c. balansae advice

[stevet]

I recently planted some C balansae in my 400 litre tank, which is fairly mature, in the hope that it would act as a nice contrasting background plant to my broader leaved swords.

My question is, given my parameters detailed below, how long should it take for this plant to reach maturity? The plants have been in situ now for 2 weeks and i have seen no sign either of melt or new growth. The tank is 70 cm high so i was hoping the plants would reach this height over a period of time.

Parameters:
temp - 28C
Nirtrate - 10ppm
dosing - 40% wc weekly - Seachem trace and flourish dosed. Potassium dosed weekly. No N or P as both dosed with fish bioload.
kh - 4 degrees
Substrate - all EC
I use RO water remineralised.

I know these plants tend to be slow growers?

 

[GreenNeedle]

Depends what height they were when you bought them and more importantly you forgot to tell us about CO2 and light.

It looks like you are dosing a reasonable amount, so on the assumption you are running good CO2 and have >1WPG, I would expect them to reach 2ft within a couple of months.

I would've expected signs of melt within a week of planting so you should be OK (but don't take this for granted.) If they get some BBA on them then the melt will be beginning.

It would also depend on the quality and type of the plant you got. I have got a couple of different types and the Tropica crispulata variet grow like wildfire whereas the plain normal variety are a much slower grower.

Andy

 

[vauxhallmark]

I don't have experience with balansae (or Cryptocroyne crispatula var. balansae, as Tropica call it), but all cryptocorynes I have ever bought, or even moved, seem to take a little time before doing anything after replanting. It might be a week, it might be a month, and you don't see much happening at all, perhaps the odd leaf. It's like they're thinking (or planning, or regrouping).

I suspect that there is plenty going on beneath the substrate though, because when you take your eye off them they go completely wild. The original plants quadruple the number of leaves (and often the original leaves start to look very tired, as if they've had all the goodness sucked back out of them - cut 'em off), and runners start popping up everywhere.

So, if your tank is generally running ok, and other plants are growing I would try and take your mind off your new crypts ('a watched pot boilth not'), and enjoy the rest of your plants and fish for now. In a week or two, when you have given up checking for new leaves you'll suddenly realise that they've grown, and they'll keep on doing it as long as you leave them undisturbed.

Just personal experience, but I hope it puts your mind at rest.

Take (and date) a picture of them now, and post it and a new one in 3-4 weeks time - let us see how they've filled in!

Cheers,

Mark

 

[stevet]

Depends what height they were when you bought them and more importantly you forgot to tell us about CO2 and light.

It looks like you are dosing a reasonable amount, so on the assumption you are running good CO2 and have >1WPG, I would expect them to reach 2ft within a couple of months.

I would've expected signs of melt within a week of planting so you should be OK (but don't take this for granted.) If they get some BBA on them then the melt will be beginning.

It would also depend on the quality and type of the plant you got. I have got a couple of different types and the Tropica crispulata variet grow like wildfire whereas the plain normal variety are a much slower grower.

Andy

They arrived from Greenline as plants of about 4 inches or smaller.

I have injected co2 from FE at 2bps and approx 2.7 wpg.

Ill keep track on them - still no real sign of growth yet and they've been in for three weeks or so.