[IANNOZZI]

Recently purchased some red cam;

tank is 29 gallons, treated with two canister filters one HOB, one Rena--all mech/biological filtration--with very little surface agitation, even though I do not beleive excell gasses off

fertilize with seachem excell and flourish; have a uv;

light is via pc 195W and is 6.5watts a gallon

substrate is approx. 2 inches or so of eco-complete

I situated the cam behind the rock formation in the tank, it looks like it is really reacted to the light (in a good way), aside from some minor color loss on the lower extremities-- however the cam stems are no in the substrate; questions:


1) as a a stem plant that seeming is getting all its fert from the suppliments is placement in the substrate required

2) is excell a tolerable alternative to a CO2 system

3) will use of excell be compromised by uv (turbo twister)

4) thought on eco-complete substrate--should more be added, should another product me mixed in?

 

[IANNOZZI]

Guys--could Really Use Your Help On This

BUMP--even if you just answer the first question--should the cam be put in the substrate is it ok it is is not

 

[hooha]

I'm not sure what Red Cam is...

Cabomba?

If it's not in the substrate, how is it not floating? Plant weights?

but to answer your first question - it's not absolutely necessary to plant stems in the substrate, but that increases it's chance of staying where you want them. If you're using plant weights the stems will typically send runners down into the substrate over time.

excel can be used instead of CO2 in some situations - but with over 6wpg I suspect without good CO2 injection you're going to run into alot of algae problems.

2 inches of eco should be okay, esp. if you're not planting directly into it.