Anacharis

[IovaykInD]

I bought some anacharis today, and I planted it inside a 3 gallon tank to let it grow out before I put it into my main tank. The 3 gallon tank doesn't have any lighting on it, so I put the tank next to the window, where it gets direct sunlight from 2-9pm. A couple of questions though:

1) Do I need to add a co2 system to the 3 gallon? There are approxiamately 15 stems, so I don't know if there will be enough co2 in the tank to support all of them.

2) Some of the anacharis is already sticking up out of the water, because it is too long. Should I cut it off and anchor it into the gravel to let it grow?

3) How much should I prune it, once a week, once a month, etc?

Thanks in advance,
Isaac

 

[rdd1952]

I bought some anacharis today, and I planted it inside a 3 gallon tank to let it grow out before I put it into my main tank. The 3 gallon tank doesn't have any lighting on it, so I put the tank next to the window, where it gets direct sunlight from 2-9pm. A couple of questions though:

1) Do I need to add a co2 system to the 3 gallon? There are approxiamately 15 stems, so I don't know if there will be enough co2 in the tank to support all of them.

2) Some of the anacharis is already sticking up out of the water, because it is too long. Should I cut it off and anchor it into the gravel to let it grow?

3) How much should I prune it, once a week, once a month, etc?

Thanks in advance,
Isaac

A couple of questions back:

What type of substrate do you have?
What type lighting (watts per gallon) do you have in the main tank?

I would go ahead and put it in your main tank. Pulling it up after it has rooted will do it more harm than good. Believe me it will grow without any problem. Anacharis is a very fast growing plant. You really don't need CO2 for it to grow. Your fish will produce enough waste to create the nutrients and CO2 that it needs. I would also be very careful about putting any tank in direct sunlight or you will be over run with algae. And algae is all but impossible to get off the leaves/stems of anacharis. Direct sunlight is one of the top causes of algae. It doesn't require a huge amount of light so it will grow fine just with the lighting from your hood (if you have one). Once it reaches the top, it is time to prune it. You will probably see roots starting to shoot off the main stem. Cut it about an inch or so below those roots and stick them in the substrate and you have another plant. If you see several sets of roots, you can lay it flat on the bottom and it will start to grow from each of those places.

 

[IovaykInD]

The problem is that I don't have enough lighting in my main tank. I have a 17 watt light bulb on a 29 gallon tank. It came with the tank, that I got for free, along with a power filter, a heater, UGF and 2 powerheads. I wanted to grow out the anacharis first in case there wasn't enough light for it to survive, so I put all the plants in a 20 gallon long tank, and put it outside to grow. I also left 3 stems into the main tank to see if it would actually grow without lighting, but just regular day lighting from the house. I want to get a steady quantity of anacharis before I put it into the main tank, just in case the main tank's light can't sustain it.

Isaac

 

[rdd1952]

The 17w is standard for a 29 gallon (30") hood. There isn't much you can do to get more wattage without going to a double strip or power compacs (best option). Even the double strip won't get you but a little over a watt per gallon. The problem you may run into with the tank in sunlight is that you could start to see algae develop pretty quickly and then you would be introducing that into your main tank. And if you don't hae enough lighting to grow the plants in the 29 gallon, you won't have enough to sustain them either.

 

[IovaykInD]

Hmm...that stinks
I want to grow plants in it, but I will see how it does in the tank and decide later. I also have this algae destroying thingy, that I got with the free tank. Are they any good, and would they kill my plants?

Isaac

 

[rdd1952]

It depemds on what it is. Most chemicals that kill algae can't be used in planted tanks as they also kill your plants. Is what you have a piece of equipment? Maybe a UV sterilizer? If so, those only work on things like green water (free floating algae). But they are quite handy if you do have a green water problem and pretty expensive so you could probably sell it if you didn't want it.

 

[IovaykInD]

It is the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Algae Destroyer. Anyone ever use it, or have any experience with it?

http/209.15.53.70/popup.asp?product_id=27

 

[rdd1952]

I have not tried it as I try to avoid using any chemicals other than fertilizers. It does say here that is isn't for use in tanks with live plants. That is generally the problem with all algae killing products.