Growing Podostemum ceratophyllum
#1 Guest_aquaticmind_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 02:01 PM
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_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 02:17 PM
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:
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_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:09 PM
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_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:13 PM
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_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:17 PM
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.And you had good luck with growing it?
#6 Guest_EricaLyons_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 03:22 PM
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_*
Posted 16 October 2013 - 04:03 PM
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