[AquaHobbyist]

Hi everyone,

About a couple of months ago I bought some L. repens. Initially it was doing well, but then most died off. The few stalks left over I am trying to revive. It seems L. repens also have weak stems and roots as what I have left constantly ends up floating or the stems break off.

I've just added some Flourish root tabs this past weekend as I read they are heavy root feeders in the hopes that the plants will get better.

I have a low tech 20 gallon tall tank that I dose daily with Flourish Comprehensive, Flourish Excel and Iron. Twice weekly I dose with Nitrogen and Potassium. I use Coralife T5 Dual Lamp lighting with photoperiod of around 10-12 hours (probably a little too long?). Substrate is sand and gravel.

Is it normal for L. repens to usually die off before it adapts to new tank conditions? Seems like a difficult plant to keep alive. All the other plants in my tank are doing pretty well. Any advice on how to care for this plant is greatly appreciated!

 

[AWolf]

If I were to take a crack at this, I would say you are in need of CO2 because you are dosing daily ferts and have high light? Without CO2, I would cut the fertilizer and light to slow down things a bit to stay in the low tech realm. Hopefully others with more experience than I will chime in too.

 

[OVT]

Pictures and tank info?

 

[Watercrayfish]

I had the same problem initially. All the old stem melted and the new growth is thriving now.
As a note, there was a small two leaves tip which was floating now it has more than 5 leaves.. i haven't yet planted it to the substrate since it doesn't have much of stem.
My setup - CFL Bulb and dry ferts.

 

[AquaHobbyist]

Sorry for the late replies:
@AWolf - I does daily with Flourish Excel (CO2), but maybe I may need to increase the CO2 dosage? I've also started to consider getting a CO2 system instead of manual dosing.
@OVT - Sorry I don't have a picture at the moment. I have a low tech 20 gallon tall tank that I dose daily with Flourish Comprehensive, Flourish Excel and Iron. Twice weekly I dose with Nitrogen and Potassium (after speaking to a fellow aquarist, I may need to add more Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphate). I use Coralife T5 Dual Lamp lighting with photoperiod of around 10-12 hours (probably a little too long, reduced lighting period to about 8 hours to fight off some hair algae). Substrate is sand and gravel.

Some more information:
Plants: bacopas carolina, banana plant, several cryptocoryne lutea, anubias nana (which is growing quite well, sending out several leaves and shoots), wisteria, octopus plant, l. repens

Fish: 2 Glofish danios, 2 leopard danios, 2 zebra danios, 2 julii corys, 2 albino corys and 1 albino longfish pleco
@Watercrayfish - It's good to know that I'm not the only one having this problem. I took a closer look and I see some new shoots starting to emerge which I take as a good sign that perhaps it's starting to recover. Looks like it takes time for the plant to settle in.

Thank you all for your help!! :smile2:

 

[Willcooper]

This stuff has always grown like a weed for me. Too much light won't be the issue here for the l repens. For the hair algae, yes. I would recommend raising the light before messing with duration. Some will disagree but my experience with this plant and hair algae tells me to do so. How tall is the plant? Repens has a tendency to get ugly at the bottom when it gets tall. Take the tops of each stem that looks healthy and replant and discard the lower dying growth. Mine is under 60ish par now with no co2 (excell is not co2, it is a possible carbon source that is better as an algicide than a carbon source) and grows beautifully, albeit slower than when the tank was a high tech which was getting well over 100 par. The l repens I just put in the now low tech tank came from my emersed setup and are still transitioning quickly and without any real melting. Cut and plant and see how it goes from there. Leaving the dying growth will do nothing to help the situation but may contribute to even more hair algae. Pics?

 

[burr740]

I used to grow the crap out of it with med light and excel only. My guess is once you get a complete range of fertilizers going it will do fine.

 

[AquaHobbyist]

@Willcooper - I only have one stem left, and it is about 5.5" tall (it came off the stem of another plant). It appears to have a few leaves grown in; at the moment it's floating, but I do see some roots sprouting so I take it as a good sign and will plant it back into the substrate. You're right, the Flourish Excel is carbon and I don't have a CO2 setup. So far, aside from the L. repens, my plants have been doing well. I've been toying with the idea of a CO2 setup, but cost is a big factor.

Last week I reduced my photoperiod from 10-12 hours to 8 hours, and have seen some improvement in the hair algae situation. I will look into raising the light like you mentioned to prevent further growth of algae. I also do 40-50% water changes weekly.
@burr740 - After speaking with a fellow aquarist friend, I've started dosing macros (nitrogen and potassium) more regularly (every other day) as he said I wasn't providing enough macros for the plants. Hopefully once I get all the fertilizers going and find the right balance my plants will settle in.

Thanks everyone for your help!