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In my tank i have two 25 watt blue moon actinic tubes. Which i know are not ideal for growing plants. However i took a cutting of a lilly out of my pond and put it in my tank to see what happened.

So it grew normally. Then soon i noticed it reaching my intake tube. And growing higher and higher up the tube. Now the tallest stem is 18" and at the waters surface!!

I can't say i'm not happy as what i wanted the lily to do was cover the surface and dim the light for my piranhas. I just can't believe it grew that fast in the space of the week.

Just this morning it was half way up my intake tube. I'd say it'g grown about 4" in under 12 hours!!

Also will it grow ok in my tank?? in my pond it doesn't rise above the waters level the leaves just lay flat.

Also as i was writing this i remebered i took a cutting of some water cress. Thats nearly at the waters surface too

It's amazing how fast they've grown. Is there any reason for this?? i thought my lights were bad for plants??

My lights are on a 12 hour cycle.

thanks

FCF

I almost forgot it's a 33g tank.

Last edited by Fish_Can_Fly at 04-Apr-2005 17:43

The growth rate (of aquarium lillies like Tiger Lotus anyway) depends on the light available.

If the light is bright the plant will tend to stay low and in the water. If the light is poor it will send out stems racing for the surface (ie the light) at an amazingly fast rate. It can go from nothing to reaching the surface in a couple of days This is probably what you are experiencing.

Once it it hits the surface the floating leaves can become very large. If they get too big just cut it off and the plant will send out a new one pretty quickly.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thats probably the most likely reason. I'm hoping the leaves will get huge and block out some light. Do you think the leaves will be thick enough?? and will this kill the other plants below the lilly?

also i was owndering if you could identify the plants in my tank. I'm pretty useless when it comes to knowing what plants are which. I can identify java moss and amazon swords but thats about it

Heres a picture of all the plants in my tank:

Fish_Can_Fly attached this image:

Wow that's one blue tank

Well apart from the moss it's hard to tell from the photo. The stem plant looks like hornwort.

The one in the middle I don't recognise. Is it the photi or does it have more then one leaf on each stem ? If so it's not a sword plant.

The lily leaves don't look big at all. Shouldn't cause too much problems.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.