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Growing Podostemum ceratophyllum


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#1 Guest_aquaticmind_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 02:01 PM

Hey folks,
I just found this fourm and read a few old posts about trying to grow Podostemum ceratophyllum. I was wondring if anyone had any long term success?

I'm starting my PhD research on this plant and I'm tyring to find out what it takes to grow it in a lab. I've kept some alive in a 10 gallon take for about a month, but I would benefit from any additional input you folks might have.

Thanks in advance,

Cheers
~James

#2 Guest_aquaticmind_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 02:17 PM

I've figured out the search function and found the post below. If anyone has any other suggestions or tips on growing Podostemum, like perfered light spectrum, nutrient requirements, etc, I would love to hear about it.

There's podostemum, which is a fast flowing flowering (vascular) plant that looks like it could be a moss but it's not, technically.
Distribution: http://plants.usda.g...le?symbol=Poce3
Here's a picture I took of some:
Posted Image
http://img.photobuck...zps49e0f722.jpg
The trick to growing it is to tie to to a rock, point a powerhead at it, and shine like a thousand lumen bulb on it. Home Depot sells clamp fixtures for compact fluorescents for $8. Home Depot also sells 1400 lumen light bulbs for $10 for four, or if you want to light up your whole tank you can get this 2700 lumen ridiculously bright spot light of a light bulb: http://www.amazon.co...n/dp/B003BFTR14
Since we're talking about it, in general I find that between 100 and 200 lumens of light per gallon will grow most plants. I put my lights on a timer for three hours in the morning and five in the afternoon after I get home from work, and the divided hours helps keep algae growth down. (Cladophora can grow a lot if you keep the lights on for 16 hours a day, I discovered). (I mean, not that cladophora's not nice, I once had a cladophora carpet http://img.photobuck...imiru/058-1.jpg http://img.photobuck...imiru/069.jpg )


Thanks
James

#3 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:09 PM

I think the reason you can't see all the rest of my posts about that plant is because you're a guest and not a member. NANFA members have access to the trading dock, which is where I posted some for trade recently and discussed how I raise it.

It's pretty simple: lots of lumens, lots of flow, and add a little bit of nitrogen.
I used a Home Depot clamp light ( $8.50, http://www.homedepot...69#.Ul7xz_mkpYU )
with a 1400 lumen compact fluorescent bulb ($10 for four, Home Depot)
and a 1300 GPH powerhead ($25 for two, ebay)
and some dog kibbles as a nitrogen source, since it wasn't in one of the tanks that I regularly add fish flakes to.

Floating plants need nitrogen to be nonzero in the water column. They prefer ammonium ( http://www.theaquari...ical_Filtration ) but if you've got fish in the tank, nitrate will do. In general, nitrate under 30 ppm is safe for fish, so in my tanks with non-rooted plants where water column nitrogen is their only source, I try to keep nitrate above 10 ppm because that's the lowest my test kit will read, and below 30 ppm so the fish don't notice.

Welcome to NANFA :)
It's nice to have new faces around here. I'm a Ph.D. student too, at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

#4 Guest_aquaticmind_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:13 PM

And you had good luck with growing it?

I plan on trying to setup several aquaria in the lab and perfrom some experiments with it. It seems like a key plant in many river in the east and worth some investigation.

#5 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:17 PM

And you had good luck with growing it?

My tanks are all slack water, so since I didn't have a permanent home for it, I only kept it around for less than a month and then shipped it away. But yeah, I had no problems with it while it was in my care. I just checked on it every now and then, unclumping it from where it invariably became matted to the powerhead. I didn't tie mine down because it was in a for-sale temporary bucket, but like riccia fluitans (which is currently clinging to the rock wall of my 75 gallon tank), if it finds a slow spot and settles near a rock, it'll adhere. It became quite attached to my powerhead.

#6 Guest_EricaLyons_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:22 PM

Oh, forgot to mention: I'd aim for keeping it at room temp. Don't add a heater.

The water I collected it from was quite chilly. I've got a few heated tanks and although it would have been nice, the Dan river felt nothing like them. It must have been a lot closer to 60 than 80 in there.

#7 Guest_aquaticmind_*

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Posted 16 October 2013 - 04:03 PM

Thank you. I don't have a heater in any of my tanks right now. I've got a small bit growing in a 1.5 gallon tank with some White Cloud's and its seems to be doing ok, if I can keep the snails away from it.




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