How To Plant Stemmed Plants From Rock Wool

[cybergibbons]

Good morning all,

We got three plants for our tank that on the whole probably aren't very suitable - it was on a whim and the shop didn't have any further information. I think our water is too hard, our pH too high, and the light not strong enough.

Our water pH is 8.0-8.2 and hardness is high (not got a test kit, but have tested water in London before).

The tank is an Arcadia Arc 35l with an 11W Arc Pod, distance from light to substrate is 30cm. I'm looking to either get another 11W Arc Pod or one of the 3 x 8W Boyu lights in the near future.

The substrate is black moon sand, and I'm currently not using any CO2 or ferts. I'm planning on using Easy Carbo and TPN+ (when it arrives). The tank is cycling right now with 5ppm+ of nitrites and 50ppm+ of nitrates.

The plants are:
Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius - this seems to be doing quite well even though it is reaching the top of the tank. It naturally split into 2 stems when removed from the rockwool. A new shoot has formed off one of these.
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata ''Cuba'' - this seems to be mainly dying - a lot of the lower leaves have died and come off. The upper ones seem healthy and still growing.
Alternanthera reineckii 'Pink' (roseafolia) - this seems to be doing OK as well, though the lower leaves are dying off.

My question is, with the Ludwigia and Alternanthera, they came densely packed into the small piece of rockwool. I did my best to remove as much as possible, but left the stems clumped together. As far as I can tell, they are distinct plants, but the roots are very intertwined.

Should I separate these out into smaller groups? Light would reach the lower parts much better like this, and possibly give them a better chance?

How much of the root can be removed/damaged before the plant will die? I see that some plants can be propagated just by taking the tip of a stem.

Thanks for your help - apologies for having to seek help after doing something on a whim - I've spent a while working out a plan and will have some more questions later!

Thanks,

Andrew

 

[cybergibbons]

No one got any advice about splitting the plants or leaving them as a clump?

 

[three-fingers]

In brand new clean sand, with no ferts, the plants don't have much to feed on, though nitrogen is evidently plentiful (nitrite and nitrate), do you have an ammonia reading in there too? If so, that could harm the plants if it's high enough.

Also bear in mind that a lot of these plants are often grown emergent so you may see some leaves dying as they adapt to being underwater.

From experience with ArcPods on various small setups, I don't think your going to have enough light to grow the A.reineckii or L.inclinata very well...ArcPods are very compact, the light goes mainly directly under the lamp and doesn't spread out very well over the slightly wider Arcadia 35 litre tanks.

I would add another light, spread out evenly side by side. Another Arcpod would look best, but any other brand of aquarium light or even florescent desk lamp would do.

That would give you a lot of light, but the Easycarbo should be able to cope with the carbon demand at that light level easy enough

Since you mentioned the tank was cycling, I'll point you here: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/299827-why-we-should-not-fishless-cycle-planted-tanks/

If I were you, I'd stop adding ammonia, spread out the plants you've got and buy one more fast growing easy variety (like a Hygrophila sp., or hornwort) and add more light.

IME a DIY or small fermentation/pressurised CO2 kit would be a better investment than easy carbo though, and would also lower your pH a bit, something to think about when you finish the bottle . Not that you should worry about the hardness/pH, most plants can easily adapt given that the other conditions are good .

Oh, and yes, you should always separate and spread out the stems/plants. A lot of roots will be broken, but don't worry about it at all, they grow back fast .

 

[cybergibbons]

Thanks - that's really helpful.

I've got another 11W ArcPod light on order now - should arrive early next week.

Ammonia is processing from 5ppm down to 0ppm in about 14 hours at the moment. I can certainly lower that to 3ppm.

I've spent a good few hours reading up on plants and conditions and have come up with a selection of plants I think will work better in the tank. I'll reply with the plans later on.