New info on growing glosso successfully

[wks]

I always come across forumers moaning their failure to spread glosso on the base of their tanks. So I decided to share with u guys how an Englishman managed to grow his glosso successfully. Mr Peter Bradley of PFK magazine has the following recommendation.

He wrote:" I had most success in growing glossoostigma in a hexagonal glass tank where the light source was a high-intensity desk lamp giving very white bright light. Undersil heating was provided by a 30x30cm/12"x12" reptile mat. The substrate was silver sand, Duponic and fine quartz gravel. The water was 80% RO and 20% tap water to buffer and it had a pH of 6.8 and hardness of under 20 parts per million.

It was lit for 12 hours a day and after about 12 weeks, the plant had spread, covering the whole base of the tank. The only maintenance required is to remove the odd yellow leaf, and add extra magnesium.

With any carpeting plant, it is important to give them strong light source. You should also avoid plants which overshadow them or they tend to grow upwards and become spindly."

My comment is that the substrate heating is not required here as our weather is hotter than London where Mr Bradley stays. Our water is also softer than the London source so no RO is required.

The interesting thing is the kind of substrate used. He used 3 types: Dennerle's Duponic, silver sand and fine silver quartz.

Any comments from our successful forumers? Are the above factors sufficient to guarantee a success here? Hope u can supply your tank info too.

[Simon]

IMO, when I had glosso in my 2ft setup.. I didnt do much, jus that the temp is low and I dose with 5ml TMG weekly and I get a wonderful thick carpet of glosso.. oso my light is 72watts for a 2ft.. didnt try too hard on my part

[hwchoy]

I had a nice carpet too without much trying, dumb luck of course. But I suspect the key would be strong lights (I had 4+ W per gal) and good CO2 injection. I notice the glosso bubbles A LOT. The moment they got into shade they started growing taller. Took about a month to cover an entire 80x30cm.

[joestoys]

where can i get glasso in singapore..... LFS??? or at Teo/???? ex or not....

[Simon]

u can try keong seong at havelock or teo directly.. Teo will be cheaper of coz

[peterkoh]

sorry guys ... magnesium ... is that the K that some people are adding as fertilizer ? is it liquid or stick form ? i'm using trace mineral liquid ... is it ok ? lastly, what brand and where can i find K ?

Thks.

[peterkoh]

simon and hwchoy, do you have those black balls of woollite alage among your glosso ? know anyway to ri of them ?

my glosso are growing fast but seem to go along the edge of the tank. how to make them "run" inwards ??

thks.

[hwchoy]

K is Potassium, Magnesium is a trace element Mg. I think most trace element liquid ferts will have some. Can check the label.

[joestoys]

Thanks Simon ..... got to take bus there and walk to TEO leow....sorry simon you the address lim chu kang lane??? and unit no??? sorry to trouble you []

never been to havelock...... my office is at havelock before MOManpower.... what the address of keong seong too....
[:0]

[hwchoy]

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On 6/14/2002 10:01:12 AM

simon and hwchoy, do you have those black balls of woollite alage among your glosso ? know anyway to ri of them ?

my glosso are growing fast but seem to go along the edge of the tank. how to make them "run" inwards ??

thks.
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you have BBA! there has been quite a few threads about this, try to do a search. Basically, control your feeding and nutrient, change your water, make sure your filter performs, encourage plants to grow fast (use some floating fast-growing plants for interim such as ceratophyllum and frogbits) and hire an algae army (yamato, oto, SAE and pencilfish).

as to the growth of glosso, give them time, very soon you will have a very thick carpet. Mine was so thick 150 malayan shrimps can disappear under it.

[Simon]

peter, those black furry algae is BBA, remove them manually.. I never had them when I had glosso, the only prob I had was the bottom layer of glosso would always melted away

Joey, here is the info u need

Keong Seong Fish Shop
Blk 22 Havelock Rd #01-699
Tel : 62729384

Teo Aquatic Plants Supplier
no.15 Lim Chu Kang Lane 6C
Tel : 67937132

[joestoys]

yam yam... thanks simon[]

[ryan]

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On 6/13/2002 10:38:20 PM

IMO, when I had glosso in my 2ft setup.. I didnt do much, jus that the temp is low and I dose with 5ml TMG weekly and I get a wonderful thick carpet of glosso.. oso my light is 72watts for a 2ft.. didnt try too hard on my part
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hey simon...
i'm trying again... but i'd like to know what lights u used in the setup above... like fp or pl? cuz at the moment i'm using 72 watts fl for my 2 feet tank... which i just set up last week... yeah but i'm already planning to change to pl... the glosso is growing pretty fast... mostly growing upwards...
but some grow up till there were 2 leaves then started to grow sideways! like woah! quite a few growing sideways but like at 4-5 cm above gravel lah... how?
[]

[Simon]

the only reason i know y glosso grow upwards is the lights.. but since u have sufficient.. then i scratching my head.. it coz be other factors

[hwchoy]

ryan, try like what I did, plunge the stalk (should be 2-3cm long with a few nodes) straight down (you use pincer right?), they will soon find the surface and start crawling. I am still having a problem getting rid of the remnant glosso trying to sprout from the stems/roots left behind in the substrate.

[NinjaFly]

anyone can show me a picture of the glosso mentioned in this thread?

[hwchoy]

look in the gallery under Glossostigma elatinoides or Pearl Grass.