Howdy,

I've noticed some plants look rather different after growing out in my
plant tank from how they looked in the LFS at purchase. On the other
hand, some plants appear not to change significantly their morphology.

Cases in point:
Anacharis - bought at LFS with deep, deep almost forest-green
color, leaf whorls spaced very closely along the stem, leaves kinda
short and broad. After adjusting to my tank, it now grows like mad,
but the leaves are a lighter green, MUCH longer (2-3x longer maybe) and
thinner, and leaf whorls are spaced much much further apart on the
stem.
Amazon sword: bought at LFS with deep, deep green color, and the
leaf/stem shape resembled a big wooden spoon. Long stem, and oval leaf
at the end. In my tank, the color is a lighter green, the leaves are
of longer total length, and the leaf has little stem and is rather
shaped like a long dagger. Also, new leaves seem to have a
rust-colored vein structure for a few days before greening.

BUT...
Ludwigia repens: gets a little redder but same morphology.
Bacopa monnieri: identical to time of purchase, just rootier.
Cabomba caroliniana: identical to purchase.
Rotala indica: identical to purchase.

SO...

The question is, are these effects common? I assume it's nothing to
worry about, but it's interesting and obvious enough that you've all
probably seen it. What say?

--
Trapper, in snowy NYC

Ah! You must be running A LOT of light....

From what I have read, (in aquarium plant books) plants will alter
thier pigment depending on the available light..... It's kind of like a
plant metabolism. This is also a very good indicator of your plant's
light requirements. I thought this was very cool stuff!!

Plants absorb a certain wavelength light (if I remember correctly) in
the blue-yellow range.

The darker green the pigment: The more light it will absorb thus
increasing photosynthesis. This possibly indcates the plant wants or
can use more light.

The lighter the pigment the less light is absorbed (more light is
reflected from the leaf) thus less photosynthesis is carried out. This
indicates the plant has an abundance of light available and is trying
to "cut back" on the photosynthesis.

Still other plants are able to generate a red pigment. This may result
in a red leaf tint to total red color..... The red pigment absorbs less
light in the useable color spectrum, thus limiting photosynthesis.

All this info come from:
"Encyclopedia of Aquarium Plants", by Peter Hiscock
It's full of a lot of neat scientific useful stuff just like this
topic.
Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...books&n=507846
Gee, wish I could get some $$ for the advertisement.......Fat chance.

The question is, are these effects common? I assume it's nothing to
worry about, but it's interesting and obvious enough that you've all
probably seen it. What say?

Souds like low nitrates to me and or low phosphate. Iron is probably
low too.

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

Aquatic plants often have two forms of growth, a submerged and an
emersed form. Many growers grow plants like Amazon swords emersed
(only their roots in water) to speed up the process. They then ship
these to petstores where they don't staty long enough to switch to
submerged form. You buy them, submerge them, and they slowly lose
their old emersed growth and replace it with new submersed leaves witch
often look different.

Nick

wrote:
Howdy,

I've noticed some plants look rather different after growing out in
my
plant tank from how they looked in the LFS at purchase. On the other
hand, some plants appear not to change significantly their
morphology.

Cases in point:
Anacharis - bought at LFS with deep, deep almost forest-green
color, leaf whorls spaced very closely along the stem, leaves kinda
short and broad. After adjusting to my tank, it now grows like mad,
but the leaves are a lighter green, MUCH longer (2-3x longer maybe)
and
thinner, and leaf whorls are spaced much much further apart on the
stem.
Amazon sword: bought at LFS with deep, deep green color, and the
leaf/stem shape resembled a big wooden spoon. Long stem, and oval
leaf
at the end. In my tank, the color is a lighter green, the leaves are
of longer total length, and the leaf has little stem and is rather
shaped like a long dagger. Also, new leaves seem to have a
rust-colored vein structure for a few days before greening.

BUT...
Ludwigia repens: gets a little redder but same morphology.
Bacopa monnieri: identical to time of purchase, just rootier.
Cabomba caroliniana: identical to purchase.
Rotala indica: identical to purchase.

SO...

The question is, are these effects common? I assume it's nothing to
worry about, but it's interesting and obvious enough that you've all
probably seen it. What say?

--
Trapper, in snowy NYC

"spiral_72" wrote in message
oups.com...

From what I have read, (in aquarium plant books) plants will alter
thier pigment depending on the available light..... It's kind of like a
plant metabolism. This is also a very good indicator of your plant's
light requirements. I thought this was very cool stuff!!



or just the opposite. The plant is not getting enough light, so it is
getting pale. The long internodes and also indicate not nearly enough
light.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

From what I have read, (in aquarium plant books) plants will alter
thier pigment depending on the available light..... It's kind of like a
plant metabolism. This is also a very good indicator of your plant's
light requirements. I thought this was very cool stuff!!



or just the opposite. The plant is not getting enough light, so it is
getting pale. The long internodes and also indicate not nearly enough
light.

Only in plants that HAVE internodes. Crypts, for example have pretty much
two modalities: full sun and "other". "Other" is pretty much the same in
near dark to regular aquarium lighting.

--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
http://www.mbz.org | Mercedes Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | Killies, killi.net, Crypts, aquaria.net
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Old wris****ches http://watches.list.mbz.org

Richard Sexton wrote:
The question is, are these effects common? I assume it's nothing to
worry about, but it's interesting and obvious enough that you've all
probably seen it. What say?

Souds like low nitrates to me and or low phosphate. Iron is probably
low too.

I dose NO3 so as to maintain tank at 10-15 ppm between water changes.
I dose PO4 to about 2ppm (my tapwater is 3ppm in PO4!)
I dose my changewater (50% change) to 20ppm in K (worst-case scenario
means K at 10ppm, which I doubt)

In other words, doubt I have any deficiencies in macros.

I dose my changewater with Fe to...the exact ppm eludes me, but it's
the standard ppm.
Ca and Mg are dosed in about a 1:2 molar ratio to achieve 3-4 dGH.
Traces come in 2-3x/week in a capful of Flourish.

Net is that if there's anything I'm screwing up it is likely to be Mg++
by way of my arbitrary 1:2 Ca/Mg ratio and 3-4 dGH. Nonetheless, I
don't seem to have any Mg++ deficiency symptoms.

--Trapper