The root tabs will help a lot as your sword is prolly lacking potassium and
iron as they grow massive root systems which are awesome. When I uprooted
mine a month back to convert from a UGF to a planted tank it looked like
white hygrophilia difformis(wisteria) growing under the gravel.
I think it may also depend on the species. The amazon swords at my LFS are
huge and expensive AUS$30 but have a sickly transparent thin look to them
prolly because of inadequate lighting for starters(halogen .4W/G). My mail
order sword $4 from 6 months ago is comparatively small but has many quite
thick lush green leaves at 2.25W/G & Co2 with daily additions of trace/Fe
and K fertiliser and it's getting bigger.
Calcium Carbonate CaCO3 is fairly easy to come by whether it be sold as
granules/crushed coral etc to increase your gH but make sure of your fishies
gH recommendations as discus and some tetra species prefer soft water.
"LM" wrote in message
...
Hi everybody,
thanks for the info... one more question on amazon sword while we're
still
on the topic... It's been about 3-4 weeks since I planted them in my tank
(37G with 55W CF. tad on the low side). all my new leaves of the amazons
look somewhat translucent. Is this normal? or is it missing some
nutrients?
the color looks a little light green, but that may be due to the lightbulb
color tho.. (5400k). My crypts, java fern, lysmachias, foxtail, E.
Ozelot
is doing fairly well (all new leaves are red), so far...
my tank is very soft (based on city water info), and alkaline (pH~8
according to my LFS. I've just ordered my own test kit... hope it will
arrive soon). I've been dropping Flourish about 0.5ml every few days. I
also did order some root tabs, in hopes of giving the root feeders a bit
of
a boost.
linda
"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
When trimming swords, sometimes I can't quite get to the base of the
stem,
and end up leaving about 1" or so of the stub left, which eventually
start
looking "rotting"
It's unattractive, but it's not harmful. I sometimes leave long stubs
when I'm
in a hurry (usually in the morning, heading for work). No time to take
off my
shirt so it doesn't get wet when I'm up to my armpit in the tank. g
Sometimes I go back and trim them shorter later, sometimes I leave them
..
If
I'm planning to take a photo of the tank, I usually trim all the stems
down as
far as I can, just so it looks nicer.
Leigh
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/