# help me with cabomba furcata



## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

a moment before i loose it cause i cant get it here in my country
ph 6.8
kh 5
no3 40ppm
po4 5-10 ppm 
1 w/l 
its not growing and one of my only 3 stems look bad


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

Cabomba furcata needs good light...I don't know if 1w/l is enough. Mine is doing well in hard water with 5.5 wpg.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Unless I am wrong, 1W/l is almost 4W/gal. I would look elsewhere for the problem. You do have a lot of NO3 there. Are you adding traces?


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

yes my no3 is about 40-50ppm and i do add micros, 
btw i took it off of the substrate and placed it even closer to the light with the small pot i got with it


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

1 w/l is plenty of light, furcata is growing for me under less than half that amount. What is it doing exactly? I mean is it melting, shedding, stunting, turning pale..... it could be many things. 

Why are your NO3 and PO4 so high? Makes me wonder if something is missing in your tank and therefore plants are not growing well and consuming enough macros. What is your FE level? What is your water change and fertilization schedule?

The more info you give us the easier it will be to find the cause.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

hi again
i dose macro's once a week and its not melting but its in the same condition as it arrived to me and all the others are growing faster
i dont check the iron level
w/c - 10% each week
fert - kno3 on daily basis
fe gluconate on daily basis
and macros and P after w/c - once a week


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## gpodio (Feb 4, 2004)

You got all macros by the looks of it. Where are the micros? (Trace elements)

A shortage of trace elements would explain things easily, it would also explain the exagerated no3 and po4 levels you have.

Hope that helps
Giancarlo Podio


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

sorry mr. podio but i do use csm+b also... forgot to mension that. i moved it to another location and it look promissing though









could it b because all the substrate occupied by the glosso and dont give any place for the furcata to anchor? - i tot that cabomba species dont need to much place for their roots though cause they take the nutrients from the water column


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

If that's a sick-looking plant to you...

...wowee.

C. furcata has always been one of my favorite plants, and I think yours looks great.


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

its not sick but its not growing for 3 week (since i got it) - im afraid to trim its "head" and loose the whole plant cause i got it from thailand and cant get another one here, its only 2.5-5 inches long - can i cut it?


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## Error (Apr 16, 2004)

My C. furcata has acted like that lately too. Superb color but slow growth. My tank parameters are more ideal than they were when I first started with the stuff...strange.

You could try messing with the N and the P for a little while to see what happens.

The so-called "soft water" plants are so darn finicky


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I think you need to do 50% weekly water changes, then start dosing KNO3/PO4.

Mine grows about 15-25cm a week.
From the looks of it, it seems like you are actually NO3 deficient.
Even if your test kits say you are not. The growth pattern there tells more than than some cheapy NO3 test kit.
If there is CO2/light/traces, PO4 etc, then the plant should not look like that at all, unless poor NO3.

Try the water change and then dose some KNO3 back and see.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Did you try my advice?
You should a response within a couple of days.
Let me know if you lose it, I have more and can send it to you if need be. 

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

thanks tom ' i added more n but did only 20% w/c - twice already - it shows some positive response and for security i moved a piece of it to another tank , thanks again


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## chrisl (May 24, 2004)

Trying to learn Tom...what was it in that pic that screamed no3 deficiency? It is a beautiful plant!

Chris


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I've got many years growing this weed.
I do very well with it. Too well really. 

When you have the compressed internodes and very heavy red color on the lower portions, NO3 levels tend to be chronically low. 

Some plants exhibit different reactions and growth to low NO3. Some plants might look great while others almost die or stunt.

As I said, when the NO3 levels are not low, the growth rate is at least 25cm a week for my plants. I kept it in Marin and also have it right now. 

The same can be said for Blyxa japonica. I have so much of it, it's coming out my ears. 

I have an article coming out in Italian in Aqua Planta and in TAG in English on Nitrogen cycling.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## freshreef (May 14, 2004)

*blyxa japonica*

hi tom 
my name is baruch mor n im looking for blyxa jap. for a VERY LONG TIME here in israel without good results... would u send me a few plants to start with please? i would pay everything , all the shipping and the price of the plants even if they will die in their way ......... i am an foriegn exchange trader in a bank - so its not a problem for me to transfer u the money everywhere in the world... 
and if its ok , i would like a few stems of rotala macrandra too.
thanks and have a good day


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## chrisl (May 24, 2004)

Thanks Tom For explaining that to me. I thought compressed internodes..like growing reg. houseplants....equals good light. It's when you have too low of a light that it leads to larger internodal spacing. 
Interesting symptoms of N def. Hopefully I can catch your article!

Chris


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

I can send you some, but realize that both countries have become really anal about imports and mailing. So it might come cooked or might not makes it for a few days. DHL is one of the better methods. 

Sending stem plants is tough. They often melt due to heat. 

Short internoldal spacing can be from a few things. In this case, the intense red color is nice, but the slow growth and close internodes is not a sign of good fast growth and that something is slowing the plant down.

Cabombas are very fast growing weeds and tend to be very good competitors for nitrogen.
Therefore it's unlikely that the rate of N being added is very high. N is the main driving nutrient for biomass growth after CO2/Light.

PO4 on the other can be low and plant biomass maybe unaffected in many cases. Some plants are different but Cabombas are fast growers and easy to talk about.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## chrisl (May 24, 2004)

I understand now. It's actually the rate of growth that is influenced by N availability...and hence internodal spacing....which should be larger in fast growing plants. Makes sense.

Thanks Tom!

Chris


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## plantbrain (Jan 23, 2004)

Well give it a try and see for yourself.
Add and limit N and see what it does to certain plants.
Linmit severely, limit moderately, add a certain non limiting amount, dump lots of N in etc. 

Then you'll know for yourself.
Fast growing plants are particularly useful for determining effects on growth because they are expressed more pronounced than slow growers.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## chrisl (May 24, 2004)

Well I got some green Cabomba today so I have some and see how it grows for me...but I'll take your word and try to keep the N up  

Chris


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## huda (Jun 13, 2007)

how to prepare cobomba furcata aquarium?


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

This plant really does better in soft, acidic water, as well as bright light. Tom Barr's typical response is always, "it grows like a weed for me in hard water," but I wonder if he really knows furcata is different than any other Cabomba specie. Furcata is not a fast grower like Cabomba carolinia, which makes me wonder if he ever actually grew it when he made that comment. His comment was made back in 2004, so maybe he has changed his mind since then, who knows.

From my experience, give it as much light as possible, and acidic water, and you shouldn't have any problem with it.


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## wiste (Feb 10, 2006)

Due to many variables, what works for one person may not work for another.
There are some plants that require soft water.

That being said, it grows like a weed for me in hard water. 

With plenty of light (technically initial growing was with 5WPG in a water depth of 24-inches, but the bulbs were old), gentle CO2 mist and nutrient dosing, it grew about 12 inches a week and bloomed regularly. However, trimming two times a week gets old, quick. With lower C02 and lower nitrates it grows at more controlled rate. The color is also redder but the stems are not as thick.

From my experience, give it high light (>3WPG), CO2 supplementation and nutrient supplementation. Initially use water column dosing and optionally a nutrient rich substrate and you probably will not have any problem with it. 

I have heard good things about soft, acidic water but I have not tried this with C. furcata.
I am not sure what the water conditions were at previous zip codes where I grew plants as I did not understand that soft acidic water was important.


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## huda (Jun 13, 2007)

anybody can help me... how to prepare cobomba furcata aquarium.. i want to do a research about it..


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## huda (Jun 13, 2007)

thanks a lot of 4 robert hudson and wiste


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