Sword plant trying to escape from tank

[newfound77951]

I have a sword plant that used to be a manageable size and stay in the tank (55 gal)....now it has decided that it doesn't want to stay in the tank anymore and all the leaves grow out of the water. This would be OK except that they hit the 96watt PCs (which are about the temperature of the sun) and get fried. All I have left in the tank are a bunch of very thick, sturdy stems. Is there any way to keep the plant underwater or should I give up?? (Anyone have a BIG paludarium??) I'd love to see what this plant could do if given the space!

Here's the upper parts of the stems in the tank.....(sorry about the plant jungle, the Ceylon refuses to stay rooted)

Here's the above-water view of fried leaves and a flower stalk. Yes, I cleaned the filter after taking the pic....

 

[hashbaz]

I have a theory that you could "prune the roots" and stunt the plant. Can anyone confirm this wild theory?

 

[Guest]

root pruning works for non aquatic plants, so i would think it should work for aquatics also.

 

[Jchillin]

First off Newfound, you're gonna have to share your secret, I believe this is the third plant that is trying to "touch the sky" in your tank.

As far as root pruning with aquatics, especially swords, I would think that a new runner(s) will be produced in search of nutrients. It's also possible that new roots will form in the substrate while you aren't looking...I believe this is true in their natural environment, why not in the tank?

Any other ideas anyone?

 

[malkore]

You can, to a degree, "train" plants like swords to not grow tall, by pruning the tall stems back.

i've never seen a sword with such thick stems though.

now you see why swords are considered 'tank busters'

 

[fish_4_all]

Trimming the roots only made my Red melon sword grow faster! I have since put it in a tank with no CO2 and no light over the tank directly and the new leaves are half as big as they were. I think the only way to limit a sword is to limit light, nutrients, I add none and no CO2. Otherwise it is going to try and recreate the rainforest.

 

[dskidmore]

I vote for top pruning. If you take off some of the thickest stalks, it will have to grow new to replace them, and the new ones will take a little while to outgrow the tank. Also make sure you're not root fertilizing him.

 

[newfound77951]

Nope, no root tabs for this one....just Eco complete. I hate to think what the root system on this plant looks like now.... I guess I'll just keep trimming....

The stems on this thing are huge...they are almost woody, and hard to cut through with scissors. I got the plant at a local aq society auction, so I have no idea what species it is. It is flowering so i may have more of them soon if anyone wants to try growing their own Monster Sword.

And JChillin', I honestly don't know why all my plants go crazy....I think it is the lights; according to the light comparison thread I am almost at the top of the list for lumens/sq inch of all the tanks listed. Remember that I also only have DIY CO2.... when I need to replace my bulbs I may switch one out for a 50/50 actinic/10000K to cut down on the wattage a little.

 

[fish_4_all]

I don't know if this is important but you might want to remove the entire leaf all the way to the roots. Cutting may make for a lot of plant rot. It may make a mess of the EC but it will keep the plant nice and clean and also allow you to trim the roots at the same time if you dare.