# Pearlweed impossible?



## prototyp3 (Dec 5, 2007)

Pearlweed or HM has proven to be pretty impossible for me to grow. What am I doing wrong? 

I've tried it from two separate members here in two separate tanks. One tank under a 150w metal halide (4 wpg) with daily Excel dosing, and another in 84w of T5 lighting (2 wpg) and CO2 injection. Both tanks kept around 77-78 degrees with weekly water changes. The stems always looks scraggly and turn mushy and brown. I've tried planting in bunches and single stems, same results. Anything specific that I should test for?

I love the look of this plant and would like it to work. Any suggestions would be welcomed.


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## @[email protected] (Oct 24, 2007)

wow, i would have thought it would grow like a weed in the first tank. the second may have too low light. do you maybe have a tank with 3-4 wpg and CO2 injection that has a similar nutrient content to your 150w MH tank? try putting it in there (just to see what happens). i think the problem is that however you get it from grows it in different substrate with different water and CO2 not excel or maybe even emersed. it gives the plant too much to adjust to at once. thats why i suggest giving it as similar conditions in maybe not the tank you want it, but then when it start to grow well then move 1/2 of it to the tank(s) you want it, if it continues to do well, move the other half.


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## Rod Hay (Feb 11, 2006)

I have found this plant to be very easy to grow. I have it in a few different tanks, one CO2 injected and others only Excel dosing. In all tanks I do add some levels of regular fertilization. I get better growth where it is not crowded or shaded by other plants.

In my high light tank w/ CO2 injection, I actually started a large clump of it by laying three stems horizontally on top of the substrate. I kept both top and bottom ends anchored by simply placing a plant weight flat across them. In just two weeks stems grew up from every leaf node and it also developed roots down into the substrate. I then removed the plant weights. After they grew three inches tall I gave it a little trim and all the tips bushed out more.

Are you using any type of ferts?

I'm suprised that you're using the Excel on the tank w/ MH @ 4wpg and the CO2 injection on the 2 wpg tank. I'd have thought to run this the other way around!???


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## macclellan (Dec 22, 2006)

I couldn't grow it when I started with planted tanks. Two problems seem to have been (one or the other or both): 1). didn't do well in "unestablished tank"....after cycling and the tank was nice and mature. 2). didn't do well without rich nutrients - I didn't dose enough back then. 

I'm guessing iron deficiency.


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## prototyp3 (Dec 5, 2007)

Thanks for the information everyone. It might just be that these tanks weren't established long enough. I've always tried HM right away within the first month of each tank, so maybe that's why it's failed. 

To test this I've just moved a few of the better looking stems of the HM back into the more mature tank with CO2 (about 4 months running) to see if I can save it. As for ferts, I've just started dosing both tanks with bulk chemicals about a week ago. 



Rod Hay said:


> I'm suprised that you're using the Excel on the tank w/ MH @ 4wpg and the CO2 injection on the 2 wpg tank. I'd have thought to run this the other way around!???


I knew this would come up! :hihi: 
I actually set up the 2 wpg tank first, that's why it's got the nice CO2 setup. The metal halide tank is almost a sick experiment to see if I would get an algae explosion. I'm moving places very soon so the tanks will be broken down and the equipment redistributed when set back up.


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