Help with cabomba

[Tomo]

Hi

Can any one give me advice on keeping my cabomba heathly and bushy.It is growing tall and straggly.Keeping its
green colour but just looks staggly.

Is it best to trim the top down, or take out and cut the bottom stems and replant, seems fiddly and a pain that way?

I have a 60lt tank other plants all doing great; 24watt t5 lighting on timer for 8 hrs

no co2 injection just 2ml easycarbo and 1ml easyprofito added daily. Thanks.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
You can re-plant the tops, the cut stems will branch from the nodes. Cabomba needs a lot of light, and it may be its not getting enough light, it never did very well for me when I had 26W of T5 lighting over a similar size tank*, but it now does much more compact under higher light. Someone who is more knowledgeable about its actual light requirement may be able to tell you more.

However, it seems most likely that this is probably (at least partially) a nutrient issue, as I don't think Easyprofito contains any macro-nutrients? Plants have a much higher requirement for N (nitrogen) P (phosphorus)& K (potassium) than for the other nutrients, if you are adding a liquid carbon source you need to add these macro-nutrients as well.

cheers Darrel

* I have a lot of floating plants and I don't have access to a PAR meter so the actual light reaching the Cabomba is unknown.

 

[Tomo]

Hi Darrel

Thanks for your quick reply can't afford udating my lights.
Im pretty sure i read somewhere you have to be careful with adding nitrogen and phosphorus because it might cause algae? which i dont wont.I read on the back of easyprofito that it contains a complete fertilizer with Iron,potassium,manganese and other vital nutrients so im a bit confused with this nitrogen and phoshorus.
I was hoping for a easy bushy heathly looking plant but my cabomba is struggling even though it says it is easy to grow may cut top stems down and hope it bushes out, or any suggestion on another plant?

Thanks Tomo.

 

[dw1305]

Hi Tomo,
Have a look through the forum for the details about the different nutrients that are needed by the plant.

Im pretty sure i read somewhere you have to be careful with adding nitrogen and phosphorus because it might cause algae?

Unfortunately you'll find a lot of poor advice on the web, written by people who have no real idea what they are talking about. On this forum we, hopefully, do understand what we are doing and why, all though we may differ a little in our methods.

If you take nitrogen (N) the plant needs a lot of this to make amino acids and proteins. As an example a large proportion of the protein in a plant is in the chlorophyll, the photosynthetic pigment that makes plants green. By adding liquid carbon you are driving up the plants requirement for the macro-nutrients.

If the UKAPS forum threads look a bit daunting, have a look at James C's Planted tank site. James is a member here and this is a great resource. <http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/>.

cheers Darrel

 

[Tomo]

Hi Darrel,

Thanks for your reply, and your helpful information about the plants.

I had a look at the website you recommended, and it looks very good.

Hopefully I'll now have some better luck with my cabomba!

Thanks again

Tomo

 

[ukco2guy]

Hi,

I have had Cabomba for a while and it always grew tall but straggly with large sections between leaves. After submitting the question on here i was advised that it was reaching for the surface due to incorrect flow / co2 / nutrients as opposed to light which i thought was the problem. I adjusted my flow and nutrient regimen (increased dose) which gave me a much bushier looking stem and although they grew as quick as before the distance between leaves was more compacted and overall looked like they should. I still cut the topps off, replant and bin the bottoms as that`s the only way i can control them

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers,