# My troubled Cyperus helferi



## Guest (Mar 20, 2007)

Hiya APC! Long time no post for me :/

Well, I've had this plant since September 2006 in my 29gallon, it arrived via mail order.

Since BEFORE planting my tank, I've had stable chemistry, pH 6.8 - 7.0, so on. ~95w (75W VHO, 20W something lame)

This plant started green, had long leaves and showed great growth.
Sept-Dec. 2006: Fairly slow growth, but BRIGHT green and hardy looking, bushy and thick.
Early Dec. 2006: Started Seachem Flourish dosing (per their chart)
Early January 2007: Increased dosing to estimated PPM added by using Fertilator and Seachem products
At one point, I was adding ~10 or 11PPM 3 times a week for N, P, and K. Traces and iron were done on other days.
--Water changes have been 30% every 10-14 days
All other plants in my tank with continued C02 DIY injection grew like crazy. The Blyxa took off!

Late January 2007: Started dosing regular amounts of Seachem Flourish (I only overdosed 3 times, which was a double rec. dose) Also replanted cyp. helferi to middle of tank for more light exposure. Also dosed Flourish comprehensive once or twice a week from about this point onward.

--It was about this time, a few weeks later that I had been battling with a regular dosing schedule, due to what appeared to be nutrient excess in my tank (BBA? Hair algae? I believe that's a sign?) and the cyp. helferi just started to wither. It also started thinning out.

Early February 2007: Purhcased Filstar XP2 and installed, tank has been crystal clear and had very little hair or other algae since then. (Had a basic whisper HOB before.)

It's yellow by this point (mid February), only a small amount of it is green, near the base. All of the main leaves flowing around are yellowish, but do not break off the plant, nor do they have spots or pits in them. They just collect dark algae occassionally, I trim those after it gets unsightly (or try rubbing it off) and watch it continue to grow ---yellow.

Is this yellow discoloration of such a slow growing plant a sign of not enough light?
--My lighting schedule is in 3, 4, and 5 hour periods due to some of the problems I had battling BBA and hair algae. This is keeping it under control, from what I can tell.

Anyone with substantial growing experience with this plant? This tank is just about 7 months old now, been planted for about 6 months.

--Added flourish tabs 3-17-2007 to replanted blyxas, and spread out between other plants in tank.
--As of March 10, I have started slowly treating the tank with a water softener (Amazon rain), my GH was so high nearly unmeasurable with a kit, and from how I understand it, water softeners only affect GH, not KH. The yellowing of this plant had all ready occurred prior to this addition.

Any help would be appreciated, I'm leaning toward my wacky lighting schedule as the problem, but I don't know. :???:

Note very light yellow base, but some leftover green, very discolored on both plants....?
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/cytrane/Aquascaping/C.jpg

Note the size and thickness of the others, I understand its a slow growing plant, but....(C.helferi in center left, the yellow one, haha) Don't laugh at my tank, I thinned it out A LOT the previous weekend ><, I need a REAL c02 system to keep that kind of plant load....
http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/cytrane/Aquascaping/UpdatedTank3-19-07.jpg


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## erijnal (Apr 5, 2006)

Hey, sounds like you have a nitrogen deficiency. What helps me make that conclusion is that, along with the Cyperus helferi being yellow, your Blyxa japonica is reddish. Some plants will take on a red coloring if they don't have enough nitrogen. Others, like your Cyperus helferi, will turn yellow.

So see if you can add some more nitrogen to your fertilization regimen, that might fix it.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

I've had similar experiences with C. helferi, and I don't think it's due to lack of N. Blyxas will turn orange in high light, so I wouldn't use that as an indicator. As a matter of fact, the fact that Blyxa is growing well tells you your N is good because Blyxas will slow down when N starts to drop. 

I had a beautiful stand of C. helferi, I pulled it up to thin it out. It never recovered after I replanted it. As a matter of fact, I'm looking to try some again. This plant is a slow grower and an algae magnet, but it sure is a pretty green.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

It's one of those plants that doesn't take kindly to uprooting and replanting. My suggestion is to figure out where you want it, and leave it alone. It can take 3-4 months to really establish itself. I'd recommend not moving it more than once per year.

I'd really recommend a photoperiod of at least 8 hours per day though, except maybe for short-term periods to get on top of algae. It may just be that it has insufficient light. If you're having BBA issues, I'd recommend steady (even religious), small doses of macros & micros, more CO2 than you think you need, and enough light to supply the needs of the plants. You'll also have to manually remove all the algae you already have - it won't "go away" on its own. A short course of excel might help too.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Why not spend $12-$14 on a Red Sea CO2 indicator (drop checker) and use it to be sure you have 30 ppm of CO2 in the water? Carbon is the primary need of growing plants, since plant tissue is largely carbon, so keeping enough in the water is essential. Your BBA problems also suggest you need more CO2 or better water circulation to keep CO2 enriched water in all corners of the tank.


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## Guest (Mar 20, 2007)

All of these suggestions I will take graciously, of course!

Sorry about the slow reply, meetings all day.

I'm going to try changing my NPK ratios (increasing N, adjusting P and K), followed by some lighting schedule changes after that I'll make sure I do not move the c.helferi any time soon...

What had happened with the hair algae and BBA was that I needed way more circulation than I had, the XP2 spray bar angled in the middle of the tank is doing a great job at this now!

Thank you very much, all of you, this made my afternoon 

I'll let you know how some of the changes and recommendations go (may be a few weeks minimum of course) 

-C


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