# *****'s Blood preffered care requirements



## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

*Eriocaulon '*****'s Blood' preferred care requirements*

Hi all, 
I am resuscitating a tiny sprig of Erio. *****'s Blood from a friend's plant tank and I would like to know what you have found makes this plant really take off. I am keeping it in cooler water, high flow, high light environment with daily excel dosing but no CO2. The substrate is regular grade amazonia I with tons of crushed flourish tabs for the base. KH ~1, GH ~3.

The plant is growing at an appreciable rate but the leaves are still hairgrass small. I am looking for any pointers to fatten up the plant and encourage it to grow larger thicker leaves. Thanks in advance.


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## BryceM (Nov 6, 2005)

Coralite said:


> *****'s Blood


Huh?

uke:


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## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

_Eriocaulon_ (_Trithuria_) sp. "*****'s Blood"


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Isn't that a horrid name?


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## ashappard (Jun 3, 2006)

its growth is steady, not necessarily slow as it makes abundant plantlets forming a clump.
you untangle them and replant increasing the size of the group.

for me, success in aquasoil with 0KH and GH ~4.
CO2 is delivered by misting during lights on.
I dose nutrients lightly and use a shorter photoperiod but light is intense. 
7 hours of HQI over a shallow tank. 
I have removed heavy water column feeders from the tank, to keep nutrients more balanced. 
so no fast stems, no greedy hygros etc. 
KNO3 / KH2PO4 are dosed 4:1 by weight. 
lightly but consistently from a solution mixed weekly. traces added by TMG 
after 5 days a water change of about 30% 
I reconstitute GH to 4 at that time. 

most of this routine is to encourage stability and consistent parameters.
it changes as I alter the sp. mix but I have settled on a routine for plants like this. 
so for now they are together in a pair of tanks and the routine is not changing.

I haven't tried to grow this in excel alone, or heard of an attempt. 
so let us know how that turns out coralite.

many who keep this one use typical erio conditions and I think they work well.
watch that epiphytic algae does not get on to it, and that conditions in the water do not change.
at first I had success, then I lost several plantlets due to careless maintenance. 
so I learned my lesson (again and again) and stick to a steady routine.


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## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

Tex Gal said:


> Isn't that a horrid name?


I agree. You'd think that with two vivid names it would be a more colorful plant but the red coloration at the base of the leaves is not really that noticeable.

Thanks for the tips ashappard, I will try to weed out the ErioVB's companions to slower growing plants. I have very little to no algae growth but as with other Erios, I find that the plants tend to trap and accumulate debris and detritus. It's important to keep algae and detritus from building up, especially with the especially fine leaves of the VB.


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## vancat (Nov 5, 2004)

awesome Smilie, Bryce!


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## Coralite (Nov 29, 2008)

Here is a pic of my little ErioVB plantlet. The substrate is regular amazonia and the plants in the background are average size C.parva. The plant is about twice as big as it was a month ago. Hopefully it will continue to grow at this pace.


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