BluewaterBoof
06-04-2015, 06:54 PM
I originally posted this in my journal earlier today but since realized I probably should have posted it here as this is a more relevant forum.
Ok, so I came into the whole planted tank thing as a complete ignoramus. There wasn't a huge learning curve as I am using plants that are good for beginners, but there were definitely things that I wasn't aware of the led to extra work/stress haha
The main issue I had was with the hygro willows. I had no idea that you're supposed to strip off the lower leaves from the stems before planting them. This led to a stressful battle against a large amount of droppings being scattered around the tank. It seemed like every evening I was having to reach in and remove the dropped leaves from around decorations and other plants. Of course, the dropped leaves were so delicate that half of them would just rip apart into smaller pieces when I tried wrangling them out, so it was a frustrating experience. Lesson learned haha I'm sure I'll continue to make mistakes along this journey, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this won't be one of them lol
Now that the plants have become stable and are showing slow yet constant growth, I can now stop freaking out about losing them and focus on maintaining them and keeping them healthy. My question now is how do I deal with this:
41292
I have two questions that pertain to the image above. There are several leaves on my hygros that have missing chunks. These are the older original leaves and are battle scars from the initial planting. Most of the missing portions are from the tips, but there are also several leaves that have similar spots missing from the middle. There doesn't seem to be any further rotting around these spots. Do I trim the leaves below the spots, remove the leaves entirely from the stem, or simply leave them be?
The second question I have is I noticed that some of the stems are starting to produce what looks like root systems coming out laterally from quite a height above the substrate. You can see these in the photo, as well. Am I supposed to cut the stems off at these points and replant them? Or can I leave them alone? I'd like to avoid any cuttings at this point as my main goal right now is to get the plants as high as possible so that the upper-dwelling fish have more cover up top. I don't know if the stems are putting out these as part of their natural growth, or if it means they aren't getting the proper nutrients from the substrate (I do have a couple of root tabs in the substrate, so I'm not sure if it is a lack of nutrients). If I need to cut an replant, I will, but wanted to check with you guys before I went and hacked away half of my growth.
Ok, so I came into the whole planted tank thing as a complete ignoramus. There wasn't a huge learning curve as I am using plants that are good for beginners, but there were definitely things that I wasn't aware of the led to extra work/stress haha
The main issue I had was with the hygro willows. I had no idea that you're supposed to strip off the lower leaves from the stems before planting them. This led to a stressful battle against a large amount of droppings being scattered around the tank. It seemed like every evening I was having to reach in and remove the dropped leaves from around decorations and other plants. Of course, the dropped leaves were so delicate that half of them would just rip apart into smaller pieces when I tried wrangling them out, so it was a frustrating experience. Lesson learned haha I'm sure I'll continue to make mistakes along this journey, but you can bet your bottom dollar that this won't be one of them lol
Now that the plants have become stable and are showing slow yet constant growth, I can now stop freaking out about losing them and focus on maintaining them and keeping them healthy. My question now is how do I deal with this:
41292
I have two questions that pertain to the image above. There are several leaves on my hygros that have missing chunks. These are the older original leaves and are battle scars from the initial planting. Most of the missing portions are from the tips, but there are also several leaves that have similar spots missing from the middle. There doesn't seem to be any further rotting around these spots. Do I trim the leaves below the spots, remove the leaves entirely from the stem, or simply leave them be?
The second question I have is I noticed that some of the stems are starting to produce what looks like root systems coming out laterally from quite a height above the substrate. You can see these in the photo, as well. Am I supposed to cut the stems off at these points and replant them? Or can I leave them alone? I'd like to avoid any cuttings at this point as my main goal right now is to get the plants as high as possible so that the upper-dwelling fish have more cover up top. I don't know if the stems are putting out these as part of their natural growth, or if it means they aren't getting the proper nutrients from the substrate (I do have a couple of root tabs in the substrate, so I'm not sure if it is a lack of nutrients). If I need to cut an replant, I will, but wanted to check with you guys before I went and hacked away half of my growth.