Quote:
Originally Posted by aquanut415
the only problem i have with this way of starting a tank is that not all plants seem to convert over to submerged form from emersed as easily. some plants look absolutely nothing alike when grown emersed vs submerged and the time it takes for the plants to convert, if they will do so at all is significant.
for me, this is mainly a way to fill in the foreground with some of the pickier plants (HC, Utricularia... actually those are the only 2)
just as an example, grow out some downoi emersed and try and get it to convert back to submerged growth. it takes A LOT of time, more than a few weeks. additionally, the emersed form of downoi looks nothing like the submerged form, they have altogether different growth habits which will make the use of the plant even more challenging in the aquascape.
i think its a useful practice, but i only see its value for a few of the plants we use, and for some plants its probably only making more/new challenges.
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Yes, I agree.
However, once the plants have established root systems, they are much easier to convert in the tank.
Why?
Less resources required since the roots are already present, established enzymatic and biochemical pathways for nutrients(not really nearly as present in the leaves since they are in a nutrient free zone other than CO2, so the plant will allocate them to the root zones and slowly transition as needed once submersion occurs) and no transplant shock.
Crypts, most foreground plants etc, Anubias, quite a few weeds.
But the back ground stem plants, Rotolas, Vals etc, these had little transplant shock issue and grow fast anyway.
For Downoi, yes, likely not a good candidate.
But it's pretty easy to grow and not hard to plant etc.
Hummm......I wonder if it would grow well at the lab outdoors in the vaults?
Erios do well with this method though.
While some will go through changes in the transition, they often come in that way to start with(hydroponically grown), and we can do a couple of prunings to remove the older growth, no big deal I think.
I have a few Erios now(not E. setaceum etc, E cinerum) since I have no other home for them as of yet. It's also a nice method for over flow plants you do not want to get rid of or want to grow out a bit. I know Jim (fearless leader) in the club did this a lot with HC till the club was saturated with the weed
You just need a tank, lid and some sediment, soil or ADA As etc, sunlight works fine.
Still, given the popularity of the iwugami style layouts and nano tanks etc, this is a no brainer method all the way around. Many complain about getting the rug established prior and spend a lot effort to do so.
Even if there's only say 20% in the foregound you want to plant, letting it do so via this method ensures good establishment, then you pack the rest of the tank with stems, Vals etc or downoi.
You and I also might not have as much trouble growing a lot of plants, but others do and neither of us like the tank maintenance issues if we can avoid them. *I see no reason to torture myself.
From the high tech-er to the non CO2 low tech-er, it's a good method all the way around and can be applied widely for many applications.
Regards,
Tom Barr