• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

How long can it take for a plant to adapt to the tank ?

eminor

Member
Joined
5 Feb 2021
Messages
784
Location
France
Hello, how long can a plant take to get well established? Is it possible that a plant in ideal conditions takes a few weeks to really develop (slow growth, not great color), or even more ? thx
 
Many stems plant take about 5 minutes and some Bucephalanda take months or in my case never!

really so if a plant won't grow in few days it means that the condition are bad for her and it's not gonna change with time ?
 
Hello, how long can a plant take to get well established? Is it possible that a plant in ideal conditions takes a few weeks to really develop (slow growth, not great color), or even more ? thx
It can vary a lot even within same species... I've had plants that would take off in a week, or almost instantly, and same species of plants planted along side that would need a month to take off.

Cheers,
Michael
 
Adapt from emersed to submersed is the obvious dilemma.. depends really. Some plants have widely different forms out of the water than they do under water, to truly adapt to these conditions can take time.

How long does it take to get established in a new job, a day a week, a month?

It's a bit like asking if you feel comfortable driving your new car, some folks adapt, others complain for a few weeks until they adapt.

What plants are you asking about @eminor
 
As 90% of problems in UKAPS are related to CO2, do ensure that you have fixed your CO2 first. Stable >1.0pH drop on lights on and the flow is carrying the CO2 /CO2 mist to the plant in question.

Having stable tank parameters such as CO2 do help a plant "convert." If tank parameters are constantly changing, this may 'confuse' the plant as it struggles to adapt (this is generally why you don't plant Bucephelandra into a new and uncycled tank). Unless its a super fast 'weed' in which case, as foxfish mentions, 5 minutes is enough :)

On the other hand, there are odd situations - like when the original plant never seems to convert properly (curled leaves on new growth etc), but then it sends out a sideshoot, and the sideshoot grows into a perfectly normal plant while the original plant remains stunted. In such a situation, you will just use the original plant to grow as many sideshoots as possible, then discard the original and replant the sideshoots.
 
Like in my case I have used two established bucephalandra plants of two different species. I took them from my 2 years old aquarium split into 5 plants and planted into brand new aquarium. 2 of 5 plantlets have melted, well just a bit where new growth was coming out. Other were just fine and showed new growth after a week. After 6 weeks the ones which melted just showed new plantlets coming out from melted part. 🤷
 
How long does it take to get established in a new job, a day a week, a month?

Or even a new location....like the corner office... or working from home.... anyway, I have moved established plants (crypts) around within the same tank where it took weeks before they got re-established... sometimes its just a hit and miss, but in general plants suitable for your tank should be able to establish eventually otherwise something is wrong with respect to some of the usual suspects (Light,CO2,ferts,flow).

Unless its a super fast 'weed' in which case, as foxfish mentions, 5 minutes is enough :)
Now, that one I could spin a joke from... :cigar:

Cheers,
Michael
 
Last edited:
thx guys, for example I have the myriophyllum red which had a bad color (dark copper), no roots after a week inside the tank, it already was in immersed form. I increased the light because i already have 1 ph drop of co2 and EI fert, within days new shoots are coming in good shape, so maybe some plant can't grow without high light ?

there is a plant i really can't grow hygrophila pinnatifada, in my previous tank i used the same soil with diy co2, it was not constant, i never had BBA and that plant was growing like weed, fertilizer was almost never used, now it won't grow with high tech co2, etc, how is that possible ?

the co2 distribution are really good, inline atomizer mist absolutely everywhere in the tank, i don't know how can i improve that anymore
 
Really depends on the condition of the plant and on whether it was grown in vitro. I've noticed many in vitro plants take a lot of time to get going properly (mini hairgrass, bacopa, elatine). Other plants like ludwigia not grown in vitro go fast and constant right from the start.
Blyxa that arrived via mail took a while to get going, despite looking alright, blyxa that I moved from one of my tanks to another kept growing at the same pace despite spending a week in a bucket. I honestly can't say what the magic trick is :)
Edit: with a lot I mean 4 to 6 weeks for some of the in vitro to really get going.
 
Last edited:
If your light is lower, you are better off with Myrio Red Stem. I've tried tuberculatum many times with lower light and was never happy with the appearance. Now with 120-150 PAR at substrate, it is looking sweet.

I guess this is why Flowgrow classifies this as a 'difficult' plant.

However, I'm really tempted to try it, its readily available in my country and cheap - i might just give it a go since I'm already pumping up the lights to try to turn Rotala Wallichii pink! Either that or the tank crashes, but 72-hour blackout is always available to reset the tank 😅.
 
Last edited:
Hi all,
One week isn't long enough to be sure the plant isn't adapting suitably to its new environment
That is why <"I like a floating plant">, it doesn't need to adjust <"to lower CO2 levels">, or get its <"roots into the substrate">, it should just grow straight away, and if it doesn't? It is likely to be nutrients, and/or light, that are the problem.

If <"obligate aquatic plants"> were more <"commercially available"> it would make life easier if you needed to start with new plants. I tend to just recycle the <"stock of easy plants"> I already have from tank to tank, so my Cryptocoryne spp. might still melt, but at least they are used to aquatic life.

cheers Darrel
 
Last edited:
Back
Top