I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword and some
giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk plants in the back
corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon) but it was looking really
shabby, the plants didn't look too good, I was adding liquid fertiliser once
a week and tablets every two weeks. then I started to get an increase in
algae. I got really fed up with the tank and have completely redesigned it
(it took me about three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda, the
borneo swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few vallis strands
.. I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe is hornwort,
some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not difformis) and some more
bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but only about two leaves). since
buying that lot I have lost a load of the hygro and added a load back and
bought some cabomba. The hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it only
to find it had come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating. I
have also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants but
I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank, and my algae
problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of plant. this
is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking too good,
I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top, either throwing
the base away or leaving it floating. If the base is fine or I can't get to
uproot it with out disturbing the rest I cut the top away then either
replant or if less than about two inches I leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami tank, as I've
not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is snip a few inches off the
top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the leaf but
now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing the pruning
the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be trimmed from
the top or does it not take too kindly to this and should be uprooted.
Hornwort, again is this just like a typical stem plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have a bit of
algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed soon, how do I do
this? I have read that if it reaches the top of the water it will shed it's
leaves, and flower, while this would be good to see, it's taken me so long
to grow it I'm afraid of it losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu

Rule One of Pruning: If it looks good when you're done, you did it the
right way. That said, a couple of notes, in no particular order...

The hornwort is not really a stem plant and should not be planted. It's
leaves can adapt to anchor but, more often, will simply rot. It's a
floating plant, although some people find creative things to do with it (I
once tried to weave it into a mesh onion bag and stretch it out as a
background - boy, did THAT look stupid).

The hygro -corymbosa? - should be easy enough to prune. I've found that
mine doesn't really branch at all until it's been pruned. It grows so fast
in my tank that I have to lop off and replant the top every month or two.

That's pretty much the same technique for all your stem plants. Prune back
the tips until they start looking ratty, then dig out the roots, plant the
tips, and start over again.

As far as the swords, you can remove outer leaves that are starting to look
shabby by cutting as close to the base as possible. If the sword's starting
to get too big and is crowding out the other plants, you can remove as many
of the outer leaves as necessary to tame it. If you need to, you can trim
all but an inch or two of the roots off and replant it - the plant will keep
it's leaves but will not produce any new ones while it's regrowing it's
roots.

1.5 wpg isn't much light for some of those plants but, if the tank looks
good, hey, who am I to complain. You probably want to limit fertilizing to
the absolute bare minimum your plants can use at that light level, though,
or you'll always have a battle with algae.

kush

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword and
some
giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk plants in the back
corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon) but it was looking really
shabby, the plants didn't look too good, I was adding liquid fertiliser
once
a week and tablets every two weeks. then I started to get an increase in
algae. I got really fed up with the tank and have completely redesigned it
(it took me about three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda,
the
borneo swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few vallis
strands
. I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe is hornwort,
some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not difformis) and some more
bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but only about two leaves). since
buying that lot I have lost a load of the hygro and added a load back and
bought some cabomba. The hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it
only
to find it had come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating.
I
have also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants
but
I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank, and my
algae
problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of plant. this
is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking too
good,
I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top, either throwing
the base away or leaving it floating. If the base is fine or I can't get
to
uproot it with out disturbing the rest I cut the top away then either
replant or if less than about two inches I leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami tank, as
I've
not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is snip a few inches off
the
top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the leaf but
now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing the
pruning
the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be trimmed
from
the top or does it not take too kindly to this and should be uprooted.
Hornwort, again is this just like a typical stem plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have a bit
of
algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed soon, how do I
do
this? I have read that if it reaches the top of the water it will shed
it's
leaves, and flower, while this would be good to see, it's taken me so long
to grow it I'm afraid of it losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu

Thanks kush, good advise as always.

I have cut back with the fertiliser, but may need to cut back some more.
It's difficult to get more light in my tank. The tank is 30" long but it's
18" high. I can't fit a 30" tube in so I have to use 24" tubes which are
only 18W but then I need to find room for the strater units. I have a 24"
and an 18" in there, giving 33W of light. they are on for about 12/13hrs a
day, with my present setup I could only get 36W in there. I jhave room in my
hood for one more tube, if I get inventive, but then I need space at the
back for another strater unit!?! guess I need a new hood!

I think its hornwort - it kind of has the same leaves as eloda but they are
much smaller (finer) and it is a lot more yellow than eloda. I have a bunch
anchored down with a weight, when they die I will either replace or get
something else, I'm currently experimenting with cabomba, but have a feeling
it might be too delicate!

I'll give hte corymbosa a go at pruning, it's just that it sems to grow
quite slowly and at the minute it looks really beautiful, there are smaller
shoots coming off the bottom which I am very suprised about.

And I think I need a new plant to replace hte bacopa as this new stuff isn't
doing so well. it always seem sto lose its leaves, as if hte fish are taking
them off. whats penny wort like? it has round leaves, but would it look
alright in hte front corner of a tank or does it get too bushy? (Hygrophilia
would be an example of too bushy for the front corner of my tank)

Thanks again

Stu
While sitting at a computer kush wrote:
Rule One of Pruning: If it looks good when you're done, you did it
the right way. That said, a couple of notes, in no particular
order...

The hornwort is not really a stem plant and should not be planted.
It's leaves can adapt to anchor but, more often, will simply rot.
It's a floating plant, although some people find creative things to
do with it (I once tried to weave it into a mesh onion bag and
stretch it out as a background - boy, did THAT look stupid).

The hygro -corymbosa? - should be easy enough to prune. I've found
that mine doesn't really branch at all until it's been pruned. It
grows so fast in my tank that I have to lop off and replant the top
every month or two.

That's pretty much the same technique for all your stem plants.
Prune back the tips until they start looking ratty, then dig out the
roots, plant the tips, and start over again.

As far as the swords, you can remove outer leaves that are starting
to look shabby by cutting as close to the base as possible. If the
sword's starting to get too big and is crowding out the other plants,
you can remove as many of the outer leaves as necessary to tame it.
If you need to, you can trim all but an inch or two of the roots off
and replant it - the plant will keep it's leaves but will not produce
any new ones while it's regrowing it's roots.

1.5 wpg isn't much light for some of those plants but, if the tank
looks good, hey, who am I to complain. You probably want to limit
fertilizing to the absolute bare minimum your plants can use at that
light level, though, or you'll always have a battle with algae.

kush

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword
and some giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk
plants in the back corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon)
but it was looking really shabby, the plants didn't look too good, I
was adding liquid fertiliser once a week and tablets every two
weeks. then I started to get an increase in algae. I got really fed
up with the tank and have completely redesigned it (it took me about
three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda, the borneo
swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few vallis
strands . I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe
is hornwort, some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not
difformis) and some more bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but
only about two leaves). since buying that lot I have lost a load of
the hygro and added a load back and bought some cabomba. The
hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it only to find it had
come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating. I have
also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants
but I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank,
and my algae problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of
plant. this is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking
too good, I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top,
either throwing the base away or leaving it floating. If the base is
fine or I can't get to uproot it with out disturbing the rest I cut
the top away then either replant or if less than about two inches I
leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami tank,
as I've not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is snip a few
inches off the top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the
leaf but now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing the
pruning the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be
trimmed from the top or does it not take too kindly to this and
should be uprooted. Hornwort, again is this just like a typical stem
plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have
a bit of algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed
soon, how do I do this? I have read that if it reaches the top of
the water it will shed it's leaves, and flower, while this would be
good to see, it's taken me so long to grow it I'm afraid of it
losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu

What's that, 29 gallons? How about if you retrofit a hood for a 55 watt
compact fluorescent? You could use one 24" 18 watt and one 55 watt cf = 2.5
watts per gallon and $75 U.S. Just a thought.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
Thanks kush, good advise as always.

I have cut back with the fertiliser, but may need to cut back some more.
It's difficult to get more light in my tank. The tank is 30" long but it's
18" high. I can't fit a 30" tube in so I have to use 24" tubes which are
only 18W but then I need to find room for the strater units. I have a 24"
and an 18" in there, giving 33W of light. they are on for about 12/13hrs a
day, with my present setup I could only get 36W in there. I jhave room in
my
hood for one more tube, if I get inventive, but then I need space at the
back for another strater unit!?! guess I need a new hood!

I think its hornwort - it kind of has the same leaves as eloda but they
are
much smaller (finer) and it is a lot more yellow than eloda. I have a
bunch
anchored down with a weight, when they die I will either replace or get
something else, I'm currently experimenting with cabomba, but have a
feeling
it might be too delicate!

I'll give hte corymbosa a go at pruning, it's just that it sems to grow
quite slowly and at the minute it looks really beautiful, there are
smaller
shoots coming off the bottom which I am very suprised about.

And I think I need a new plant to replace hte bacopa as this new stuff
isn't
doing so well. it always seem sto lose its leaves, as if hte fish are
taking
them off. whats penny wort like? it has round leaves, but would it look
alright in hte front corner of a tank or does it get too bushy?
(Hygrophilia
would be an example of too bushy for the front corner of my tank)

Thanks again

Stu
While sitting at a computer kush wrote:
Rule One of Pruning: If it looks good when you're done, you did it
the right way. That said, a couple of notes, in no particular
order...

The hornwort is not really a stem plant and should not be planted.
It's leaves can adapt to anchor but, more often, will simply rot.
It's a floating plant, although some people find creative things to
do with it (I once tried to weave it into a mesh onion bag and
stretch it out as a background - boy, did THAT look stupid).

The hygro -corymbosa? - should be easy enough to prune. I've found
that mine doesn't really branch at all until it's been pruned. It
grows so fast in my tank that I have to lop off and replant the top
every month or two.

That's pretty much the same technique for all your stem plants.
Prune back the tips until they start looking ratty, then dig out the
roots, plant the tips, and start over again.

As far as the swords, you can remove outer leaves that are starting
to look shabby by cutting as close to the base as possible. If the
sword's starting to get too big and is crowding out the other plants,
you can remove as many of the outer leaves as necessary to tame it.
If you need to, you can trim all but an inch or two of the roots off
and replant it - the plant will keep it's leaves but will not produce
any new ones while it's regrowing it's roots.

1.5 wpg isn't much light for some of those plants but, if the tank
looks good, hey, who am I to complain. You probably want to limit
fertilizing to the absolute bare minimum your plants can use at that
light level, though, or you'll always have a battle with algae.

kush

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword
and some giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk
plants in the back corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon)
but it was looking really shabby, the plants didn't look too good, I
was adding liquid fertiliser once a week and tablets every two
weeks. then I started to get an increase in algae. I got really fed
up with the tank and have completely redesigned it (it took me about
three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda, the borneo
swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few vallis
strands . I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe
is hornwort, some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not
difformis) and some more bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but
only about two leaves). since buying that lot I have lost a load of
the hygro and added a load back and bought some cabomba. The
hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it only to find it had
come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating. I have
also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants
but I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank,
and my algae problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of
plant. this is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking
too good, I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top,
either throwing the base away or leaving it floating. If the base is
fine or I can't get to uproot it with out disturbing the rest I cut
the top away then either replant or if less than about two inches I
leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami tank,
as I've not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is snip a few
inches off the top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the
leaf but now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing the
pruning the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be
trimmed from the top or does it not take too kindly to this and
should be uprooted. Hornwort, again is this just like a typical stem
plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have
a bit of algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed
soon, how do I do this? I have read that if it reaches the top of
the water it will shed it's leaves, and flower, while this would be
good to see, it's taken me so long to grow it I'm afraid of it
losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu

Stu....

I did the AHSupply 2x55 over my 29, built my own hood, and I do like it...
although I'm probably going to be ordering some different bulbs, I've got
the 6500k bulbs right now...

I built my hood using the precut lumber at home depot, used 6"Wx 36"L poplar
and ended up costing $24 and the strip at AHsupply was $80 or so.... painted
it black, put a decorative switch on the top so you can't even see where the
switch is....

I'll take a pic tonite if you'd like an idea or direction to take it... I
really didn't go too far, you could even make it big enough to cover the
whole tank for probably another $12-15 of lumber....

Just a thought...

I'm on the other side of the pond kush, so its about 23Gallons what are the
compact flourescents? I've never heard of them, do you have a picture of
one?

Stu

While sitting at a computer kush wrote:
What's that, 29 gallons? How about if you retrofit a hood for a 55
watt compact fluorescent? You could use one 24" 18 watt and one 55
watt cf = 2.5 watts per gallon and $75 U.S. Just a thought.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
Thanks kush, good advise as always.

I have cut back with the fertiliser, but may need to cut back some
more. It's difficult to get more light in my tank. The tank is 30"
long but it's 18" high. I can't fit a 30" tube in so I have to use
24" tubes which are only 18W but then I need to find room for the
strater units. I have a 24" and an 18" in there, giving 33W of
light. they are on for about 12/13hrs a day, with my present setup I
could only get 36W in there. I jhave room in my hood for one more
tube, if I get inventive, but then I need space at the back for
another strater unit!?! guess I need a new hood!

I think its hornwort - it kind of has the same leaves as eloda but
they are much smaller (finer) and it is a lot more yellow than
eloda. I have a bunch anchored down with a weight, when they die I
will either replace or get something else, I'm currently
experimenting with cabomba, but have a feeling it might be too
delicate!

I'll give hte corymbosa a go at pruning, it's just that it sems to
grow quite slowly and at the minute it looks really beautiful, there
are smaller shoots coming off the bottom which I am very suprised
about.

And I think I need a new plant to replace hte bacopa as this new
stuff isn't doing so well. it always seem sto lose its leaves, as if
hte fish are taking them off. whats penny wort like? it has round
leaves, but would it look alright in hte front corner of a tank or
does it get too bushy? (Hygrophilia would be an example of too bushy
for the front corner of my tank)

Thanks again

Stu
While sitting at a computer kush wrote:
Rule One of Pruning: If it looks good when you're done, you did it
the right way. That said, a couple of notes, in no particular
order...

The hornwort is not really a stem plant and should not be planted.
It's leaves can adapt to anchor but, more often, will simply rot.
It's a floating plant, although some people find creative things to
do with it (I once tried to weave it into a mesh onion bag and
stretch it out as a background - boy, did THAT look stupid).

The hygro -corymbosa? - should be easy enough to prune. I've found
that mine doesn't really branch at all until it's been pruned. It
grows so fast in my tank that I have to lop off and replant the top
every month or two.

That's pretty much the same technique for all your stem plants.
Prune back the tips until they start looking ratty, then dig out the
roots, plant the tips, and start over again.

As far as the swords, you can remove outer leaves that are starting
to look shabby by cutting as close to the base as possible. If the
sword's starting to get too big and is crowding out the other
plants, you can remove as many of the outer leaves as necessary to
tame it.
If you need to, you can trim all but an inch or two of the roots off
and replant it - the plant will keep it's leaves but will not
produce any new ones while it's regrowing it's roots.

1.5 wpg isn't much light for some of those plants but, if the tank
looks good, hey, who am I to complain. You probably want to limit
fertilizing to the absolute bare minimum your plants can use at that
light level, though, or you'll always have a battle with algae.

kush

Stuart Mueller wrote in message
. ..
I had Eloda, Bacopa, Vallis, borneo sword, some type of dwarf sword
and some giant hygrophilia in my 20Gal tank along with two silk
plants in the back corners. (about 1.5 watts of light per gallon)
but it was looking really shabby, the plants didn't look too good,
I was adding liquid fertiliser once a week and tablets every two
weeks. then I started to get an increase in algae. I got really fed
up with the tank and have completely redesigned it (it took me
about three hours) I kept some of the good strands of eloda, the
borneo swords and the dwarf swords, the giant hygro and a few
vallis
strands . I then bought a load more eloda, a load of what I believe
is hornwort, some hygro polysperma (not the giant sort and not
difformis) and some more bacopa, (my other bacopa had god roots but
only about two leaves). since buying that lot I have lost a load of
the hygro and added a load back and bought some cabomba. The
hornwort I spent a week and a half planting it only to find it had
come out the next day so I've gave up and left it floating. I have
also cut back on the fertiliser. I will be getting some more plants
but I have the bulk of what I want. I am now pleased with my tank,
and my algae problem is on the mend!

My question is about pruning and the best way for each type of
plant. this is what I am doing at the moment.

The eloda: If it is uprooted or I can see the base is not looking
too good, I trim about two inches off the base and replant the top,
either throwing the base away or leaving it floating. If the base
is fine or I can't get to uproot it with out disturbing the rest I
cut the top away then either replant or if less than about two
inches I leave it floating.

The Hygro polysperma: At the moment I just prune in my gourami
tank, as I've not had any luck in my big tank. All I do here is
snip a few inches off the top. no uprooting or anything.

Vallis: cut the larger leaves back, use to do it half way up the
leaf but now try to cut it off nearer the base.

That's it for pruning that's all I do, my questions - am I doing
the pruning the correct way, or should I always uproot the plants?

secondly how do I trim such plants as the cabomba, can this be
trimmed from the top or does it not take too kindly to this and
should be uprooted. Hornwort, again is this just like a typical
stem plant?
I have never trimmed the giant hygro, (a couple of it's leaves have
a bit of algae but nothing drastic) but it will need to be trimmed
soon, how do I do this? I have read that if it reaches the top of
the water it will shed it's leaves, and flower, while this would be
good to see, it's taken me so long to grow it I'm afraid of it
losing its leaves.!
The bacopa again just a typical stem plant?
and what about the borneo swords?

Thanks for anyone taking the time to read and answer this

Stu