Alex's 20 Gallon Planted Journal

[Fresh2o]

Update again! Lots of more pictures. The S. Repens has TOOK OFF! It's growing super fast and I will be selling it in the classifieds soon. I mean WOW!



The L. Repens is growing fast but sideways sort of and the leaves have a few pinholes and crinkled/melting edges. I just don't like it. I may switch it out for some Ammania sp. Bonsai soon or something similar. Recommendations?



Baby Vesuvius isn't growing well. I'm going to take it out because it doesn't really add to the tank at all.



AR: Old leaves are algae magnets. I'll elaborate on the algae later.



AR mini: Old leaves have some algae, but not too much. I think my lighting is too low to get major algae down there so that's sort of a bonus. It's not very red though.



Rotala: The bottom leaves don't seem to be getting much light or something. They are falling off a bit in some places but overall not too bad. Still lots of sideways growth on the smaller stems.



Crypt Undulata: A bit of algae on it's leaves. The co2 went a bit low over the weekend unfortunately. Also, I seem to have a problem. My co2 fell to around 2 bps, which should be sufficient for this tank but IMO it's not. Somethings weird. I'm running it into the canister intake, so theoretically all of the co2 should be dissolved. Also the surface agitation went up while I was gone so that would lower co2 levels. Right now co2 is at 5ish bubbles per second and the water level is back up. Hopefully that will take care of some algae.



Crypt Parva: It's well shaded by the S. Repens now and has shot out a 5th leaf. Still very small but that's alright.



Algae:



A bit of black/dark green spots on the glass. Not sure what it is.



A green powdery sort of stuff on the AR. I'm guessing green dust algae?



Green spots on C. Undulata. GSA I'm sure.



A bit of green on the driftwood. I think it was either the lack of co2 or added K and PO4. Thoughts?



Finally, pics:

The star repens looks more like a type of chain sword. I say that because of the runners. Star repens usually has side shoots that IME grow just to the side of the main plant (within close proximity). If I am correct then it would explain the elongated shape of the leaves.

 

[Fishperson]

How did you make your EI solutions, or did you just dose it dry?


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I ended up sticking with PPS pro thats VERY modified for now. I may to to EI later.

 

[Fishperson]

There's a glitch in the matrix. All of the link (for me) lead to the same post from 3/6/2006.

Oh. Just saw that. Well I know I copied the links from my album directly. I'll try to fix it later, sorry.

 

[Fishperson]

Your tank is looking good....

Thanks!

 

[Fishperson]

The star repens looks more like a type of chain sword. I say that because of the runners. Star repens usually has side shoots that IME grow just to the side of the main plant (within close proximity). If I am correct then it would explain the elongated shape of the leaves.

Yeah it looks like it but its definitely a stem plant.

 

[Sk3lly]

Yea star repens doesnt send out runners. Well at least ive never seen it

Star repens is not a true carpeting plant. It wont spread horizontally by itself. Yes it will shoot new stems from the original but this will just make it look 'bushy'.

You physically have to cut and replant the tops to carpet it


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[Fishperson]

Yea star repens doesnt send out runners. Well at least ive never seen it

Star repens is not a true carpeting plant. It wont spread horizontally by itself. Yes it will shoot new stems from the original but this will just make it look 'bushy'.

You physically have to cut and replant the tops to carpet it


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Hmmm. Not mine. It's not really sending out runners its like horizontal stems that grow an inch above substrate, with a short vertical stem growing up every inch or so. Sort of runner but not exactly. I don't know, its weird.

 

[Sk3lly]

Hmmm. Not mine. It's not really sending out runners its like horizontal stems that grow an inch above substrate, with a short vertical stem growing up every inch or so. Sort of runner but not exactly. I don't know, its weird.

In that case im with Fresh2O. Doesnt look like true star repens. Where did you get it from?


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[Brookster123]

I'm with the herd here.. behaving far different than my stars too..

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[Fresh2o]

this is the part that caught my eye. The runner (daisy chain style) looks consistent with a chain sword, Val, sag. I looked at your plant list to see what else could produce this type of growth but nothing else came to mind.

 

[Fishperson]

Well what kind of conspiracy is this?!?!?!

Guys the one thing that I know is that it's a stem plant. For sure. Thats how I propagated it before.

All of the ones you mentioned are rosette plants, which this isn't.

I don't remember where I got it but it was an online website, Tropica maybe?

 

[Sk3lly]

No conspiracy. Just your 'star repens' is doing things no others does


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[Fishperson]

I'm not alone!!!

Second post in this thread: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/tips-on-the-perfect-staurogyne-repens-carpet.18388/

Edit: Yeah I've done more research and many sources say after pruning it shoots out runners along the gravel.

 

[Fishperson]

Ok after even more digging I've found that staurogyne repens's ancestors were hygrophila. And hygrophila has leaves that look just like mine. So maybe I got hygrophila by accident or maybe its just a strange reaction to my parameters.

 

[Fresh2o]

No conspiracy here. I've read THAT thread some time back and it was one of the reasons why I wanted to grow that plant.
IMO the traditional star repens side shoot and runner are two distinct things. The side shoot is similar to the main shoot but at an angle which contributes to the plants "business". The thing in the pic looks more like a runner, that's all.

 

[Fishperson]

No conspiracy here. I've read THAT thread some time back and it was one of the reasons why I wanted to grow that plant.
IMO the traditional star repens side shoot and runner are two distinct things. The side shoot is similar to the main shoot but at an angle which contributes to the plants "business". The thing in the pic looks more like a runner, that's all.

Yeah the conspiracy comment was a bad joke.

I'm not sure I understand the difference between a side shoot and runner.

Oh you mean "bushiness". Oh. Ok then yeah I get it now. Then yeah its a runner I guess.

 

[Fresh2o]

Ok after even more digging I've found that staurogyne repens's ancestors were hygrophila. And hygrophila has leaves that look just like mine. So maybe I got hygrophila by accident or maybe its just a strange reaction to my parameters.

Oh, interesting find there. It is not uncommon to ship the wrong item.
Btw, for the first 8 months I had broadleaf chain sword I labeled it as dwarf sag. Aqua_chem kept questioning it and determined it was BL chain sword instead.

I could send you some star repens and see it it changes (to test the last hypothesis)

 

[Fishperson]

Oh, interesting find there. It is not uncommon to ship the wrong item.
Btw, for the first 8 months I had broadleaf chain sword I labeled it as dwarf sag. Aqua_chem kept questioning it and determined it was BL chain sword instead.

I could send you some star repens and see it it changes (to test the last hypothesis)

That would be cool but I don't want to waste your time. Let's call in jetajockey and aquachem first just to see if they know. I'll also check to see out hygrophila sends out runners like that.

 

[Fresh2o]

Just offering. I sent 50-60 star repens stems in a recent swap. I trimmed about 3/4 of the star repens carpet. There is more to trim. Currently battling what appears to be stag horn algae at the moment (argh).

 

[Fishperson]

Just offering. I sent 50-60 star repens stems in a recent swap. I trimmed about 3/4 of the star repens carpet. There is more to trim. Currently battling what appears to be stag horn algae at the moment (argh).

Ok cool. I sent them a PM and if they don't know then I will take some I guess. If it turns out to actually be something different then I'll send you guys some.