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I unexpectedly had to go away for a week two weeks ago and my boyfriend refused to take out any maintenance work on my tanks, except of feeding the fish -- he claimed he's too lazy. When I came back a week after, things have deteriorated a bit. I was in the process of getting things right after rescaping the tank a while ago so things weren't stable enough to hold on for a week. It wasn't too bad, just a little more algae than I'm used to (and willing to live with) and the plants have suffered a bit.

So, last week was a maintenance week for me with small daily water changes, and daily fertilising. Today, when I looked at my plants from above, I could really see the fruits of my hard work and I thought some of you would be interested to see the effect that fertilising had on my plants.

The plant in question is Limnophilla aromatica which was added to the tank just a day before I had to go. As you can see, the older bigger leaves are half light-green/yello and have began to become greener, while the newer leaves are green.

General information about the tank:
* 96 litres (that's my main tank, no space for a larger one)
* 10 hours light a day.
* JBL CO2 system -- about 20ppm CO2.
* I have two flourescent lamps, Arcadia freshwater & Arcadia tropical, 18w each, with reflectors. Do the math yourself.
* I add 2ml of Tropica Master Grow daily, rather than a larger amount weekly.

The algae, by the way, is disappearing. I removed some of it manually, some of it is being eaten by my new employees -- three apple snails, and I think that adding fertiliser helped as well as the plants now grow faster and outcompete the algae.

Hope you find it interesting.

untitled attached this image:

Good job! Yeah it's tough to find someone to take care of high needs tanks wile we go away.

You should offer to him some sort of compensation next time. I'm sure you can think of a way to repay him.

Or just thro a fit if he doesn't at least dose our tank wile away.

Really. How hard is it to fill a cap with ferts and dump it in the tank wile feeding them.

The lid is already open.

Very nice picture! You have me worried now as I am leaving all my fish in my husband's care for 8 days next month while I go on a cruise. He is not really into me having the fish in the first place, so this could be a disaster! I am crossing my fingers here and hoping for the best!

Glad to see you are getting your tank back in order! Thanks for sharing the pic.

Read my advise Stormy....

It's the "compensation" that has me worried Shannen! LOL!

Have to admit the Aromatica is one of my favourites. In bright light and good conditions it takes a beautiful purple color. You may see this as the plant grows closer to the light. Btw you can also eat it It's used as a herb here in Asia.

Yep, once you have Co2 the plants need regular ferts as they consume the available nutrients so fast.

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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.

How do you eat it? In a salad? I'm actually intrigued and I will probably try it when it grows big enough to be pruned.

So far I get the purple colour on the lower side of the leaves only, but I'm really hoping that it will all go purple. Even if it doesn't, after being here for only two weeks it's already my favourite plant. Really beautiful.

Don't know if I'd eat it as salad It's used as a flavoring for stuffings and sauces. It's usually mixed with other herbs and spices.

The purple is mainly on the underside, but the tops should become a pinkish /reddish in very bright light.

With regard to pruning. I always uprooted and trimmed off the bottom rather then taking cuttings. I find top cuttings while it's ok to do ruins the shape of the plant. Also as the plant grows the bottom will get less and less light and the bottom leaves will eventually drop off. Every few weeks I'd pull it up and cut the bare bottom and replant.

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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.

untitled, As we use alot of chems/meds and such in our tanks. I would strongly advise against eating anything that comes out of it.

If you grow some in a bucket of just water and co2 then it would be ok.

If you notice on most of the stuff we dose our tanks with, there is a warning about it not beening intended for fish that will be consumed.