John58Ford
Well-Known Member
I had trimmed 5 of my tanks (3 are the same water system so they get first dibs) and finally got to my jungle 29. I had noticed the center lily that doesn't usually produce much low canopy choking out a previously 15" tall sword and planned to un tangle the roots and do some serious work but I noticed this:
View attachment 10747
I've never had an indoor water lily bloom. The idea of this honestly froze me in place and I'm still, 2 days later, having a hard time deciding what to do. The tank isn't set up for this at all with only 6.5" of space above it and typically filled to the rim. I'm not sure how far above the water line this might flower as I've never pinned the exact genus and species. A few years ago I got a tangled root ball out of a friends trash can while he was packing up to move, his wife didn't know what she had bought years previous but I've root spliced it into 4 plants now.
Further complicating things, this is the only tank on the rack using a set on top light array vs my custom in hood/rack LED set ups. The reptile enclosure above it needed extra space under for insulation and heat pads so I don't have clearance.
Here's the boom, my mother, master gardener type, is visiting for Christmas. My little water gardens always look pretty good but a water lily for Christmas would be pretty crazy.
I haven't found anything useful on my international forum about this and have basically read it's "very difficult" to do. I think I can figure it out though.
My thoughts:
1. Don't interrupt substrate or roots of any plants.
2. Don't make any changes to accidentally increase or redirect flow.
3. Trim nothing off of this cluster including pads. The pads provide better CO2 and gas exchange to the plant.
4. Trim all Arial pads from cluster 2 to expose more surface area for cluster 1.
5. Ludwigia explosion.... I have no idea what to do with all the ludwigia in here. It's blocking a ton of light, but it directly affects flow.
6. Find a friend with a 3-5" diamond hole saw to make an extra panel for the center of my sliding top. I can bring a panel pre cut, and some beers if any of you have a hole saw like that. Alternately I'll make a holy hand grenade dual direction slider.
7. Poly mirror cut to fit under upper tanks insulation to allow for reflective lighting if necessary.
Complications:
1.I need to net and cull some of my black bars, I can't usually do this without a massive trim. Fish trap maybe?
2. How much flow will be boosted with trimming of "ugly" lower canopy. I can only see about 5 square inches of substrate currently and some of that is definitely going to need to come out.
If I don't give in to my endler breeding roots and whack all the plants so I can catch, cull and sell some of these males, I'll post progress pictures here.
Input on the process is welcome and encouraged, have any of you had a Lily like this bloom? I'm not even sure how "dwarf" they are, most of the pads get up to 9"+ diameter. I don't know if I'll get a floating flower, or one reaching high above the tank. Can I influence this somehow?
View attachment 10747
I've never had an indoor water lily bloom. The idea of this honestly froze me in place and I'm still, 2 days later, having a hard time deciding what to do. The tank isn't set up for this at all with only 6.5" of space above it and typically filled to the rim. I'm not sure how far above the water line this might flower as I've never pinned the exact genus and species. A few years ago I got a tangled root ball out of a friends trash can while he was packing up to move, his wife didn't know what she had bought years previous but I've root spliced it into 4 plants now.
Further complicating things, this is the only tank on the rack using a set on top light array vs my custom in hood/rack LED set ups. The reptile enclosure above it needed extra space under for insulation and heat pads so I don't have clearance.
Here's the boom, my mother, master gardener type, is visiting for Christmas. My little water gardens always look pretty good but a water lily for Christmas would be pretty crazy.
I haven't found anything useful on my international forum about this and have basically read it's "very difficult" to do. I think I can figure it out though.
My thoughts:
1. Don't interrupt substrate or roots of any plants.
2. Don't make any changes to accidentally increase or redirect flow.
3. Trim nothing off of this cluster including pads. The pads provide better CO2 and gas exchange to the plant.
4. Trim all Arial pads from cluster 2 to expose more surface area for cluster 1.
5. Ludwigia explosion.... I have no idea what to do with all the ludwigia in here. It's blocking a ton of light, but it directly affects flow.
6. Find a friend with a 3-5" diamond hole saw to make an extra panel for the center of my sliding top. I can bring a panel pre cut, and some beers if any of you have a hole saw like that. Alternately I'll make a holy hand grenade dual direction slider.
7. Poly mirror cut to fit under upper tanks insulation to allow for reflective lighting if necessary.
Complications:
1.I need to net and cull some of my black bars, I can't usually do this without a massive trim. Fish trap maybe?
2. How much flow will be boosted with trimming of "ugly" lower canopy. I can only see about 5 square inches of substrate currently and some of that is definitely going to need to come out.
If I don't give in to my endler breeding roots and whack all the plants so I can catch, cull and sell some of these males, I'll post progress pictures here.
Input on the process is welcome and encouraged, have any of you had a Lily like this bloom? I'm not even sure how "dwarf" they are, most of the pads get up to 9"+ diameter. I don't know if I'll get a floating flower, or one reaching high above the tank. Can I influence this somehow?
