# [Wet Thumb Forum]-hygrophilas



## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

My 150 gallon tank is just starting to become photogenic, so I took a couple pictures.

First is some Hygrophila polysperma that I added to the tank to help with algae control. It surprised me by growing out instead of up.








Polysperma as a ground cover?

Second is Hygrophila corymbosa showing why I like it so much.








The plants are two feet high. I love the big green lushness of H. corymbosa and its flair for the dramatic.

And one I forgot. There actually are fish in the tank, so I thought I'd throw this in for Vicki. Here's one of the five little piggies...









Roger Miller

[This message was edited by Roger Miller on Sat June 14 2003 at 08:59 PM.]


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

My 150 gallon tank is just starting to become photogenic, so I took a couple pictures.

First is some Hygrophila polysperma that I added to the tank to help with algae control. It surprised me by growing out instead of up.








Polysperma as a ground cover?

Second is Hygrophila corymbosa showing why I like it so much.








The plants are two feet high. I love the big green lushness of H. corymbosa and its flair for the dramatic.

And one I forgot. There actually are fish in the tank, so I thought I'd throw this in for Vicki. Here's one of the five little piggies...









Roger Miller

[This message was edited by Roger Miller on Sat June 14 2003 at 08:59 PM.]


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## Mortadelo (Mar 14, 2004)

Hi,

Yes, I have seen H. polysperma carpeting the substrate under high light. In fact I have seen many stem plants growing horizontal in good light conditions.

Roger, is this the fishless tank you were having problems with? (unusual algae growth...) How did you fix the problem?. I am maintaining a fishless planted tank and besides early algae problems so far so good.

Saludos.

¡Mi web!
http://www22.brinkster.com/aguaverde/


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## António Vitor1 (Feb 2, 2003)

hygrophila?








here is another example of a hygrophila...

hygrophila corymbosa "stricta"
out of the water..
with lots of flowers...

this one used to be on the aquarium , I take it out and put it on a vase...








look at it:









I had shown before some pictures of this out of water hygro, this are todays pics.. more than 1 month out of the water, and growing well...









the flowers:









Jose, another email message is waiting for you...

Regards!
António Vitor

[This message was edited by António Vitor on Sun June 15 2003 at 05:06 AM.]


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## AndyL (Jun 5, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Roger Miller:
> 
> First is some Hygrophila polysperma that I added to the tank to help with algae control. It surprised me by growing out instead of up.


I have some Hygro P that is doing the same, but it was likely due to tank conditions before (that plant spent a year in a 20g w/ 15w of 4100k light, never died, but never grew either) its now got 30w of 6500k and its creating a nice carpet. Its very attractive like that!

Andy L

Man created Planted Fish tanks, God created algae.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Mortadelo:
> Roger, is this the fishless tank you were having problems with? (unusual algae growth...) How did you fix the problem?.


It is the same tank, though no longer fishless. I fertilized the tank with Miracle-Gro, which includes ammonia in a couple different forms. I did that for a couple weeks and by the end of the time all of the odd algaes I was unfamiliar with had disappeared. That didn't cure any algae problems, the more familiar algae just filled in and took over from the unfamiliar algae.

After that I gave the tank a one-time 10 mg/l dose of potassium chloride and increased the dosage of other fertilizers. Most of the remaining algae gradually disappeared. I don't know if that happened because of the increased nutrient levels or whether the biological community simply matured to a less diverse condition. After a couple weeks the only problem I had left was blue green algae.

I cleaned out as much of the BGA as I could and used erythromycin to wipe out the rest of the BGA.

As soon as the BGA disappeared I got a green water bloom. The green water bloom may have been caused by the ammonia released from all the dead BGA. I put a lid on the aquarium and left the lights off for 4 days and the green water problem was down to a haze. I treated the haze by adding a flocculent and filtering the remaning algae out of the water.

There are still a couple kinds of algae left in the tank. I'm waiting to see if they will become problems or whether they will stay under control.

Roger Miller


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Roger,

I found GW to be a great algaecide in itself. When I had those horrible GW problems I never had problems with any other types of algae. In fact, I was hard pressed to find any others. I'm not exactly sure why this happens, and I bet Tom could explain it, but it did. Perhaps it may work for you too if it happens again.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Phil,

That's been my experience as well. Have you ever tried generating a green water bloom intentionally, just to get rid of BGA or some other algae?

Roger Miller


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

Nope, but if this bba doesn't go away I'm seriously considering it.


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## Vicki (Jan 31, 2003)

Just now saw your pics, Roger-gorgeous angelfish! Now that's what a veiltail should look like-nice straight fins! I love your giant hygro, too-it's one of my favorites for the reasons you mentioned, that robust growth and vivid green color-but it's so easy to keep it at whatever height you want. The hygro poly is pretty, too-I found the same kind of growth when I was using it to help break in my 120 gallon, it wanted to creep over the driftwood and into the foreground.

http://www.wheelpost.com


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## Homestar (Apr 16, 2003)

Roger, I want to ask a question. I purchaces an unlabeled plant that looks like your Hygrophila corymbosa. However when I do a google seach on this, I get pics of plants that have smooth leaves. Yours and mine have a distinctive ruffle to them. Additionaly, I have had trouble with lower leaf loss and it doesn't grow like a weed. The weed thing isn't a problem







but others say that' how it grows for them. 
Could it have come to me from the emersed form, thus the leaf problem? 
PH 7
Ch 5
Nitrate 10
Daily Iron and kent grow
75 litre tank, dutch with 3 wpg

Ps: Did my forst prune since I planted this one and found that on the nodes where the leaves had droped off, I had new multiple leaved growth. So I guess my question is; s this Hygrophila corymbosa and are things going well for it? BTW, are things going well for you?

Chris from Baltimore


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## Homestar (Apr 16, 2003)

Sorry for the misspellings ch= KH etc.

Chris from Baltimore


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by KB:
> I purchaces an unlabeled plant that looks like your Hygrophila corymbosa. However when I do a google seach on this, I get pics of plants that have smooth leaves. Yours and mine have a distinctive ruffle to them.


Chris,
It would be interesting to see one of the photo's you're talking about. The leaves shown in all my books are slightly undulate.



> quote:
> 
> Additionaly, I have had trouble with lower leaf loss and it doesn't grow like a weed. The weed thing isn't a problem
> 
> ...


It's fairly easy to tell the difference between emersed and submersed growth. Check Antonio's photo earlier in this thread. Healthy, emersed leaves are only 2-3 inches long. Healthy submersed leaves get to be 6-8 inches long at full growth.

Lower leaf loss is a common problem. When I first started growing H. corymbosa the plants looked like little coconut palms. They had a long straight stem with a tuft of big leaves at the top; all of the older leaves fell off. I started regular dosing of potassium and magnesium and the problem went away.

If potassium is a problem then the leaves will develop a lot of small pin holes before they drop off. If magnesium is a problem then the leaves will get mild chlorosis before they drop off. If both are a problem then the leaves that come off will be yellowish and have holes in them.



> quote:
> 
> Did my forst prune since I planted this one and found that on the nodes where the leaves had droped off, I had new multiple leaved growth. So I guess my question is; s this Hygrophila corymbosa and are things going well for it? BTW, are things going well for you?


I sounds like H. corymbosa, but it needs something.

The plant should branch readily. I usually keep only 2-3 plants. Each plant sends up several shoots. I trim out the extra shoots so each plant usually has 3-5 stems, with one near full growth, one at about 1/2 growth and one or more just starting. Each plant also grows roots from its lower nodes and those roots make it to the substrate. After the roots find the substrate the stem between substrate and the lowest rooted node rots away. The stem is left standing on stilts.

Things are going well for me. How about you?

Roger Miller


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