What kind of plants are these?

[daileene]

I have bought it from PETCO and it was in the aquarium when I got it and the lady said it is aquatic. Please help me to identify it since even her do not know the name of it.

I have 3 more other plants that I don't know the name..I will take a picture of them tomorrow.

Your inputs are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[neilanh]

It's a sword. Definitely aquatic, so you're safe there. I think that's a Brazilian sword (Spathiphyllum tasson)

 

[fort384]

hmmm if it is Spathiphyllum tasson, isn't that about the only sword that isn't aquatic?

 

[daileene]

Oh thank you neil...whewww....thought I wasted my money on this. Do you know if they grow bigger? Like 12" or more taller?

 

[daileene]

I thought it was an amazon sword before when searching at plantgeek...but I cannot get quite get the same pictures from there to compare to this plant, hence, I am asking your expert advice here...

 

[neilanh]

ugh, Fort, I think you're right.

If it is a Brazilian then it isn't safe for aquariums. Sorry daileene, i had forgotten about that.

Good memory Fort.

 

[neilanh]

I don't think the leaf shape is accurate for an amazon sword.

 

[daileene]

hmmm if it is Spathiphyllum tasson, isn't that about the only sword that isn't aquatic?

oh yeah, i did remember seeing a brazilian sword and it was mentioned that it was not aquatic. :-(

so I am confuse now?

 

[daileene]

neil, the pictures of the brazilian sword at plantgeek is not quite the same with this plant though, do they have different variety of brazilian swords?

 

[daileene]

ugh, Fort, I think you're right.

If it is a Brazilian then it isn't safe for aquariums. Sorry daileene, i had forgotten about that.

Good memory Fort.

what would happened to my aquarium if it is not aquatic? i'll get an algae problem?

 

[fort384]

No algae problem, at least not right away. It won't hurt to leave it in for awhile.. but as it starts to die, it rots, and adds a bunch of excess nutrients to the water column, which can then cause algae.

I am not sure what species it is to be honest... very defined and rigid veins... I dont think it is Spathiphyllum tasson. I would leave it in for awhile and see what happens.

I see there is some yellowing already. Was that there when you bought it or is it new? If it is an aquatic sword, that could be an early sign of lighting deficiency.

 

[daileene]

No algae problem, at least not right away. It won't hurt to leave it in for awhile.. but as it starts to die, it rots, and adds a bunch of excess nutrients to the water column, which can then cause algae.

I am not sure what species it is to be honest... very defined and rigid veins... I dont think it is Spathiphyllum tasson. I would leave it in for awhile and see what happens.

I see there is some yellowing already. Was that there when you bought it or is it new? If it is an aquatic sword, that could be an early sign of lighting deficiency.

Hello fort...the yellowing was already there when I bought it, but as of this writing it has new ones in another leaves. So maybe you are right. My mother in law bought me a hood for lighting, and it's a 20RFH-I/20 RHF-F recessed hood. I had two tube 25W clear incandescent bulbs on them right now. I normally leave it on for at least 10-12 hours. Is this the right bulbs? I have a 10G tank.

 

[fort384]

yeah unfortunately those incandescent light bulbs are not going to be good for growing plants... Can you find some of those curly-Q compact florescent bulbs to fit the sockets, or are they small, specialty looking bulb sockets? The CFLs would be much much better for plants. Also... 12 hours is a long time... especially just starting out. It could cause some excess algae in and of itself (especially with the incandescent). Try to keep the light to 8-10 hrs.

 

[daileene]

the socket is standard. i mean, normal daily bulbs will fit in it. so i don't think it is a specialty looking bulb socket. what is CFLs? sorry for my ignorance.

okay, i will keep the light from 8-10 hours. thank you so much.

 

[fort384]

not ignorance--just new to the terms

CFL = compact florescent... sorry I didnt expand on that. Same thing as what I described above... the curly-q looking bulbs that screw into a regular socket.

I would add 2 of these... look for the ones that say "daylight" or preferably if you can find one that gives the color temp, which you want it to be 10000K. If you can't find the number on them, that is ok, if they say "daylight" they should be fine.

 

[daileene]

thank you so much for your help...

okay one last question, when you say add 2 of these, does that mean I still have to keep the old bulbs, or get it both replaced with the "daylight" ones altogether?

I did read about that 10000K in the articles. Thank you again.

 

[fort384]

Get rid of the incandescent bulbs and replace with the screw in daylight 10000k bulbs. You are very welcome.

 

[daileene]

thank you again. i will definitely do that and i will go to the LFS tomorrow to get those bulbs..i will post the other 3 plants that i have tomorrow that i don't know the names still...so I hope you can help me with that too..

 

[daileene]

oh, do you know how many watts I need? I know it's wattage per gallon, but if I wanted to not have a CO2 system, how many watts in each bulb should I get?

 

[fort384]

Sounds good. You don't need to go to the LFS for the bulbs... in fact they will probably not have them. Just get them from home depot or lowes, or a hardware store.