Limnophila aromatica

[KyleT]

Scientific Plant Name: Limnophila aromatica
Common Plant Name:

Temperature Range: 72-80 F
PH Range:
Light: High
Growth: Fast
Overall: Moderately Easy
Country of Origin: Southeast Asia
Overall Height: 12 to 24 inches
Position in Aquascape: Rear

[turbosaurus]

Hi Fender, I think this is a wonderful idea so here is my .02

I've had great results with this plant in 82 degrees, so you can bump up the temp range, my ph is 6.2-6.4

Not as purple as that pic, but it does have nice lavendar/pink to the undersides of the leaves, with more green on the top, it definitely does better closer to the lights, so you should plan to let it grow tall.

[rrguymon]

I have this plant and it grows well. Not as purple as this picture either. My tank is 82 to 83 degrees so it does ok in warm water. I would not call the growth fast though. Mine grows 2 or 3 inches a week. I used this to replace some Hygro polysperma now that grew fast.

It grows lot of roots. I have been pulling up the plants when they reach the surface and cutting off the bottoms and replanting the tops. This seems to work ok. It does not branch well into hedge from me experience. But maybe I do not know how to do it with this plant.

My water is pretty hard 6 KH and GH base PH about 7.8. I do inject CO2 down to 6.4.

Rick

[Bert H]

I have it in 2 tanks at 2.2 and 2.5 wpg. Much greener, but reddens up near the top. Temp is 82-85; growth is moderate 1-2 inches/wk; kh 10; gh 13. Very few aerial roots, but planted stem is well rooted. Love the plant!

[medicineman]

I find the plant is difficult to grow beyond the limit of around 40cm tall. Growth is fast initially until it gets root and tall enough.

Top side is green with some tint of purple.

Underside is purple.

Lack of light will cause greening of leaves. Sufficient light will encourage colour development to yellowish, reddish or purplish top.

[ringram]

Mine grows much better the closer to the light source it gets, the one drawback to that is, by the time it gets there, the bottom parts of the plant are getting ratty, so I cut off and replant the tops. Its doing pretty well though and looks most like the ones in medicineman's 1st picture. My tank is set to approx 76 degrees.

[Noona]

I got his plant last week, the new leaves are turning green.So I guess i do not have enough lighting. Thanks you for the info.
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21gallons Jebo aquarium
2 flouressunt lights 2 x 30 watt

[fresh_lynny]

Not really the case. Limnophila tends to lose its deep reddish color when you dose Nitrates too much. By saying too much I mean normal EI type dosing will wash out the color. Low Nitrates make for deeper reds.

[Mangala]

Um, if I chop this plant in half and plant the top half, will the bottom half grow again like water wisteria does? Is this just a general trait of stem plants?

[Ibn]

Yes, it's a stem plant and you can top it off like any normal stem plant. Both halves will grow like any other stem plant; the bottom part will branch where you cut the top off from.

[Mangala]

Sweet! have I ever mentioned on here that I love stemplants? I keep thinking there's gonna be an exception to the stemplant rule of propogation... but not yet!

[LS6 Tommy]

I have a very similar plant that I thought was Eusterellis Stellata (sp?). It's not real red either, but I have had VERY high Nitrates lately. I've noticed that after I have backed off on my dosing (only dosing Flourish Excel) all of my red plants are looking better.

Tommy

[ringram]

Isn't low nitrates kind of a catch-22? You need to keep them low in order to bring out the reds in some plants, but some plants melt away if No3 gets too low. I've had this happen to elatine trianda more than once. It likes plenty of No3.

[Anthony]

...or ya go too low and bga creeps up ya

[wood]

I don't dose any KNO3. I dose plenty of KH2PO4 and lots of Iron in my 10 gallon.

My L aromatica: