Hi Tim,
It is natural for Rotala to grow like that. Upping the nutrients a bit can help but it is not an end all to that problem. It is a high maintenance plant requiring frequent trimmings. Cut all the stems leaving a 2" stem and take all the healthy tops and band them together in 3-5 stem bundles and just replant them. The 2" stems (if healthy not rotted) will come back with 2-3 stems from each at the cut off point.
To get a bushy looking stand of rotala you need to prune them back regularly or they become spindly and the bottoms fail. Like I just told someone yesterday... a lot of aquascape pictures that you see are only stem tops "placed" in a pleasing manner for easy removal and trimming and not really planted in the substrate at all. They do not need the roots in the substrate to grow and can get all their nutrients from the water column. Some of the most beautiful Rotala I ever grew was just floating around the top of the tank in bundles in a "spare plants tank"... :icon_conf
It is natural for Rotala to grow like that. Upping the nutrients a bit can help but it is not an end all to that problem. It is a high maintenance plant requiring frequent trimmings. Cut all the stems leaving a 2" stem and take all the healthy tops and band them together in 3-5 stem bundles and just replant them. The 2" stems (if healthy not rotted) will come back with 2-3 stems from each at the cut off point.
To get a bushy looking stand of rotala you need to prune them back regularly or they become spindly and the bottoms fail. Like I just told someone yesterday... a lot of aquascape pictures that you see are only stem tops "placed" in a pleasing manner for easy removal and trimming and not really planted in the substrate at all. They do not need the roots in the substrate to grow and can get all their nutrients from the water column. Some of the most beautiful Rotala I ever grew was just floating around the top of the tank in bundles in a "spare plants tank"... :icon_conf
