# Sagittaria and Japanese Fern?



## MooseMan (Jul 28, 2006)

A not so planted aquarium oriented LFS sold me these two plants.

What they called Sagittaria:










The leaves are about 10 inches long. If it's Sagittaria, which variety is it? Could it be Valisnaria instead? Also, what is the yellowing at the ends a sign of? They sometimes stick out of the water a bit

Also they called this 'Japanese Fern':










The leaves are 3-4 inches long fairly firm (grass like) and seem to meet all in a clump of roots. I couldn't find anything on 'Japanese Fern'. Could it be the non-aquatic Japanese Rush? I don't think its Japonica blyxa cause I've seen that elsewhere and it looks different. I saw another LFS with probably the same plant as mine but called it a Micro Sword.

Thanks!!!


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

The first one looks like _Sagittaria subulata_. Were the tips already yellow or are they growing that way for you?

The second one is probably _Acorus gramineus_ (var pusillus). It will only last a little while submersed before rotting and dying. And it definitely isn't a fern. So yes, it is the non-aquatic Japanese rush.


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## MooseMan (Jul 28, 2006)

Thanks so much

The tips had very little yellow when I bought the plant 

I have 2.85 WPG with about 15 ppm CO2. Freshly cycled tank: no ammonia or nitrite detectable.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

In a planted tank you will want to have some nitrates and phosphates available to the plants in the tank. Anywhere from 5-10 ppm nitrate and 1-2 ppm phosphate is ideal.


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## MooseMan (Jul 28, 2006)

Thanks. I have a phosphate test now (reads 0) and a nitrate test kit in the mail.

I've been told not to fertilize for about 4 weeks to let the roots get established. If that's the case should I not worry about the 0 phosphate reading?

I'm sure there are nitrates since I had a pretty good level of ammonia and nitrite before. Just don't know if they fall in the proper range yet.


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

MooseMan said:


> I've been told not to fertilize for about 4 weeks to let the roots get established. If that's the case should I not worry about the 0 phosphate reading?


Phosphates should be around 2-3ppm and you should start fertilizing the *first day*.


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## MooseMan (Jul 28, 2006)

Gotcha. Started fertilizing with many of the Flourish products last night. I think one thing (of many) that I was missing was magnesium as my tap water has a GH and KH of less than 1 dH and I was only adding baking soda and calcium carbonate.

I added a dose of Epsom salt this morning. I assume that is needed on top of adding Flourish?

I noticed my 3 Amanos went a little crazy for a while when I added the dose of Flourish Iron (about 1/3-1/2 of a cap for my 20G). Perhaps I added too much? Or maybe it was coincidence.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Yes, if your GH is that low you may want to reconstitue it to 3 ppm or so. One easy way is to use Seachem's equilibrium powder.

That should be just the right amount of iron to dose. Are you using CO2 and higher lighting?


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## rodmarquezjr (Jul 16, 2006)

If the second plant has a rhizome that grows horizontally, it may be an Acorus alright. I have seen Acorus pusillus and the plant in the pic looks too messy to be an Acorus. Acorus species I've come across have overlapping leaves arranged almost like a fan along the length of the rhizome. There are many other species of acorus so I may be wrong with my generalization.


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