i find that wrapping the stems with anything i've tried causes problems.
i've taken to spreading the stems out so they aren't bunched together too
much, just laying them on top of the gravel then laying a small piece of
slate over them for about 10 days. i just took the slate off a bunch of
macaya today and it had lots of fine roots and no decaying.

seems to work.

jtm

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"Prakash" wrote in message
...
LeighMo,
The tank dimensions are 120cm * 40 cm * 40 cm. The plants seem to grow
allright - except they break off at the base. I tried bunching a few
together and wrapping some plant wight round the base before pushing it into
the sand - a few weeks later the separate stems started floating off,
leaving the plant weight where it was

I add some Nutrafin plant feed once every 15-20 days. Is that sufficient ?
Cheers,
Prakash.


"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
I've got 80 watts of light

I think Bob's right; that may not be enough light. You have a US 50
gallon
tank. So you have only 1.6 watts per gallon. That is on the low side for
your
average fine-leaved stem plant.

It might help to plant the stems directly under the lights, well-seperated
so
that the light can get down to the bottoms of the plants. If that doesn't
work, let the plants float, and get some plants that do better in low
light to
plant in the substrate. (Hygrophila will probably be okay with this
lighting.)

What are the dimensions of your tank, BTW?

Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/