Downoi got me down

Hi CryptKeeper54,

Tell me a little about your lighting and water parameters, specifically hardness.

Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi CryptKeeper54,

Tell me a little about your lighting and water parameters, specifically hardness.

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Lighting: this is the eheim aquastyle 6 gal with 7 watt LED light X 2.

Haven't tested any parameters. I've been lazy when it comes to that aspect of this hobby. I will start sometime but don't have the motivation yet. Go figure. I'm being dumb. I figured I go on looks of the plants and adjust accordingly. I live in Hawaii and just assume my tap water is good. I thought since my other plants were doing well, it must be something else.

Hi CryptKeeper54,

The reason I asked is I have really soft water here in Seattle and had do well with most species as well but always had problems with P. helferi. Six months ago I started adding a little Seachem Equilibrium to increase my dGH and dKH and saw substantial improvement in growth and health for this species.

Seattle_Aquarist said:

Hi CryptKeeper54,

The reason I asked is I have really soft water here in Seattle and had do well with most species as well but always had problems with P. helferi. Six months ago I started adding a little Seachem Equilibrium to increase my dGH and dKH and saw substantial improvement in growth and health for this species.

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Thanks. Very useful info. Just exactly what is your dGH and dKH numbers?

I find downoi hard to grow in the substrate but I can grow it attached to driftwood.

grows like mad here, have to mow it down

gh 4 kh 4 degrees

Crispino Ramos said:

I find downoi hard to grow in the substrate but I can grow it attached to driftwood.

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Really? Interesting. Got pics? I thought all the nice downoi I have seen grow in aqua soil. I'm currently using eco complete, EI dosing and CO2. Maybe my parameters are good for all my plants except downoi for some reason.

Hi CryptKeeper54,

My water parameters from the tap are:
PH = 7.0
dKH < 1.0
dGH = 6.0 or less

CryptKeeper54 said:

Really? Interesting. Got pics? I thought all the nice downoi I have seen grow in aqua soil. I'm currently using eco complete, EI dosing and CO2. Maybe my parameters are good for all my plants except downoi for some reason.

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Here are three pictures of the same plant (Downoi or Pogostemon helferi) growing/attached to a Manzanita driftwood.

Crispino Ramos said:

Here are three pictures of the same plant (Downoi or Pogostemon helferi) growing/attached to a Manzanita driftwood.

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Here are two pictures of the Downoi (Pogostemon helferi) taken last May 26, 2012.

Cool.... I always thought it needed a good substrate. My downoi grows but doesn't retain its leaves