Marc's First! 55gal Journal! Updated 4/15/2006

[GraFFix]

I was just wondering when you do trim are you going to trim the tops and replant those or just cut it to the height you want and leave the stems planted?

Reason im asking is I have a bunch of this growing in my 10g tank now it is great. its growing like crazy and the red is very vibrant. im letting it overgrow getting ready for my 20g upgrade in a week or so and it is now growing along the top and getting bushier by the day. So when im ready i will trim the tops and replant that into the new tank but. I was wondering after the plants take off and i have to trim again will i have to cut the tops and replant those everytime i have to trim?
This is also going to be one of the main background plants in the aquascape i have in mind so im just trying to figure out what im going to be in store for.

BTW i love the way the tank looks..hopefully mine will take off as well as yours has.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by GraFFix

I was just wondering when you do trim are you going to trim the tops and replant those or just cut it to the height you want and leave the stems planted?

Reason im asking is I have a bunch of this growing in my 10g tank now it is great. its growing like crazy and the red is very vibrant. im letting it overgrow getting ready for my 20g upgrade in a week or so and it is now growing along the top and getting bushier by the day. So when im ready i will trim the tops and replant that into the new tank but. I was wondering after the plants take off and i have to trim again will i have to cut the tops and replant those everytime i have to trim?
This is also going to be one of the main background plants in the aquascape i have in mind so im just trying to figure out what im going to be in store for.

BTW i love the way the tank looks..hopefully mine will take off as well as yours has.

Thank you for the compliment.

Your question is sort of the problem I will be facing. Right now I don’t now replant the tops- reason being, I don’t have any room for them.
The problem I think I’m going to be facing soon is that, since I plant them so bunched up together, I'm loosing a lot of lower leaves. Soon all the growth will be on top and half the lower stem will be naked. If I plan to keep the tank looking the way it does, I may have to pull all the plants out, cut the lower half off and replant the tops. I guess its sort of a never ending cycle if I wish to keep this look.

My suggestion to you is- if you have room to replant the tops- go for it! Make sure they get plenty of light, and this will help them really grow.

I was wondering after the plants take off and I have to trim again will I have to cut the tops and replant those every time I have to trim?

When the plants take off in your new tank, I suggest trimming them down as low as possible to your liking. Because if you only trim for example 1inch of the top, what’s going to happen is new growth will start from where you cut the stem. So when its time to trim again, you will end up cutting off all that new growth and could stunt the plant. If you look at the latest picture I posted, all the new growth starts from about half the tank.

I hope that sort of made sense- BTW your 10G looks wonderful!~ I really like the red fine leaved plant on the left- what is it?

[motard]

your tank looks cool. i like the middle plant. i have some of that in my tank. my friend gace me a clipping. its mad fresh son.


the aquascaping now looks cool, not such a red plant farm.

[Marc]

Originally Posted by motard

your tank looks cool. i like the middle plant. i have some of that in my tank. my friend gace me a clipping. its mad fresh son.


the aquascaping now looks cool, not such a red plant farm.

Is it growing?

[GraFFix]

Originally Posted by Marc

BTW your 10G looks wonderful!~ I really like the red fine leaved plant on the left- what is it?

Thank you for the compliments! Its been a struggle, especially with the UGF on the tank and normal gravel. This is the reason for the upgrade. More water volume, eco complete, better lighting and hopefully a pressurized system very soon.

But about the plant. I still dont know what plant that is. I cant find it in any of my books and havent seen it again. I got it from my LFS and was standing there as he was unpacking his plant shipment. The minute i saw it i was like wth is that...out of water it looks terrible, kind of like a wet cat lol. but once he put it in the tank at the store and saw how it looked i instantly told him to take out 2 bunches and set them aside. then when i got home i was adding the plants i just bought to my log and realized i never asked what it was. I went back a few days later and it was all gone so i couldnt get the name of it. it was really red when i first got it but it has since lost a little of the color. but it is sending out new shoots and those are vibrant red so hopefully its going to be taking off soon.
All the fish love it the amanos are always hanging around it as well as the otos.

Here is a closeup pic of it...maybe someone could ID it. (and yes that is an amano on it)

Joe

[Darla]

^Looks like Rotala wallichii. It's a very pretty plant (IMO).

[Marc]

Its IS a very pretty plant! I might have to try some of that...

[motard]

Originally Posted by Marc

Is it growing?

yes it is growing much better in my tank than the tank it came from. i think it is because of my superior plant skills.

[PJAN]

Amaaaazing growth

Makes me jalous, Marc.
You can start your own shop with this kind of plantgrowth.

O, ever tried running the UV 4 hours during the night?

Gr. PJAN

[Marc]

Originally Posted by PJAN

Amaaaazing growth

Makes me jalous, Marc.
You can start your own shop with this kind of plantgrowth.

O, ever tried running the UV 4 hours during the night?

Gr. PJAN

THANK YOU!

My friend calls me a "redplant farmer" because my tank is full of red L. Repens.

Never thought about running the UV at night. I could put it on a timmer.
Is that how you are running yours?

[PJAN]

Yes, I normally run it for a few hours. Only with greenwater problems it is turned on 24h.
Get the mail btw?

Gr. PJAN

[Marc]

AHH yes I got a chance to look at the pictures really carefully last night. I'll send you a PM.

[jeff63851]

Yep...I like how the plant looks. How does it look with the rest of the plant? I think I might also want to try that plant...

[Nolan W.]

I just noticed that your tank isn't TRUVU!

As Buck said, looks great, even though the main plant is a red plant. This is the first time I've seen somebody use so much red. Hey, I have Hygrophila polysperma that's growing like mad, and I have to get rid of some. It's illegal to sell now because it grows so fast, it can invade local waters. Send me a PM if you're interested. No, it's not the red kind! I also have a lot of Hygro difformis (wisteria).

Joe, that's some Rotala wallichii you have there. Looks great!

[Marc]

Nolan- yep its a S&S aquarium. Ive had the tank for a long time now, but just set up as a planted the last 4 or 5 months.
You got PM.