staurogyne repens + dirt

Bananableps said:

Anyone have any experience growing staurogyne repens in a moderately lit tank with dirt?

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i had S. repens in my low light dirted tank last year. Initially it was a low light, then I modified it to a low-med light with some extra LEDs. They didn't die under the low light... but I would say they survived more than thrived. They only did marginally better under the low-med light. Once I replaced the light for med-high they did better, but each lighting upgrade didn't help all that much either. It wasn't until I started adding CO2 gas instead of excel that they did well in the dirted tank. They might have done better from the start if I had been using CO2 gas instead of Excel.

Someone else out there might be able to say with certainty if S. repens is known to have poor absorption with excel.

Mine had a slow start and after about 3-4 months it took off. Then the dirt lost its punch after a year and they got tall and lost alot of leaves. I trimmed and replanted and started dosing some ferts now it is growing back in slowly. Was a nice tight carpet i had and only trimmed
It once a month or so.


This is a finnex stingray over a 20l.

I wouldn't think that S. repens would benefit from the dirt as much due to it being a stem plant and obtaining nutrients from the water column...

I honestly think it was getting a bunch from the soil. Once the soil started to get depleted it started to reach by lengthening itself to pull more from the water table.

I dont think a plant cares where it gets it nutrients. But it would adapt to get it from wherever possibly.

S. Repens benefits from a nutrient rich substrate but isn't strictly a root feeder. Yes it's a stem plant but it does put down extensive roots and a good substrate is recommended for the plant on multiple suppliers' sites. I have always placed Osmocote DIY tabs around my S Repens patch (growing in soil) and it seemed to benefit from it IME

WGR said:

Mine is thriving with ADA aquasoil and flourish excel alone. 13 watts of fluorescent lighting.

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Looks great! How fast is it growing? Mine looks good but it's a very slow grower in my tank. I don't mind because I don't have much room for it anywhere else. I think it's getting too much shade from overgrown flora

I started with 8 plants 7 weeks ago.

WGR said:

Mine is thriving with ADA aquasoil and flourish excel alone. 13 watts of fluorescent lighting.

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What depth is your tank? I've been trying to find a possible option for foreground in a low tech tank I'm going to start.

WGR said:

Mine is thriving with ADA aquasoil and flourish excel alone. 13 watts of fluorescent lighting.

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Huh, that's honestly kind of shocking. Nice job! Did you add it to an established tank with mulm, or did you just start fresh?

I also have it in a 20 long with a finnex stingray. No dirt just black gravel.

Sorry for the late response. Yes it was a new setup at the time.