Re: What's the trick with cabomba?

[RedForeman ©®]

I was told that it's because of too much blue in the spectrum, or something
similar... One color makes it grow tall, one color makes it bushy, not
tall.... IIRC, blue makes it go tall, red makes it bushy.... Anachris is the
same way, if the light has more reds, it'll be bushier leaves, thicker
between branches, and more blue will make it reach for the top of the
water....

I could be wrong, and I reserve the right to be wrong at anytime without
hesitation... haha....
"Dave M. Picklyk" > wrote in message
. ca...
> Why does my cabomba grow with big spaces between leafs and straggley? Is
the
> trick lots of light? I only have 2wpg in a 15gal wide. I do PPMD, traces,
> and have good values of C02 like 35ppm. All my other plants grow extremely
> fast and lush (I have to prune 2-3 times a week) I used to have a bunch of
> this stuff but got disgusted with the poor growth that I limited it now to
a
> little part of the brightest spot in my aquarium. The stem seems to grow
> rapidly but the leaf sections grow wide apart and not condensed and thick
> like.
>
> Thanx for any opinions!!!
>
> --
> Dave Picklyk
> www.picklyk.com/aquascape
>
>

[Cammie]

my Caboma always sucks, I always sucker in and buy it because it looks so
nice... at first. Is this a true aquarium plant, anyone know? I know many
"aquarium" plants sold are not really meant to be underwater, people just
sell them for the purpose and they often don't do well.

[LeighMo]

For me, the trick is to never top it. Start with a nice, thick, batch, and
never, ever top it. Instead, discard the bottoms and replant the tops

Of course, I don't always have the discipline to do that. :-)


Leigh

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

[Jim Seidman]

"Dave M. Picklyk" > wrote in message >...
> Why does my cabomba grow with big spaces between leafs and straggley? Is the
> trick lots of light? I only have 2wpg in a 15gal wide. I do PPMD, traces,
> and have good values of C02 like 35ppm. All my other plants grow extremely
> fast and lush (I have to prune 2-3 times a week) I used to have a bunch of
> this stuff but got disgusted with the poor growth that I limited it now to a
> little part of the brightest spot in my aquarium. The stem seems to grow
> rapidly but the leaf sections grow wide apart and not condensed and thick
> like.

It's almost certainly that you don't have enough light. Cabomba really
requires a well-lit tank. For a small tank like a 15g, well-lit
probably means something like 80W. (The watts per gallon rules don't
really work for small or large tanks.)

You might do better with a less light-demanding plant such as
Limnophila, although frankly you might not have enough light for that
to do well either.

- Jim

[m.dekort]

Cabomba is a hassle. This cannot be stopped.

Low maintenance plants - Crypt (once over first dieback) Hygro and
Ludwiga. All root well and do not get straggley.

Dave M. Picklyk wrote:

>Why does my cabomba grow with big spaces between leafs and straggley? Is the
>trick lots of light? I only have 2wpg in a 15gal wide. I do PPMD, traces,
>and have good values of C02 like 35ppm. All my other plants grow extremely
>fast and lush (I have to prune 2-3 times a week) I used to have a bunch of
>this stuff but got disgusted with the poor growth that I limited it now to a
>little part of the brightest spot in my aquarium. The stem seems to grow
>rapidly but the leaf sections grow wide apart and not condensed and thick
>like.
>
>Thanx for any opinions!!!
>
>
>

[Dave M. Picklyk]

This is the limnophila sessiliflora or ambulia?

"Jim Seidman" > wrote in message
om...
> "Dave M. Picklyk" > wrote in message
>...
> > Why does my cabomba grow with big spaces between leafs and straggley? Is
the
> > trick lots of light? I only have 2wpg in a 15gal wide. I do PPMD,
traces,
> > and have good values of C02 like 35ppm. All my other plants grow
extremely
> > fast and lush (I have to prune 2-3 times a week) I used to have a bunch
of
> > this stuff but got disgusted with the poor growth that I limited it now
to a
> > little part of the brightest spot in my aquarium. The stem seems to grow
> > rapidly but the leaf sections grow wide apart and not condensed and
thick
> > like.
>
> It's almost certainly that you don't have enough light. Cabomba really
> requires a well-lit tank. For a small tank like a 15g, well-lit
> probably means something like 80W. (The watts per gallon rules don't
> really work for small or large tanks.)
>
> You might do better with a less light-demanding plant such as
> Limnophila, although frankly you might not have enough light for that
> to do well either.
>
> - Jim

[dam n]

Actually Red, it's the opposite. The blue spectrum encourages short and
bushy growth while the red spectrum makes plants grow long and leggy.




"RedForeman ©®" > wrote in message
...
> I was told that it's because of too much blue in the spectrum, or
something
> similar... One color makes it grow tall, one color makes it bushy, not
> tall.... IIRC, blue makes it go tall, red makes it bushy.... Anachris is
the
> same way, if the light has more reds, it'll be bushier leaves, thicker
> between branches, and more blue will make it reach for the top of the
> water....
>
> I could be wrong, and I reserve the right to be wrong at anytime without
> hesitation... haha....
> "Dave M. Picklyk" > wrote in message
> . ca...
> > Why does my cabomba grow with big spaces between leafs and straggley? Is
> the
> > trick lots of light? I only have 2wpg in a 15gal wide. I do PPMD,
traces,
> > and have good values of C02 like 35ppm. All my other plants grow
extremely
> > fast and lush (I have to prune 2-3 times a week) I used to have a bunch
of
> > this stuff but got disgusted with the poor growth that I limited it now
to
> a
> > little part of the brightest spot in my aquarium. The stem seems to grow
> > rapidly but the leaf sections grow wide apart and not condensed and
thick
> > like.
> >
> > Thanx for any opinions!!!
> >
> > --
> > Dave Picklyk
> > www.picklyk.com/aquascape
> >
> >
>
>

[LeighMo]

>It's almost certainly that you don't have enough light. Cabomba really
>requires a well-lit tank.

That hasn't been my experience. My Cabomba actually grows bushier in my
moderate-light tank, probably because it grows slower.


Leigh

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

[Jim Seidman]

"Dave M. Picklyk" > wrote in message >...
> This is the limnophila sessiliflora or ambulia?

Yes, I was thinking Limnophila sessiliflora, a.k.a. ambulia. Although
Limnophila aquatica might do OK too. Limnophila aromatica would
definitely require more light, however.

Again, I don't know if 30W in a 15g will support L. sessiflora either.
Tbat's pretty low light. But it would be more likely to do well, and
has a similar look to cabomba.

- Jim

[Jim Seidman]

LeighMo ) writes:
>>It's almost certainly that you don't have enough light. Cabomba
really
>>requires a well-lit tank.
>
>That hasn't been my experience. My Cabomba actually grows bushier in
my
>moderate-light tank, probably because it grows slower.

The original poster has 30W on a 15g, which sounds like pretty low
light to me. I don't know what kind of lighting is on your
"moderate-light" tank, but I suspect that it's much better-lit than
that.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any measurement that's both easy and
accurate for describing the light level in a tank. So your
moderate-light might be something that I would call a high-light.
Someone needs to mass-produce cheap underwater light meters to resolve
the problem. :-)

- Jim

[Jim Seidman]

(Victor M. Martinez) wrote in message >...
> Jim Seidman > wrote:
> >The original poster has 30W on a 15g, which sounds like pretty low
> >light to me. I don't know what kind of lighting is on your
>
> 2 watts per gallon is by no means low-light.
>
> >"moderate-light" tank, but I suspect that it's much better-lit than
> >that.
>
> I have cabomba in the 110 gallon tank, which has about 1 gpw of CF light on
> it. The darn thing (along with every other plant there) grows like a weed
> and requires weekly prunning.

"Watts per gallon" isn't really meaningful when you compare wildly
divergent tank sizes. Yes, 2 wpg is likely more than you need for a
110 gallon. It's less than you need for a 15 gallon (at least to grow
high-light plants). It might be just about right for a 65 gallon.

You'll see a lof of argument about exactly how light needs change with
the size and shape of the aquarium. However, I can tell you
unequivocably that the same wpg number won't provide equivalent
lighting in wildly different aquaria. For example, putting 6 Watts on
a 3 gallon tank may be 2 wpg, but won't grow much.

I'm curious, what variety of cabomba are you growing? I know that, for
example, Cabomba furcáta (a.k.a. Red Cabomba) requires more light than
Cabomba caroliniana (a.k.a. Green Cabomba). In either case, I would
expect the original poster to have trouble with either one given his
lighting.

- Jim

[Dan Norgard]

I have 40w on my 29gal. and my Cabomba grows fine.
Dan
"Jim Seidman" > wrote in message
om...
LeighMo ) writes:
>>It's almost certainly that you don't have enough light. Cabomba
really
>>requires a well-lit tank.
>
>That hasn't been my experience. My Cabomba actually grows bushier in
my
>moderate-light tank, probably because it grows slower.

The original poster has 30W on a 15g, which sounds like pretty low
light to me. I don't know what kind of lighting is on your
"moderate-light" tank, but I suspect that it's much better-lit than
that.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any measurement that's both easy and
accurate for describing the light level in a tank. So your
moderate-light might be something that I would call a high-light.
Someone needs to mass-produce cheap underwater light meters to resolve
the problem. :-)

- Jim

[Victor M. Martinez]

Jim Seidman > wrote:
>I'm curious, what variety of cabomba are you growing? I know that, for
>example, Cabomba furcáta (a.k.a. Red Cabomba) requires more light than
>Cabomba caroliniana (a.k.a. Green Cabomba). In either case, I would

The second one.


--
Victor M. Martinez

http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv

[LeighMo]

>The original poster has 30W on a 15g, which sounds like pretty low
>light to me. I don't know what kind of lighting is on your
>"moderate-light" tank, but I suspect that it's much better-lit than
>that.
>

Nah. I have 2.4 watts per gallon on a 29 gallon tank. No CO2, and not a speck
of algae. A 29 gallon tank is much higher than a 15g, so I bet he's got more
light than me, from a plant's POV. Especially since my bulb is really old.

However, I do agree that Limnophila is much easier to keep. I particularly
like Limnophila indica. It turns a nice red-yellow under high light, a
striking lime green under moderate light. Fast grower, that stays attractive
and bushy even if you top it.




Leigh

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

[LeighMo]

>Nah. I have 2.4 watts per gallon on a 29 gallon tank

Oops. Typo. I have 2.2 wpg on a 29 gallon tank.


Leigh

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