Planting Elodea Densa

[paulkat]

Hi all,

Have just purchased a couple of bunches of Elodea Densa from online and they arrived with the base of the bunch wrapped in a small amount of sponge with a metal clip wrapped around the sponge.

I have read that this is a weight and can be placed straight into the tank to help anchor the plant, but I wanted to double check before placing metal in the tank, as I am concerned about rust etc.

Many thanks.

Paul.

 

[Themuleous]

You can but the plants prefer it if you remove the weight and sponge, as they'll restrict root growth if you leave they on. Getting stems to stay put is fairly easy in both sand and gravel.

Sam

 

[paulkat]

You can but the plants prefer it if you remove the weight and sponge, as they'll restrict root growth if you leave they on. Getting stems to stay put is fairly easy in both sand and gravel.

Sam

thanks sam, are the roots important on a densa as I read that they don't actually do anything, all of the goodness is absorbed through the leaves and the roots are just for anchoring the plant?

 

[Karl1987]

Egeria densa dosent root under the gravel it eventually rots and you have to pull it up and replant every couple of weeks, so its dosent really matter if you keep the wight on or not.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Egeria densa dosent root under the gravel it eventually rots and you have to pull it up and replant every couple of weeks, so its dosent really matter if you keep the wight on or not.

Really?

Mine rooted without rotting. How do they survive in their narural habitat if they keep rotting?

Dave.