# Hygrophila Problems



## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

So I have had some of this hygrophila sp. rosanervis growing in my tank and at first they have been doing well...but now I got problems, two problems actually, 

first they are the only plants in my tank with holes in their old leaves that would eventually get bigger and bigger. I understand it is a nutrient deficiency but I have been for the past 2 weeks dosing dry ferts using Chuck Gadd's calculator. I do have a pressurized CO2 system now finally installed thanks to a lot of help from DB48 and have ~30 ppm of CO2...maybe I am not dosing enough? or maybe I need to dose a lot at first since I only started dosing the past 2 weeks and this tank has been established for the past 5 months

My second problem is that they are not growing vertically but horizontally and my question is why? I've found one source saying that it is because I have too much light (about 2.8 watts per gallon) and the plant thinks its near the surface so it is spreading along the substrate rather than growing up but I would like to get other opinions on the matter, because its really frustration and I rather keep them since they are the only plants in my tank that are not green!!!

Thanks for any advice


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

It might be that you have too much light. I have 50 watts over a 35 gallon and my hygro grows vertically even though it does send out a lot of runners. When my camera batter recharges I'll snap some pictures of it for comparison purposes.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

It grows horizontally with high lighting. I actually enjoy hygro a lot more when growing that way. 

If you reduce your lighting, it will grow upwards.

Are the older leaves underneath newer ones? Often times stem plants will choke out their older and lower leaves, leaving them to die off. I would try snipping off the newer parts, removing the old stems and then replanting. You should get some good new growth.


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## fishclubgirl (Mar 4, 2010)

I also grow the rosanveris but would not suggest lowering the light. It needs more light than a standard polysperma. The answer may be in the ferts or how your tank is set up but that's a question best answered by someone more technologically advanced than myself!!


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

I think holes in older leaves that start small and grow larger are a sign of low K. Once these holes were there they won't go away, even if you dose enough K, so topping and replanting is the way to go to get rid of them.

Last pics If you posted of your 75G (this is your 75G I assume?) it was pretty heavily planted and well lit. If you're now injecting CO2 it will be using nutrients pretty fast. So they may still be starving, even with dosing.

Some more info might help provide assistance, with how much, of what, and how often are you fertilizing?


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## Byronicle (Apr 18, 2009)

Mr Fishies said:


> I think holes in older leaves that start small and grow larger are a sign of low K. Once these holes were there they won't go away, even if you dose enough K, so topping and replanting is the way to go to get rid of them.
> 
> Last pics If you posted of your 75G (this is your 75G I assume?) it was pretty heavily planted and well lit. If you're now injecting CO2 it will be using nutrients pretty fast. So they may still be starving, even with dosing.
> 
> Some more info might help provide assistance, with how much, of what, and how often are you fertilizing?


I fertilize potassium sulfate 3 times weekly to get a total of 20 ppm at the end of the week, and potassium sulfate once a week to get a total of 5 ppm per week.

I think you are right and that I am not fertilizing enough because my tank is heavily planted, so I doubled my potassium sulfate this week and things have been better

As for my problem with the plants growing horizontally, I put some in another tank with about 2watts of light per gallon and they started growing vertically which is what I want. So now I have a problem, keep them in here or move them out, but like I said, they are the only things in my tank not green!!


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

Byronicle said:


> I fertilize potassium sulfate 3 times weekly to get a total of 20 ppm at the end of the week, and potassium sulfate once a week to get a total of 5 ppm per week.
> 
> I think you are right and that I am not fertilizing enough because my tank is heavily planted, so I doubled my potassium sulfate this week and things have been better


This is where it gets tricky sometimes. You calculate fertilizer to add to the tank and shoot to add a max of ~20ppm / week, so say 7ppm 3x a week. If your plants are healthy and growing, it's possible that by the time you dose 7ppm again, the plants have sucked up the first 7ppm. Especially when there is a lot of plant in there.

So, as you found, as plants grow in, you may have to ramp up how much you add to keep up with demand. But when you do a big trim and remove plant matter, the uptake will slow down and you may find you can drop back to ~7ppm per dose.

This is the "fun" part of planted tanks dosed with liquid ferts, learning how things react and how to manage different conditions as the tank changes. Every tank is different and it can take several days for things to change (for better or worse) after we adjust, so the only real way to figure this out is to watch what happens over the course of a week or so. It sounds like you waited a few days to see what would happen. Good. If you stress out and try to adjust things based on day to day observations you will chase phantom "problems" all over the place and probably enjoy the tank less too!


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