ELEOCHARIS ACICULARIS MINI Enquiry

[Nathanh2150]

Hi all,
I recently added (eleocharis acicularis mini) into my aquarium at the time there was no root structure to the stems. I planted into the substrate and since planted it’s been about a month now and there showing signs of roots forming but at the time of planting they where a nice vivid green colour but now have gone into a dark green some even brown is this normal for this carpeting plant and is there anything I should be doing to help them out wile there settling into there new tank? Temperature of the aquarium is around 25-27 and there’s co2 running from 4am-9pm on an in-line defuser attached to the external filter with lighting coming on around 8am till 10pm I know it’s a long lighting period but I have this set on an automatic dimmer haven’t seen any issues with this and plants are thriving really well. Just didn’t know if the eleocharis acicularis mini was showing any signs that’s I should be aware of.. all help would be much appreciated as I’m really enjoying the hobby of aquascaping and learning new methods in the hobby 🙂

 

[Zeus.]

eleocharis acicularis mini does like a good [CO2] plus a decent amount of light,IMO a DSM is a great way of getting it going, without the issues of too much light, low [CO2] and algae, you can blast it 12hrs a day with a 'Stable' [CO2] of 400ppm free.
Hers a pic of the roots I had after a few weeks.


Yours had had to adapted to growing underwater with limited light with a [CO2] which may not be stable - have you done a pH profile.
Extended low intensity lighting does nothing for plants, algae like/thrive in it, but does give longer viewing times.

The brown look to the 'grass' may be due to diatoms as you probably haven't got a clean up crew in their yet. I have two high tech tanks and some eleocharis acicularis in some pots in smaller tank with no amanos in their and every month or so I drop the pots in 500l with amanos and 24hrs later they look much better with a more vivid green colour.
Growing a carpet in a flooded tank takes longer than with DSM and a flooded tank do get algae issues when there is a low plant biomass, a DSM avoids many algae issues and plants can then have lots of energy good root systems and then the change to growing underwater is done with more energy reserves and a higher plant biomass, plus after a DSM your substrate will have already cycled, a few days after flooding I was intruding Amanos, DSM do get mould but relativly easy to deal with and Amanos soon clean it up..

In short I would scrap the extended low light viewing for now, check pH profile, some patience and Amanos once tank has cycled

 

[Nathanh2150]

Hi zenus,
Thankyou for the above information
I currently have in the aquarium
5x otocinclus catfish
Also 6x Cory
And for fish I have
12x cardinal tetra
5x Congo tetra
4x Celestial Pearl Danio but am looking to add another 10 in my set up
I have been told recently to keep the co2 on for 24hours but I’m getting a good lime green colour in my co2 drop checker.
Water flow of the tank seems ok with no dead spots that I can see off as I’m running a biomaster 600 thermo with glass Lilly pipe work set with skimmer.
Should I daily does plant food to help or keep that untill it’s needed in the future ?
My PH is at 6.7
And water in my area is hard but do add tap safe with every water change Which is every Sunday

 

[Zeus.]

keep the co2 on for 24hours

Good move IMO as your [CO2] is more likely to be stable without doing a pH profile.

Should I daily does plant food

IMO, Yes - as then nutrients are unlimited.

I currently have in the aquarium
5x otocinclus catfish
Also 6x Cory
And for fish I have
12x cardinal tetra
5x Congo tetra
4x Celestial Pearl Danio but am looking to add another 10 in my set up

My Octos didnt do well 😢 as tank wasnt mature enough for them to get enough food, I have no Octos in any tanks ATM.
So seeing Fish are fine get some amanos 😉

 

[Nathanh2150]

Gone out today and got
3x sterba Cory
2x kribensis
1x cockatoo drarf cichlid sadly only had one for sale so will be head back out once more are in stock.

 

[Zeus.]

Gone out today and got
3x sterba Cory
2x kribensis
1x cockatoo drarf cichlid sadly only had one for sale so will be head back out once more are in stock.

So they had no Amanos 🤨

 

[Nathanh2150]

None at all I would of got about 10-15 of them

 

[Luciën]

That some awesome growth you have there @Zeus. Mine died back a lot also although my co2 is stable.. I think about upping it a bit.. My light is not really high and 7h a day. But u do get some algea now mostly gsa..

 

[shangman]

Keep an eye on the kribs with the apistos, both are agressive dwarf cichlids, usually you don't want to put two types of dwarf cichlids together as they will both eagerly fight to the death for their young if they feel the need (if you keep pairs in soft water babies are very likely). Kribs are particularly known to be vicious, so make sure that there are lots of hiding places like coconut shells, botanicals, piles of leaves and driftwood caves for them to claim different territories and keep out of each others way. They will also have a go with the corys as they share territory (on the bottom), and with any of the fish that think the fry look tasty.

 

[Zeus.]

That some awesome growth you have there @Zeus.

Thank you 😀,
Here the pic of six weeks later on flood day

You can see the roots at the substrate level through glass, doing a 12 week DSM really paid off IMO

 

[Nathanh2150]

Keep an eye on the kribs with the apistos, both are agressive dwarf cichlids, usually you don't want to put two types of dwarf cichlids together as they will both eagerly fight to the death for their young if they feel the need (if you keep pairs in soft water babies are very likely). Kribs are particularly known to be vicious, so make sure that there are lots of hiding places like coconut shells, botanicals, piles of leaves and driftwood caves for them to claim different territories and keep out of each others way. They will also have a go with the corys as they share territory (on the bottom), and with any of the fish that think the fry look tasty.

I shall keep an eye as I know they will be territorial there’s plenty of space in the tank to have there own space if anything arises I shall take them back to Maidenhead for just one type of ciclid

 

[Soilwork]

I launched some outside in a bucket of mud and left it over an icy winter and spring. Came back in the summer and tipped the muddy water out to find a bucket full I didn’t know what to do with. Not sure what the PAR or co2 levels were in this bucket but it looked pretty hostile.

Put some in my tank and it disappeared never to be seen again.

 

[Zeus.]

I had some in a plastic tub in garden all winter which froze, melted and still survived

 

[Nathanh2150]

I have been struggling with carpeting plants as before I had Monte Carlo and that all melted into mush didn’t grow back or nothing so moved onto grass instead as it looked more hardier and easy to maintain as it’s also in the easy category to grow it’s been in the tank now for a month like my post has stated and the photos on the post was taken today so I’m sure it’s not melting but just taking it’s time to get established before sending off new runners I have read it takes months to fully carpet witch makes sense. I brought this as a none emerged grass..