Elodea Densa

[dayzofspeed]

i have just been reading up on elodea densa just to find out a bit more about this plant as i am searching for easy plants for a low light set up and i just found out that if grown in soft water it will grow thinner and paler this is exactly what happens in my tank, i have very soft water, i recently planted some of this plant in my tank and it did grow quickly even tho the new growth was thin, grew so quick that i have actually trimmed it back to about 4 inches, do you think its now going to struggle in my tank to re establish itself, also any reccommendations for another fast growing background plant i could replace it with that is more suitable for soft water and low lighting, if i were to leave the elodea in the tank and it reaches the surface again would it be ok if i didnt trim it so that it acts like a kind of floating plant..... many thanks Kevin

 

[AstonN24vantage]

i think that you could even trim the elodea and plant the part that was trimmed off and it will grow roots from what ive heard, but not sure if its true.

 

[GrayScale]

Vallisneria may work for you.

 

[dayzofspeed]

is vallis a softwater plant or will i have the same problems as with elodea

 

[fluttermoth]

Vallis grows very well in my soft water; I don't think it's fussy!

Oh, and Elodea is fine left to sprawl across the surface.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Elodea Densa is a floating plant that we fish keepers tend to plant. I've heard the colour spectrum of light effects it's growing style. i.e. blue end spectrum long and thin, red end, short and fat. Don't know how much of a myth this is though...

 

[mark4785]

Bacopa monnieri is a tall background plant similar to elodea. It is said to grow slow but I'd have to disagree with that statement; my bacopa seem to be growing by about 2-3cm per day. They supposedly grow best in 7+ dh GH water.

 

[waterdrop]

Where did you find the Bacopa GH preference info mark? (just curious for good sources for species preferences)

I planted a couple of Tiger Vallisneria a while back because they had nice long (20"?) but thin leaves making a nice background plant. Since then these valls seem to be healthy enough to be producing runners and babies and young green shoots but everything new seems short and the nice long original leaves are one by one dying and needing to be trimmed out.

My water is really soft and lacking in KH/GH, probably like dayzofspeed and I find myself wondering what parameters those valls would really pay attention to. ??

WD

 

[mark4785]

Where did you find the Bacopa GH preference info mark? (just curious for good sources for species preferences)

I planted a couple of Tiger Vallisneria a while back because they had nice long (20"?) but thin leaves making a nice background plant. Since then these valls seem to be healthy enough to be producing runners and babies and young green shoots but everything new seems short and the nice long original leaves are one by one dying and needing to be trimmed out.

My water is really soft and lacking in KH/GH, probably like dayzofspeed and I find myself wondering what parameters those valls would really pay attention to. ??

WD

I found it on the back of Tropica plant plastic label that they stick in all of their pots. I don't know anything about water parameters Vallis best grow in. Obviously if thats the only plant struggling in your aquarium it might be that the soft water is the problem rather than what level of nutrients you dose, lighting etc.

 

[waterdrop]

Interesting, I think my GH is only about 4dh and it's not that the valls don't look healthy, it's just that the new growth is small and staying low. I also have to be patient with this tank as it's only 1.07w/g and the pace is glacially slow (at least there's no work trimming!)

~~waterdrop~~