# pearl weed info



## SyKoTrApS fish (Apr 5, 2015)

what else do you have in the tank?


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## Matthew RJ (Jul 4, 2012)

I have pearl weed growing well in a tank with only excel and high lights


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

Pearl weed (Hemianthus micranthemoides/Hemianthus glomeratus depending who you ask) is a really undemanding plant. It seems to survive anywhere I put it

I have some of it growing in a corner of my tank that gets about 10 PAR (shaded by tall stems most of the time).. it doesn't really grow much in such low light, but it also has been there for 6 months. It hasn't melted, died, or shown any degradation at all. It looks roughly like it did when I planted it there.

I have a softball sized lump of it growing floating in my tank, close to the lights where they get about 80 PAR. It grows like wildfire up there. (I just got rid of a bunch to a friend, as it had grown from a few single scraps to a ball to about 10" in diameter in 4 months).

In my QT tank I have a ball of it growing as a floater in a 5 gallon tank illuminated by 3 small LEDs that the Tetra brand tank kit came with. This tank generally doesn't get liquid CO2, but I sometimes put in a half ml or so... it also gets some liquid fertilization.

And yes, I realize this plant isn't normally used as a floater.. the creation of it in my main tank was an accidental amusement.. in my QT tank, I do it on purpose to soak up nutrients.


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## fishyfishy101 (Nov 12, 2014)

SyKoTrApS fish said:


> what else do you have in the tank?


Do I mean plants or fish?
Fish
Boesemani rainbowfish
Serpae tetras
Pearl gourami
A flying fox
Neon tetras

Plants
Jungle vals
Amozon sword
Dwarf sag
Java fern

I have the pearl weed in front under full light, I'm hopeing it will carpet.


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## fishyfishy101 (Nov 12, 2014)

mattinmd said:


> In my QT tank I have a ball of it growing as a floater in a 5 gallon tank illuminated by 3 small LEDs that the Tetra brand tank kit came with. This tank generally doesn't get liquid CO2, but I sometimes put in a half ml or so... it also gets some liquid fertilization


How often do u add the liquid co2, like every other week?


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

The 5 gallon gets it whenever I feel like it. Sometimes 2 days in a row, sometimes not for a month.


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## fishyfishy101 (Nov 12, 2014)

mattinmd said:


> The 5 gallon gets it whenever I feel like it. Sometimes 2 days in a row, sometimes not for a month.


Do u think it's worth it 2 buy a bottle?


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## mattinmd (Aug 16, 2014)

I think it is worth having on hand for spot treating when needed. Dosing regularly lets you push the light levels a bit without resorting to co2, but if your light is low enough you do not need it regularly.

Edit (the above was a brief note typed on my phone).

To elaborate a bit, I think everyone with a planted tank should have a bottle of liquid CO2 of some form on hand. Even if you aren't going to be dosing it regularly, using it as a spot treatment is very effective at killing most forms of algae, and it is a heck of a lot less dramatic than using a conventional algecide. That said, if you aren't going to use it regularly you can use a small bottle.

As noted above, I have one tank with enough light in it that I dose daily, it is a 36 gallon with a planted+ on it. I also have one tank that has very little light and has really no need for CO2 boosting. My 5 gallon uses a module with 3 0.2w leds in it.. That's not enough light to grow plants normally, but a ball of floating pearl weed is close enough to the light it does fine. Regardless, there's so little light the CO2 needs of this tank are trivial.


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