"Vines" on anacharis

[oxymoron]

I have had a clump of anacharis in my tank for 4-5 days and last night noticed a straight "vine" with no foliage on it growing off on of the branches and reaching straight down toward the substrate. This morning the vine had grown another 1" or so and has reached the substrate. Is this a normal function of this plant or is it some sort of parasitic plant using the anacharis as a host?

 

[malkore]

those are called aerial roots. they form the fastest when you lack nutrients in the water column, the plant reaches down into the substrate for food.

 

[oxymoron]

Thanks, does that mean I should start adding some nutrients for the plants? My tank is fully cycled and I still don't detect very high nitrates when I test the water (always less than 10ppm). With 3 pretty large plants in a 20g tank I think they are consuming it as fast as it is released. What type of plant foods would you suggest?

 

[czcz]

If its low light you can get by with just regular pwc. Seachem products are popular, but your fern and anacharis aren't picky.

 

[malkore]

Yeah if this tank just has the single fluorescent bulb over it, you don't have to get fancy. nitrates will come up after your cycle is finished. At most you'll need a fert like Flourish comprehensive. That'll keep traces and iron at a good enough level for low light tanks.

 

[oxymoron]

I have a double light strip with 2x15 watt bulbs around 9000-10000K, so it has 1.5 WPG and I have about an inch of Eco-Complete substrate. I'll just wait for now and see how it goes, the sword and fern look great and aside from these aerial roots and one brown "branch" the anacharis looks pretty good so far too.

 

[greenmaji]

you might want to look into a couple more inches of substrate