Transition period for UG

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

I got some UG this week, and so far it's not doing that hot. It's melting a little and growing quite slow. Now I should mention that it was stuck in shipping for 5 days because of the snow storm, so they probably stressed it out a bit. Do you find that a plant like this takes time to establish in a tank before really spreading? If so, how long was that for you?

[greenman857]

Was this submerge UG you bought? I've had a really hard time getting it to recover and in fact no success. The only UG I've had luck was emersed that I adapted to submersed.
I've read that UG takes a long time to recover from transplanting/shipping too.
Mine melted with 3 days to mush and I tried 3 or 4 different approaches from the same purchase.
Keep us posted as I personally would like to know what's the best way to grow this stuff!

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

Hm, that's interesting. Did you find that once it starting melting, it spread to everything, like HC can do? That's what I'm worried about.

[somewhatshocked]

During a transition, you need really solid lighting and tons of CO2 of the pressurized variety.

Do you have those things in check - along with really good flow and lots of ferts?

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

Yes, I have all of those. The lighting might be able to have more, but it's good enough for most everything.

[somewhatshocked]

What kind of lighting is it? How far from the substrate?

When I say flow... UG really loves flow. As soon as it's rooted, I crank the flow up so high it's tough for something like shrimp to do anything but hang on. That's when my UG thrives.

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

It just keeps melting. Can't be CO2, because that's >30 ppm for 8-10 hours a day.

[HD Blazingwolf]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyWithTheFish

It just keeps melting. Can't be CO2, because that's >30 ppm for 8-10 hours a day.

Curious question. How do you knw its over 30 ppm?

Thats besides the point though, the correct question should be how do you know co2 is sufficient? Plants can grow fairly healthy even if its closd to enough

Ug will come back if the conditions are right. It will not if they are not. The rate of return is highly dependent on such
Try putting it directly in the flow of co2 enriched water, this will likely help it become established at which point u can move it and see if it does as well

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

Curious question. How do you knw its over 30 ppm?

Thats besides the point though, the correct question should be how do you know co2 is sufficient? Plants can grow fairly healthy even if its closd to enough

Ug will come back if the conditions are right. It will not if they are not. The rate of return is highly dependent on such
Try putting it directly in the flow of co2 enriched water, this will likely help it become established at which point u can move it and see if it does as well

Drop checker is very light green, about pH 6.5 after 1-2 hours.

[plantbrain]

Originally Posted by somewhatshocked

What kind of lighting is it? How far from the substrate?

When I say flow... UG really loves flow. As soon as it's rooted, I crank the flow up so high it's tough for something like shrimp to do anything but hang on. That's when my UG thrives.

That's also where mine does the best, it can grow in less flow, but takes longer and is a bit more trouble, it can be done certainly, but good flow= happy plant.

[plantbrain]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyWithTheFish

Drop checker is very light green, about pH 6.5 after 1-2 hours.

I would not trust that method.

I'd say pH and KH is a better method and tweak from there based on a relative pH adjustment.

[ThatGuyWithTheFish]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

I would not trust that method.

I'd say pH and KH is a better method and tweak from there based on a relative pH adjustment.

How do I do that? It gets to the point where the fish start breathing heavily by the end of the day, so it should be enough.

There is also the possibility that my light isn't too strong; I'm not getting much color out of some plants.

[HD Blazingwolf]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyWithTheFish

How do I do that? It gets to the point where the fish start breathing heavily by the end of the day, so it should be enough.

There is also the possibility that my light isn't too strong; I'm not getting much color out of some plants.

generally that has to do with BOD
biological oxygen demand.. everything requires oxidation in the tank. plants use it at night, and the hundreds of species of bacteria in your tank use to to break down decaing matter to its basic forms.
the cleaner your tank, the less oxygen it needs to be sustained in general. this is one of the reasons soo many people with high growth rates reccommend large water changes weekly. i myself perform 80% weekly. my drop checker is yellow daily, and if i put a new fish in, i promise it will die, but over time all my fish have adjusted and are spawning healthily. so there is an adjustment phase but it only takes a few days for a new fish, but i digress

the more oxygen they have the less stressful co2 is. its the reason i switched to a wet/dry filter
good surface agitation and husbandry of the tank will promote good oxygen levels and allow you to increase co2 to adequate levels. your likely not far away from where you need to be, getting it right however is the hardest part and where most hobbyists, INCLUDING myself have made countless mistakes.

color on plants is usually a stress response to more light than it can handle, or enough light that it could damage plant tissue. so more light generally brings out more color. they can't produce the stress response if they already aren't growing well enogh. I.E. enough co2?