Time to trim????

[Batt4Christ]

Well- plants are really starting to take off, despite my ongoing battle w/BBA. So now I am wondering when I need to start trimming back. The Anacharis is now way taller than the tank (layer over and now starting to twist together. ludwigia is putting out "roots" all over the place. Swords are putting on baby plants and what appear to be flower stalks. Water sprite is absolutely going nuts (and appears to be the only BBA-resistant plant of the bunch. Will attach a few pictures for illustration:

 

[Batt4Christ]

Also- thanks mfdrookie and big jim for the bulk of those successful plants!

 

[krap101]

The only time you "need" to trim is when the plants are either reducing the volume of the tank too much, or taking up all the light so the lower plants begin to die. Otherwise, you can trim whenever you feel you need to keep it looking how you want.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Check out the ludwigia roots! I'd this "normal"??? Wow!

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yep, that's normal. That's also a big reason I've started throwing it out when I trim... I have one stem that I haven't pulled out in 2 months, it has about 8" of nothing but roots

 

[Batt4Christ]

What would happen if I semi-burried almost the full length of a stem--- would the plant then grow up at those junctions, or would kill the plant, or...?

 

[mfdrookie516]

The stem would rot that was burried, wouldn't do anything really. No point in it. Usually, I just trim above the roots and pull the old stem out. But, it's completely up to you how you want to do it.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Thanks for the input (and saving me the time and trouble!)

I've been trying to hold back on trimming and thinning in hopes of landing a new aquarium, but finances/budget are slowing that down. At the rate these are growing, I won't take long to bush back out and have something to put in a new tank whenever we get ready.

 

[krap101]

I ended up eventually taking the ludwigia out of my tank. The rate it grew meant that a few weeks away at school, and my tank would have been almost blocked out, hurting my other plants.

 

[mfdrookie516]

I have very little repens. I have quite a bit of narrow leaf, but it's going to be sold soon. I've found that the easy to get plants are easy to get for a reason...

 

[BigJim]

Glad to see your plants are doing well!

Trimming is really a matter of taste. There are only a few reasons I trim my tank.

1. The tall plants are blocking out the light to the shorter plants.
2. I need the trimmings to fill in bare spots in a tank.
3. My fish need more room to swim.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Did some "pruning"- especially the Anacharis. Pulled out some plants that I was tired of trying to "cure" of the bba it had on it (primarily stargrass). The attached pic was taken w/my iPhone. Look better?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Are you injecting co2? You can fix BBA by cranking up the co2 a little... but I can't remember if you're injecting or not

 

[jetajockey]

I really like that sword plant in the middle, I have one just like it and its one of my favorites.

 

[Batt4Christ]

DIY CO2, bubbles average just over 2 per second use a Hagen/Nutrafin ladder-style diffuser. I'm gonna try to pick up a CO2 tester this weekend just to see if the CO2 is actually making a difference. lfs has a RedSea "In-Tank" tester.

 

[Batt4Christ]

Oh- and have been double-dosing with Flourish Excel daily for the last week+

 

[mfdrookie516]

Wow, sounds like it should be headed out the door then. Spot treating with excel or, better yet, peroxide, works wonders for BBA IME

 

[Batt4Christ]

I was starting to see the worst patch begin to turn lighter and some isolated spots clear up. What concerned me was/is on my swords- looked like bba among the leaf edges- but when I started double-dosing the excel, it was the first to turn to a light grey cir- but then the filaments started getting longer- some are up to about 1/2 inch- so I'm puzzled (turned light grey but getting longer?).

Also- both plecos (common and young bn) both seem interested and seem to scour these leaves. Sometimes I see "shreds" drift away in the current. I tried to "rub" this off the leaves when I did the trimming and pwc this afternoon - and that stuff is STOUT!