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Ok night owls.... Egeria/Elodea densa

Pricey32

Pricey32

Member
Joined
23 Feb 2016
Messages
100
Location
Nuneaton
Hi all,

Ive had this for a month or so now doing really well even when im taking cuttings but what I want to know is, how can i keep the thickness of the stems? Is this something thatl happen once the plants mature, or by it getting more nutrients? Im cutting it roughly halfway then taking the top half taking roughly a cm worth of leaves of and then replanting, is this right or is there a kind of technique?

Sorry for all the questions in one
 
Elodea Densa is a rampant weed that will thrive in any aquarium - to a point. It will throw side shoots out but if you want to maintain the thickness you will need to cut and re-plant the tops very regularly - that said, it will thin out as it heads for the light with its fast growth becoming more and more leggy and thin as it does - I have this standing in for something more suitable in a dark patch in my tank. In my humble opinion this plant is best left in a pond - it needs almost daily attention and becomes "mushy" looking even in the best environments after quite a short time.
 
It is basically used for ponds but I use it as a occasional algae weapon as a fast grower to out compete algae and allow slow growers or more difficult plants to establish,it can be used temporary that way or a nice plant even floating in a temperate aquarium.Although light is the what it loves it does need a liquid fertiliser once it takes off and trimming as MWS describes. Its common name is Canadian Pondweed
 
this plant is a blessing and a curse, it looks amazing when you buy it for aquariums; tied neatly into little bunches that look great, but skip forward a couple of weeks, and it breaks u; grows long and stringy, and mushy as mentioned above. That's even with daily trimming, the mush effect. I replaced it with pogostemon helferi
 
Just to clarify.....it is the high tempetature combined with (relatively) low light in our indoor tanks, that produces the leggy growth.
Personally I don't mind the appearance, and it is an unbeatable survivor and grower - but it is correct, that it changes appearance, when introduced to our indoor tanks.
Trimming and re-planting is a never-ending story, though.........
 
Yeah think I will start trimming and replanting my Cabomba as thats doing well, then il start removing the elodea as i go
 
Also sensitive to liquid carbon, even the smallest amount melts it to a mush.
 
Sooooo decided to get rid of 90% of the elodea, just need a plant that to replace it thats not too difficult to look after now
 
A few decent, readily available substitutes that are easy and forgiving are....

Myriophyllum Mattogrossense (Steady)

Limnophila Sessiflora (Fast)

Pogostemon Erectus (sort of, IME needs a bit of light but if it does work its a reasonably slow grower)

Hygrophila Difformis (Bushy)

Hygrophila Polysperma (Bit Bushy)

Bacopa Caroliniana (Steady/Fast)

🙂
 
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