Thanks! What do you mean by your PS?

@@makosfishwater9562 i think he means as a personal mental note

Good luck. It’s been easy for me but I have heard if mixed results. Keep me posted on how it goes.

Same. im a new aquascaper too :) ive had this plant for about 2 weeks now. It's still acclimating to my tank and im still not sure how much lighting to use. so im just keeping an eye on it and will adjust accordingly.

I've never tried Ludwigia in a low nutrient substrate. Always been dirt or Eco Complete. I agree it probably helps and certainly won't hurt.

Very little. I wouldn’t rely on them for algae control.

Yes - standard 29G

Someone mentioned that the lower leaves fall out because it is hard for light to reach it the upper leaves will block it. I have the same issue and that theory might be correct from what i have seen. If my ludwigia is right below the light, the lower leaves do not seem to fall out.

Yeah, I read the same thing. I started experimenting with a high noon burst of really high light directly above the background plants, including the ludwigia. The lower stems were shabby so I did an extreme trimming to start over, gonna see how they grow in now.

watch dennis wong's video on trimming

Apparently the lower leaves dying off is just a "fact of plant life" and unavoidable. Dennis Wong talked about it in his video "How to grow : Background stem plants in a planted tank" and he mentions how he deals with that problem.

A couple questions to start..1) are you bunching the plants together? Bunching the stems together can encourage abs the should be spread out a bit. Not much but 1/2 inch apart or so at least. 2) how big and tall is your tank? 3) what lighting do you have how long do you keep it on each day? If the plants are not bunched up, then it is likely a light or nutrient issue... I will have more questions based on your initial answers above.

@@makosfishwater9562 thank you for the reply. The plants are spaced out well. The light I’m using is the beamsworks da fspec 48”, that I was running 6 hours a day but I decided to turn it up to 8 for now. My tank is a tall 60 gallon, the substrate is 22 inches from the light. Do you think it’s a light issue? The light seems so bright it’s never occurred to me.

The tank is on the taller side. The beamworks light should still be bright enough for ludwigia even in that tallish tank. Upping to 8 hours is a good move. Remember that any changes like the light duration will take a few weeks before you know if that changes helps or makes it worse. How is algae in tank? This is an older tank of mine that I redid after I move. Algae was an issue and because the leaves were often covered in it, the plant would slowly die and I had stem rot as well. I don’t see anything obviously wrong. You have decent substrate, lighting, and you’re dosing nutrients, so like troubleshooting anything, eliminating the obvious step by step to get to the core issue. This is part of the hobby that can be both educational and frustrating. Let me know how algae is in the tank.

@@makosfishwater9562 There’s a little algae on my anubias but my ludwigia is fairly new and doesn’t have any. Algae never accumulates on my rocks or driftwood, only on the glass and anubias for some reason.

@yungrekless got it. So it is also unlikely that algae is choking out the Ludwigia. How long has it been since you upped the lighting to 8 hours? What other plants do you have in the tank and how are those doing? How much and how often are dosing those nutrients? The beamworks light on a tall tank is considered low light in my opinion. Since the substrate and algae are likely not the issue, I think It could be not enough or strong enough light, not the correct balance of nutrients, it not enough co2. Ludwigia reopens has done well for me without co2 except when algae chokes it out but again, you seem to have low algae.

I personally have not tried either substrate with this plant. I see mixed thoughts on if this is a root feeding or a water column feeding plant. If it's water column feeding plant, this should be fine as long as you fertizile, provide proper lighting, etc. I feel like it's more of a water column feeding plant since the roots do not get really long like root feeding plants.

See I have my 20 gallon with c02 dosing with a mixture of planted substrate. I have sand, regular gravel, iron based substrate, and some clay based substrate that lower the PH. My plants sofar love it and I dose mine with c02, Iron, and flourish. Also have t8 floramax growth bulb.

@@ainamal over

If the top leaves are okay, is something shading the power leaves? Are you fertilizing, and if so, what type?

@@makosfishwater9562 i use root tabs, macro and micro nutrients alternate per day 6x a week but and my substrate is soil capped with sand

Standard 29 gallon with a Fluval 2.0 planted plus

Did I pronounce it correctly? I’m not sure TBH…

😂😂 I know! I believe it's named after a German botanists who discovered it by the name Ludwig, hence the name "ludwigia". Correct me if I'm wrong. 😅

It needs light. Can be from the sun or from an artificial light.

@@makosfishwater9562 tank is under sheet roof , thats why am asking !, no direct sunlight

My tanks are in my garage with no natural light unless I open the garage door so they do not get any sunlight. As long as you have a proper light for the tank, Ludwigia will grow with a cheap light for planted tanks but I have not tried a lower light, but I bet even a light bulb above the tank might be enough for ludwigia.

@@makosfishwater9562 thanks for the information, i just set one white strip light led .

Have you're tried dosing the plant?

I added CO2 about a year ago and I get similar growth rates as you now with Ludwigia. It seems like I’m always needing to trim it.

At the time of the recording, several sources indicated it is a water column feeding plant but based on comments and some conflicting information on the internet, I see both arguments. Someone commented that these plants do prefer a nutrient rich substrate so I'm starting to rethink my stance on this one.

I upgraded my iron rich substrate and added in some clay based substrate and my plants are taking off like never before. It also may be because the clay based substrate lowers ph and my ph is usually insanely high. Either way it works lol.

Fair enough. We are all entitled to our own opinions.