Limnophila hippuridoides

[Joel Armstrong]

I am curious if limnophila hippuridoides is dependent on a nutrient rich substrate?

I've grown the plant quite well in the past using ADA soil, but I'm struggling to grow it well in an inert substrate. The tips look ok, but the bases deteriorate.

About 3 weeks ago I increased macros, so perhaps I just need to give it more time.

 

[Art]

Hi @Joel Armstrong - this is a plant that, IME, grows aggressively in a good environment. New growth growing well with old growth deteriorating indicates that things are well now. I would give it a few growth cycles before making any determination on the substrate.

I do know people that grow Limnophila well in inert substrate. So, it can be done.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Hi @Joel Armstrong - this is a plant that, IME, grows aggressively in a good environment. New growth growing well with old growth deteriorating indicates that things are well now. I would give it a few growth cycles before making any determination on the substrate.

I do know people that grow Limnophila well in inert substrate. So, it can be done.

Thank you Art, I appreciate your helpful response.

I'm glad you've ruled out the substrate as a potential issue, I quite like the plant.

I'll take your advice, thanks again.

 

[HardeeParty]

It’s one of the first plants I tried when I had no clue what I was doing. It’s very macro hungry. Until my most recent tank I’ve always grown it without issue in plain BDBS . It’s an aggressive grower so when the water column goes lean it scavenges heavily from the lower leaves, not dissimilar to anything else, but so much that the stems will start to deteriorate.

 

[Lush_Aqua]

I'm going to piggyback on this chain. My stems seem to be struggling under high light and 4.5mL of APT3 in a 40gallon breeder tank. Curious if your new stems ended up bouncing back to a vibrant and bushy state. I have fresh top cuts that I planted several weeks ago in a new location with better light and am still struggling to make it happy. Still green on the leaves and narrow.

Is my hard water a possible culprit to its health issues? Seems all my other stems are getting trimmed frequently.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Curious if your new stems ended up bouncing back to a vibrant and bushy state

They did bounce back actually.. I was under dosing.. Growth was very good once I increased macros.

 

[Sb1415]

@Lush_Aqua i have a kh of 2 and gh of 5-6 and still struggling with this plant in APT feast with apt 3 at recommended dose in modest light. I find that for me it is not tolerating the cycle of trimming and replanting well. Unlike rotala br, this atleast in my tank seems to take a while to form root system before growing. As other said this plant likely has variable adaptability based on where it is getting it’s nutrition from. I find it in my tank to be similar to p.decannensis/erectus. They both seem to take a while to establish but take off nicely once done. The problem was I dealt with them similar to rotalas and just trimmed and replanted with even minor algae issues which I think then prolongs the period before seeing good growth and is associated with the replanted part not doing so great.

Going back to @Dennis Wong comment on nutritional stability, I am assuming this is a plant which if grown on lean conditions with rich soil adapts to getting nutrition from the soil nicely and once you cut and replant it, struggles quite a bit until it re-establishes. This is likely not applicable to OPs question, but curious to know if plants derive any nutrition from inert substrate based on the mulm and such.

 

[Lush_Aqua]

@Lush_Aqua i have a kh of 2 and gh of 5-6 and still struggling with this plant in APT feast with apt 3 at recommended dose in modest light. I find that for me it is not tolerating the cycle of trimming and replanting well. Unlike rotala br, this atleast in my tank seems to take a while to form root system before growing. As other said this plant likely has variable adaptability based on where it is getting it’s nutrition from. I find it in my tank to be similar to p.decannensis/erectus. They both seem to take a while to establish but take off nicely once done. The problem was I dealt with them similar to rotalas and just trimmed and replanted with even minor algae issues which I think then prolongs the period before seeing good growth and is associated with the replanted part not doing so great.

Going back to @Dennis Wong comment on nutritional stability, I am assuming this is a plant which if grown on lean conditions with rich soil adapts to getting nutrition from the soil nicely and once you cut and replant it, struggles quite a bit until it re-establishes. This is likely not applicable to OPs question, but curious to know if plants derive any nutrition from inert substrate based on the mulm and such.

Very interesting you mention your p.decannensis as well. I also have issues with this plant lol... there had been times it was looking very nice, but I was getting mixed results on the stems that regrew after trimming. The replanted tops didn't look as nice re-planted either. During that time, the tank was being under-dosed with APT1, which is a strong culprit. I've now been dosing the right amount of APT3 for just a handful of weeks, so the results are not really showing just yet.

It's also possible my L. Hipp. was not happy getting shaded when my Rotala would overgrow and cover the top of the water. Perhaps I need to make sure it's out of danger from changes in the light as well.