HELP! Hornwort Disintegrating

NewObsession

NewObsession

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Aug 27, 2007
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I'll try to keep this brief while still giving enough info.

Bought hornowort about 2 weeks ago for 10 gallon tank. Not set up for planting, including UGF and 2 uptubes. it seemed to do ok though along with 5 or 6 water sprite. Last week I bout a 20 Gallon Tall tank to give the fish more room. Took out the UGF, added some finer gravel and switched everything over. Within 2 days the Hornwart was disintegrating. Bottom of tank littered with the leaves! Finally took it out last night as it was just making a mess. Thoughts? I had taken out the UGF because I figured it wouldn't gas off CO2 that way, however someone told me that some agitation is neccessary. could that be why it did ok floating in the 10 gallon but not the 20? lighting went from 2.5 wpg to 1.5 wpg with the change, but didn't think they needed a ton of light.
Also, a couple of questions since I am adding CO2 this week. How does one measure CO2 concentration? Also, I have seen mention of bubble counters. They are....?

Lastly, when calculating wpg, does depth get taken into consideration? IN my new 20 Gallon tall, being the same footprint as the previous 10 gallon, would the upper portion not be receiving just as much light as before? Or does water somehow diffuse the concentration?
 
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I just recently got some hornwort myself. I have enough that I put a single bunch in each tank. All are surviving and growing. The one with the most fish in the tank and about 1 wpg is doing best. The one in my 45 with 78 w of light is doing least well but surviving. The one in the 40 with 110 w of light that I am cycling with ammonia is also doing well. All I can see is that where I don't have enough nitrogen, fish load or ammonia, it is not doing as well. The light levels don't seem to matter although they should from what I've read. Even the bunch in the 29 with 20 w of lights is doing OK and it has some plant eating rainbow cichlids in with it. No added CO2 in any of my tanks so I can't say what that would do in the mix.
 
i didn't think you needed co2 for less than 2wpg. But i'm not sure
 
Might have just dumped a bunch of leaves from the stress of new environment...I've seen it happen a couple times. it usually recovers back to it's normal "invasive weed" self.

Sure makes a mess, though!
 
I've never had that problem with my hornwort, i'm actually throwing away a bunch of it every other week. if your water temp gets cool though, i think hornwort sheds its needles as it would in nature during winter so it can regrow as a ton of plants come spring.
 
I always had the same problem with hornwort. No matter what I did, it was always dropping leaves. I finally decided to just get rid of it.
 
perhaps its just the new tank/lack of nutrients then. I am picking up a the CO2 system tonight ( just buying it for the ladder) and maybe some flourish and will see what happens.
Any advice on the other questions ie, how does one measure CO2 concentration in the water, and what is a bubble counter( other than simply timing and counting bubbles)?
 
hornwort doesn't need co2 or all that many nutrients. it's a weed. if you're going to get nutrients and co2, i would recommend keeping some kind of plants that are a little more exotic
 
My hornwort did better when it was floating, rather than keeping it rooted down.

Ditto about measuring co2. I just use 2 x 2L coke bottles with Glass Diffusers and my plants are happy chappys.
 
i had tons of it and as soon as i put it in my tank it was good for a few days. then all the leaves fell off but whatever grew from the top ( new leaves) stayed and got established. i have mine planted. most people i speak to tell me the same thing. once it grows it wont stop. just relax and let it grow....as long as it is growing then forget about the leaves that fell off (just worry about the new leaves).
 
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