jsoong
Aquarium Advice Addict
I must be having some kind of deficiency - all my plants (except hornwort) are getting smaller instead of bigger!
The Cockscrew Vals started out with 6-8" long leaves, but in my tank, the leaves are only 1-2". They are reasonably happy tho, since they have sent out runners like mad & I now have 30 or 40 plants covering 1/3 of the tank, but all are 1-2" tall.
Ditto for Hygros .... old leaves fell off after planting, and new ones are only 1/2" big (1/4 the size of the originals). They are also not growing too tall (5-6"), but are spreading like weeds sideways.
Anubias nana - leaves 1/8" .... Java fern, 2" leaves .... the list goes on.
All except the hornwort .... my little bunch had taken over half the tank, and is growing at least 1-2" a day. I routinely throw out 1/2 of the plant mass each week.
Some specs: 75 gal, 4x32W T8, Profile (Schultz aquatic soil) substrate, no CO2, dosing 5ppm NO3, 5ppm K, 1ppm P & 0.1ppm Fe (& trace) weekly ... change water 10-20% weekly (doing less on advice that low tech tank should have NO water change ... but I just can't stand the mess the goldies make, and my NO3 keeep bottoming out so I have to dose or I get BBA).
So what is the problem? I suppose I can use the vals as a carpet - looks kinda cute at 1" tall ... but I would like to have SOME tall plants for background instead of just a big bunch of hornwort .....
The Cockscrew Vals started out with 6-8" long leaves, but in my tank, the leaves are only 1-2". They are reasonably happy tho, since they have sent out runners like mad & I now have 30 or 40 plants covering 1/3 of the tank, but all are 1-2" tall.
Ditto for Hygros .... old leaves fell off after planting, and new ones are only 1/2" big (1/4 the size of the originals). They are also not growing too tall (5-6"), but are spreading like weeds sideways.
Anubias nana - leaves 1/8" .... Java fern, 2" leaves .... the list goes on.
All except the hornwort .... my little bunch had taken over half the tank, and is growing at least 1-2" a day. I routinely throw out 1/2 of the plant mass each week.
Some specs: 75 gal, 4x32W T8, Profile (Schultz aquatic soil) substrate, no CO2, dosing 5ppm NO3, 5ppm K, 1ppm P & 0.1ppm Fe (& trace) weekly ... change water 10-20% weekly (doing less on advice that low tech tank should have NO water change ... but I just can't stand the mess the goldies make, and my NO3 keeep bottoming out so I have to dose or I get BBA).
So what is the problem? I suppose I can use the vals as a carpet - looks kinda cute at 1" tall ... but I would like to have SOME tall plants for background instead of just a big bunch of hornwort .....