Question on trimming stem plants.

[W1368]

After trimming stem plants in my tank, the majority of the time only one side shoot appears. Rarely do two appear.

Leading to this sort of shape after 1-2 weeks:
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rathan than
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I usally trim just above the node. In general my plants are not showing signs of difficiancy, drop checker is showing a nice green.

125L, two 20w T8s with reflectors. EI dosing.

Am I missing something??? :?

 

[Alastair]

What's your flow like? I had the sane problem until I sorted my flow. I was relying too much on my drop checker being lime green, then thinking that all was ok, to realise that even though the level was fine, my flow wasn't reaching around the lower parts of my stem plants.

 

[flygja]

What sort of stems are those? Some stems like Ludwigia brevipes do not actually sprout side shoots. Well in my experience at least.

I think your lighting may not be enough either, especially considering they are T8 tubes.

 

[W1368]

I'm using an old Juwel Rio tank, but with an upgraded 1,000lph pump. I could improve cirulation a bit by twisting the outlet nosle to a lower possition although that would lead to loosing some surface aggitation.

The path of the bubbles coming from the C02 diffuser seem to stay fairly low around the areas I'm having problems with.

I'm fairly new to planted tanks and long term would prefer to purchase a whole new setup. I could to upgrade to T5 lighting but think the money is best put towards a new tank.

Stem plants:
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Limnophila sessiliflora/aquatica (not sure which)
Ludwigia repens Rubin
Nesaea crassicaulis

I'm suspicous something could be off, as more than one side shoot does appear occasionally. Most commonly with the Heteranthera, but not always.