# Egeria densa looks dirty, colorless



## tjc (Jan 17, 2006)

On Feb. 22, 2006, I planted my 65G, non-heated, aquarium with $40.00 worth of plants (5 bunches of Egeria densa, 4 bunches of Caboma carolina, 5 bunches of Ludwigia repens, and two clumps of Lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae or micro swords). 

Temp=68°-70°F,20°-21°C; dKH=7.5; pH=8, just started dosing Flourish Excel and Kent Marine Ferts. I'll have a DIY, yeast CO2 up in about a week. I'm using four 30wt fluorescent tubes for 12 hours and a 175 MH for about 2 or 3 hours.

The Cabomba looks great and seems to have added almost an inch of growth. I love it's looks. The Ludwigia has grown a half inch with the new growth being red underneath the leaves and green above. To my surprise, the Lilaeopsis is growing strong in the cool temperature and adding roots to it's runners.

The Egeria looks pale in comparison and seems to collect debris and is growing every way but up. It doesn't seem to have grown as fast as the Cabomba, but you can see the nice green whorles of the apical bud. My floating, broken stems of Ludwigia have new growth. My floating, broken stems of Egeria are dying quickly.

Maybe this is the way Egeria looks? I was hoping it would be a deeper green. The leaves are more transparent than I thought they'd be. Maybe I just don't like Egeria. I wanted something to grow and look like kelp in my aquarium to give my fish something to hide in even near the top of the aquarium. Is the MH too much?

I plan on starting out with some Enneacanthus gloriosus or blue spotted sunfish from the east coast of the U.S.


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## Navi (Jun 24, 2005)

Egeria is particularly sensitive to Flourish Excel. If you continue to dose excel, it may melt completely.


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## tjc (Jan 17, 2006)

It was looking bad before I dosed the Flourish Excell last night, however, it looks much worse today. If that's the case, I'll ditch the Egeria and go with the Cabomba.

But I think something was up with the Egeria before hand. Maybe it didn't take the temperature change. I forgot to mention that I dosed some Acural E twice before adding the plants to get rid of some cloudy water.

Now my water is pretty cloudy, but I wonder if this is due to the Egeria.


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## tjc (Jan 17, 2006)

Egeria crashed and I had to pull it. Looks like maybe the Flourish Excell was the final straw, but something was up with it before hand.


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## Bert H (Mar 2, 2004)

Hey Tim,

Not familiar with Kent Marine Ferts. Is this a product especially formulated for sw tanks? If so, it's something you might want to consider.


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## tjc (Jan 17, 2006)

> Not familiar with Kent Marine Ferts. Is this a product especially formulated for sw tanks? If so, it's something you might want to consider.


Bert,

Can you tell I come from having a reef system. My mistake. I'm using Kent Freshwater 'Pro Plant' and 'Freshwater Plant'.


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