Lysimachia nummularis help needed

[JMLenke]

ok for whatever reason, after a little over a month in the tank and making it past the algae spike that I had. The stems on all the plants (approx 10 stems) at once just melted away for some odd reason. I am unsure if they melted due to the old growth being replaced or what. It was growing new shoots, gained about 1/3 again in new growth and seemed to be doing fine until yesterday. I havent changed anything in the tank other then my usual 25% weekly water change.

Anyone got any experience with it and able to tell me anything I might be missing?

http://www.floridadriftwood.com/product ... =209&3=250

[krisw]

Usually this plant is pretty darn hardy, except under the lowest light conditions. Was the plant shaded by other plants/wood/rocks/etc? What are your tank parameters? (light/substrate/CO2/dosing?)

On the bright side, you should be able to find plenty of Lysimachia around to try again, as it's native to Maryland, and is often found emersed around ponds/rivers.

[krisw]

Did you use any product to eliminate the algae spike? Do you use dechlorinator when you do water changes?

[JMLenke]

20h
1x Magnum 250 filter screen and handful of Crushed coral in the media basket. Trying for minimal Mech filtration ONLY.
1x 55w 6500k CF
2x 20w generic Home depot t12(iirc)
on for approx 10hrs a day (timered to help minimize algae)
1 powerhead on a timer for night aeration only
Eco-Complete substrate (approx 1.5 bags) a little over a month old.
Daily dose of approx 1 ml of Excel
Weekly dose of Azoo plant grow (forgot exact name)
25% water change weekly using Amquel+
Algae was left on anything except the glass. Inhabitants are slowly removing the algae that is left. Back glass is ignored so it has a good amount of green across it.
No current Co2 injection, keep forgetting to get the 5lb tank in the backseat filled.

Current tank inhabitants
4x Juvenile Keyholes (using this as a grow out tank for them)
1x Bolivian Ram (male)
1x Gold Bolivian Ram (IDed as female, hopefully she will like her only option)
2x Flagfish
and a few hitchhiker snails

Odd thing is that everything else in the tank is(seems) to be doing fine and growing or at least not dieing.

[krisw]

Hmm... Besides possibly having way too much light over the tank (1x55w CF should be plenty for a 20High), I don't know what went wrong. It's possible that Lysimachia is one of the few plant species that actually don't like Excel?

[JMLenke]

Maybe, I have been reading about that and the Riccia that I bought at the last meeting seems to be making it through the Excel dosing AND everyone in the tank seeming to think it is their own little salad bar. Riccia IIRC is one of the ones that seems to hate excel.

I just had to rewrap ithe riccia yesterday as it evidently grew through and off the hair net and rock, it was still barely attached but mostly floating.

[JMLenke]

I put those lights on under the premise of either blinding the fish or having (hopefully) good growth when I finally get the Co2 filled.

[krisw]

Even with CO2 and dosing, I have a hard time keeping my 20high algae free with a 1x55W light. Of course, I could be doing something wrong, but I haven't had any problems growing "high-light plants" in this setup. I'm not saying you can't do it with more light, but if you're having algae problems, I'd suggest turning off the extra lights to see if it makes a difference.

[JMLenke]

The algae was from initial setup (bunch of brown) or from the Eco-complete (evidently there was a recall on some of it due to it leeching phosphate IIRC) but it seems to have pretty well died down now.

Bad part is that if I end up getting the 40 breeder I will probably have 2x96 CFs in a DIY canopy. I really will have blind fish then.

[SCMurphy]

You will only need one of the 96 watters, I have one 96 watt bulb over my 65 and I couldn't be happier. If you do use two, stagger the time they are on so they both are on only for a couple hours in the middle of the day.