# Emersed swords browning leaves



## cbwmn (Dec 18, 2007)

Good day

I'm trying my hand at growing some plants emergent.
Zapins has helped me a lot.
This is how I set it up:
Glass tank is 18 ½" W x 14 ½" D x 8" tall.
I put in two plastic containers are 8" x 14" with clear snap on lids.
I punched a bunch of holes in the bottom. 
I have a glass top with weather stripping that I put over the whole thing.
Currently there is 1" of old tank water in the bottom and 2" of potting soil in the containers. The potting soil is wet.
Lighting is an 18 watt fl. striplight in a DIY shiny SS hood, and 2 - 14 watt spiral cfl lamps also. 
There is no sign of algae and the only bugs around are flying in my head.

Here is a picture:
http://gs69.photobucket.com/groups/i60/7NOBMDJJ0N/
Look at the first picture.

I've got some E. Bleheri that are sprouting leaves but the outside leaves are turning brown and drying up. They are in the left container at the top.
Could this be a nutrient deficiency? I use old tank water that has been dosed EI with PMDD & FE.

The humidity should be sufficient with both the snap on lids and the overall lid with weather stripping on the edges. There is condensation on the sides of the containers but not inside the top.

Just curious.

Thank you
Charles


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

The humidity is actually probably too much. My experiences with Echinodorus is that they prefer lower humidity levels. This gets tricky because evaporation becomes an issue once you open the top a bit. A friend of mine actually grows them in open air sitting in water.


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## plantkeeper (Apr 30, 2007)

You don't need two tops. My opinion would be to get rid of the plastic lids on the plastic containers. You do need some air exchange and flow for plants to respire. Right now you are suffocating them in my opinion.

Humidity may be too high as well like Aaron stated, but that would just prolong the conversion from emersed to submersed form. The plant should not be suffering from it. It just takes forever. 

Stay in tune with the growth of the plant and clip off submersed growth periodically as it dies off to maintain good health.

As far as using recycled tank water, this seems ok, but I would say that it may be good housekeeping to maintain some "cleaner" water (with periodic water changes) and dose it instead at the onset of the setup. It doesn't take much for an emersed setup to go foul. Even though its EI dosed, you not really sure how much nutrients your actually adding since you don't know the uptake from the base tank.

Just some advice. Good luck with it.


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## cbwmn (Dec 18, 2007)

Thanks for the help folks

Charles


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## DelawareJim (Nov 15, 2005)

AaronT said:


> The humidity is actually probably too much. My experiences with Echinodorus is that they prefer lower humidity levels. This gets tricky because evaporation becomes an issue once you open the top a bit. A friend of mine actually grows them in open air sitting in water.


Aaron's spot on. Initially you'll loose some of the older leaves as the plant adjusts to the existing growing conditions.

I grow mine indoors in coco fiber pots sitting in a nursery flat filled with water and no top at all. I'm currently moving them into bigger 1 quart take away containers, so they have more root room, that will sit directly on the shelf under lights. Humidity ranges from 50 to 60 percent. This year I want to try a 'Red Flame' and 'Purpurea' upstairs in nice decorative containers with no drainage as house plants.

I also grow a couple outdoors in my 55 gallon pond as marginals as they would be in the wild. They're in 2 quart and 1 gallon nursery pots on the shelves of the pond from about May until frost. After the frost burns off the leaves, they go in 5 gallon buckets with a couple inches of water in the garage until spring. These perform the best by far. A Kleiner Bar with it's red margins and about 6 or 7 runners blooming at the same time looks pretty darn nice.

Cheers.
Jim


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## Cavan Allen (Jul 22, 2004)

I like to see just a bit of condensation on the glass, but no more. A good test for humidity (besides a meter) is to keep some _Hygrophila difformis_ in there; it's quite prone to growing submersed-style leaves if the humidity is too high.

There are some really good responses here. :thumbsup:


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## cbwmn (Dec 18, 2007)

Cavan Allen said:


> I like to see just a bit of condensation on the glass, but no more. A good test for humidity (besides a meter) is to keep some _Hygrophila difformis_ in there; it's quite prone to growing submersed-style leaves if the humidity is too high.
> 
> There are some really good responses here. :thumbsup:


Yes, there are some well informed (smart) folks who responded.
Growing aquatic plants emersed is a new experience for me.
thanks all
Charles


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