# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Sword Plants



## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

To start I would like to let you know that I am not a expert. I just like to grow aquatic plants. One of my favorite plants are sword plants. All I can do is relate to you my experience in raising them. I keep my tanks around 6.8 - 7.2 PH and KH 4-5. I try to keep NO3 at 5 - 10 ppm. PO4 .2 - .5 ppm. I try to keep a 1 to 10 ratio 1/10 PO4/NO3 this seems to keep algae under control.

First lets talk in general.
Swords are beautiful plant but most of them will out grow their tanks. I see allot of post wanting to know how to grow sword plants so first lets talk growing. They need lots of ferts at the roots, and a good source of potassium. In gravel substrate I use a 13-4-5 plant stick cut into thirds. Put two to three around the roots along with Iron root tabs. Remember that if you use this method leave the plants alone. To get a growth of two to three leaves per week the plant needs to be stable, You don't want to disturb the root tabs, that could cause algae blooms. In Eco-Complete substrate you don't have to add any tabs. These are the only two types of substrate I have experience with.

I have seen some post about sword melt down. I've had this problem early on in my attempts at raising swords. The leaves would just melt in hours. You could watch them melt that how fast it can happen. Root tabs alone will not solve this problem. I tried just about every thing but I think what plays a roll in it is very low potassium levels. After increasing potassium and maintaining it the problem when away.

Light? You need at lest 2w/gal, 3w/gal is better for faster growth. I have never had any thing over 3.5w/gal so I can't comment on very high light. CO2 is helpful for fast growth. I have raised Amazon Swords in tanks without CO2 but the tanks had high NO3 levels. It was hard to maintain the high NO3 levels for long periods, algae is hard to control at those levels. That is why you need to use root tabs. You can feed NO3 at higher levels without algae problems. Let talk Swords next!

Kleiner Bar








This is a "Kleiner Bar" Its a new sword for me and I just love this plant. The biggest problem with Sword plant is they out grow their tanks. This Sword seems to stay under 12 inches. The young leaves start out with a reddish color. The older the leaf the greener it gets. I have read that this plant will get dark red leaves but I have not found it to be true for me. It could be just a matter of adjusting my ferts. I haven't tried this as of yet. This plant is growing in Eco-Complete without root tabs. Light is at 3w/gal 9325K GE CF. The tank is a 36gal Bow.

Echinodorus barthii








This is my favorite Sword. "Melon Sword" I have grown this plant in light at 2w/gal and 3w/gal both tanks used 9325K GE CF. I just love the red leaves. As you can see the Melon Sword in the photo is crowded and out growing the 55gal tank it is in. The substrate in this tank is gravel with a little Flourite mix. I add 13-4-5 root tabs along with Iron tabs. Believe it or not, this plant has gone through two melt downs. It came back strong after I started to add potassium in the tank. I moved this plant to a 75gal. It out grew that tank too. I did a major leaf trimming and its growing strong now.

Echinodorus 'Oriental'








Here you see two sword plants, The Oriental Sword in the back with the pink leaves and a Tropica Sword next to it with the green leaves. It was sold to me as Compact Sword so I am not sure about the name. As you can see the Oriental Sword is extremely crowed. In fact it is really 5 plants. Sword plants will grow floral stalks that little plantlets start from. Most sword do this. What I do is cut them off as soon as see them unless I want to start new Sword plants. If so let the new plantlets stay on the floral stalks until they have several roots growing from them. That is how I started the Tropica Sword in the photo. The Oriental Sword how ever started new plants next to the main root. I uprooted and separated the plants. Five in all and replanted them in other tanks. I sold some at my LFS. The Oriental Sword did out grow this 55gal tank. The new Swords where replanted in a 75gal and stayed just under the top without out growing the tank. The substrate in the 55gal tank is gravel with a little Flourite mix. I add 13-4-5 root tabs along with Iron tabs. The 75gal has Eco-Complete. The Tropica Sword is another sword that stays small. Most of them will stay under 10 inches but I have had some reach 12 inches plus. Their leaves stay a bright green. They like to send out floral stalks and are easy to start new plants from.

Echinodorus 'Red Rubin'








This is a monster sword. As you see this is another crowded sword in my 55gal. In this photo its large but it grew much bigger. When it finally out grew the 55gal. the leaves where 28 - 30 inches long. It was so big I couldn't replant it in my 75gal. Lucky for the Rubin Sword my LFS found it a home in a 90gal tank. One thing I like about this plant is the dark red leaves. In the photo the leaves are not as red as they can get. The substrate in the 55gal tank is gravel with a little Flourite mix. I add 13-4-5 root tabs along with Iron tabs.

Echinodorus uruguayensis








Uruguayensis Sword is the one sword I have had the most trouble growing. It needs brighter light then other swords. I think this sword is more sensitive to low potassium levels. I have seen this plant melt down in hours. The plant in the photo is the first one I have ever grown this big. Its in my 75gal with Eco-Complete substrate. The tank has 3w/gal 9325K GE CF. This sword desn't like to be crowed.

These are my best swords I have experience with. There are allot of different sword and I plant on trying to grow them all in time. I really like sword plants. You can use them as a focus point or as a center pieces. If you use my guide lines I think you can have success with most of the large sword plants. I hope you enjoy swords as much as do.

This is a update on sword reproduction I hope it helps. 1-20-05










Here you can see a plantlet with stems that can become flowers. I have seen them flower under water close to the surface but they don't last long. If aloud to grow out of the surface the flower last longer if its not right under the lights. When out of water under light they burn and can die.










These are 4 Kleiner bar babies that are ready to be cut and replanted. See how the roots are long and their leaves have grown. These plantlet could have been cut sooner. I haven't because I am running out of room for babies right now.










This is the mother Kleiner bar. You can see there is a new flower stem starting. Looks like 4 more plantlet on the way. You can tell by the knobs, their close together now but as the stem grows, they will get further apart. This plant gives me 4 plantlets every month.










Here is last months plantlets. As you can see I just cut the stem on each side of the plantlet and just plant them.










Not all swords reproduce this way. Some of the hybrids will just spread by growing new plants right next to the mother plant. Echinodorus 'Oriental' is one that does this. Just separate them like you would Crypts and replant. Others my have runners like Dwarf sag. I think the compact sword ( sorry not sure of the name but it commonly sold at LFS) I am not sure about the Rubin or Rose I have grown these but I don't remember if I had any flower stems or not. The Red Mellon has the stem flower but in the plants I have grow they didn't sprout stem very often.

I hope this helps. I will update my post on swords in the plantdata base with this info.

Hawk


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Great piece Hawk! Thanks!


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## imported_BSS (Apr 14, 2004)

My two swords each started putting out a flower stalk a couple weeks ago. I have a Mellon Sword (guessing E. Cordifolius...so only green) and a E. Ozelot. The Ozelot was my original centerpiece before ordering a plant assortment back around February. I've got about a dozen buds on each stem with several starting to flower. I'd love to harvest all the new plants (mostly for LFS trade-in credit), but I really don't have a good place to raise them. I'm really resisting the urge (and avoiding the spousal tension







) to go get a grow-out tank. But, would just one satisfy? Ah, the addiction phase...

Good info, Hawk. Thanks!


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## Hawkeye (Aug 20, 2004)

BSS,
My first grow out tank was a 20gal tall tank. I think this is a great tank for a small grow out tank because it give you the height plus their cheap. With a 20gal tall you can use DIY CO2 and cheap HOB filters. I did replace the HOB filter with a canister but it was so I didn't have to clean it as often. Two bags of Eco-Complete would work just fine. I put a AH 65w light kit on it. With this set up you can grow just about any thing you want. Another big plus is you can raise baby fish, or use it as a breed tank for Kribs, or Rams. That what I do with my 20gal tall now. OH!! with this much light and DIY CO2 you don't need to run the lights more then 6-8 hours.

Hawk


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## kzr750r1 (Jun 26, 2004)

I just ordered from Robert and he didn't have any more Kliner Bar Swords. He did warn me about the size but I still want a couple.

Nice pic's thank Hawkeye.


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