!


Full tank shot (haven't done this in forever). You can see my trooper gold barb off to the right side. If you've followed my other threads he was attacked horribly (see the white spot on his side) at 2 separate times and had to be hospitalized in a separate tank. This was a GAPING wound but thankfully due to the clean hospital tank, some Melafix and Pimafix, he pulled through like a tank. Here's hoping he/she gets a nice retirement.

[Purrbox]

I believe that the picture you posted of a Rotala is probably a Rotala rotundifolia varient. Rotala Macrandra has much wider leaves than the plant you have pictured.

Definately some happy plants with all that pearling. Great job! Very nice pictures too.

[AndrewH]

7Enigma, what kind of substrate do you use? Currently looking for a new substrate for a 30 gallon I'm getting.

[7Enigma]

Originally Posted by Purrbox

I believe that the picture you posted of a Rotala is probably a Rotala rotundifolia varient. Rotala Macrandra has much wider leaves than the plant you have pictured.

Definately some happy plants with all that pearling. Great job! Very nice pictures too.

I believe you're right. It's been a while since I've posted any pictures or commented on any threads and I always tend to forget the actual species of Rotala I have.

[7Enigma]

Originally Posted by AndrewH

7Enigma, what kind of substrate do you use? Currently looking for a new substrate for a 30 gallon I'm getting.

PFS or Pool Filter Sand. Very nice looking, easy to maintain substrate that is dirt cheap. I think I paid about $6 for a 50lb bag. Only problem I've had is obviously there are no nutrients and some of my plants have shown signs of deficiency even with high dosing of dry ferts. My other remaining plant from the Adirondacks appears to be a heavy root feeder, as it is showing deficiency signs when it should be growing well. You can see it to the left of the gold barb, just left of the anubias. It has no lower leaves, and the upper leaves are covered in staghorn algae. I hate to throw it out, but I don't want to risk other plants getting the staghorn (I've dealt with it in the past and lets just say didn't enjoy it).

I've never gone the plant tab route, but I may look into that shortly. Biggest concern is the constant trimming would mean I'd disturb the tabs before they would be used up, and all the MTS are constantly turning over the sand.

[dmoney87]

Originally Posted by 7Enigma

I've never gone the plant tab route, but I may look into that shortly. Biggest concern is the constant trimming would mean I'd disturb the tabs before they would be used up, and all the MTS are constantly turning over the sand.

Yea I use plant tabs, I uncovered one moving a plant around and wow.. a massssive brown plume cloud took over my 75g tank for the next 30-45 min.. well i guess my plants that get the nutriants from the water colum enjoyed it but iono bout the fish..

-davE

[7Enigma]

So the milfoil has finally started to take off. I clipped the healthy section off of the main piece and anchored it in the substrate, and that is growing well. The old piece shows no signs of putting out any new growth. I've heard this stuff is very invasive because it grows so readily from small sections. My thought if it doesn't propagate with side shoots is to cut it into 3" sections or so and see if I can get 3 separate plants to finally start growing a small forest of the stuff.

What's really incredible is that my densely planted tank now starts to pearl about 3 hours after the lights come on! It used to be only in the last hour or two of lighting (it would take a while to saturate the water with oxygen). Pretty amazing.