# question about hornwort, and do i have to trim my amazon sword?



## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

i have an amazon sword and 3 or 4 of the leaves seem to be frayed/skinned, u can see through them. i think either the BN plecos are shaving them down and ive seen an acei nip at them once or twice too

should i be trimming off these damaged leaves or leave them for the fish to keep picking at so they dont damage undamaged leaves??

thx


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## taureandragon76 (Apr 21, 2010)

Ya just trim them off.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

taureandragon76 said:


> Ya just trim them off.


thank you kindly for the quick response! i'll do that now


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Trimming off old/dying leaves will encourage new growth, which will make the plant fuller.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

bristlenose love echinodorus so don't be suprised if they start munching on healthy leaves.


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## fish dork (Apr 21, 2010)

I have three BN's in my 80 gal. They eat my amazon sword too. The good thing is the plant grows fast enough to replace the leaves as they're eaten.


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## lawdan (Apr 26, 2010)

Trimming your sword plants old or dying leaves definitley promotes new growth, and i also trim any bad looking leaves when i first buy them as well.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

is there such a thing as too much trimming?
can i cut off half of the leaves for example?


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## EDGE (Aug 24, 2010)

Trimmed right down to the crown. Personally, I like to peel the old leaves off like a banana peel. I usually peeled down down to about 6-10 leaves depending on the health of the plant. If the newer growth are huge, then 6 leaves. If the sword is weaker, 8-10 leaves

Thinner = more light getting to the plants and less nutrients being taken up by the older leaves.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

k i still have about a dozen clean looking leaves, just trimmed off another 4.
also did 50% water changes in both tanks and dosed excel and flourish nutrients

i have a question about hornwort
what kind of hardness can it handle? i think i saw it at the vancouver aquarium covering the top of the lake victoria tank and i recently got some in a bag of sulawesi snails, its in my 10g african cichlid growout tank. will it be ok if i raise the GH&KH to the 175-200 ppm range that my rift lake cichlids like? if not how high can i go?


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

Hornwort is a pretty bullet proof plant It should be fine. It is also slows the growth of algae, because of alleopathy.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

Roberto Luongo said:


> Hornwort is a pretty bullet proof plant It should be fine. It is also slows the growth of algae, because of alleopathy.


whats that mean?

and i have one really long strand of hornwort its like 18 inches
would it grow faster if i cut it in half?


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## wsl (Apr 21, 2010)

Does hornwort really exhibit allelopathy? Or are you just talking about how it grows fast and outcompetes algae for nutrients in the water column? Be aware that allelopathy refers to the release of a chemical substance to inhibit the growth of other plants. 

To Mferko, yes you can cut the hornwort in half, and it will develop as two separate plants.


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## Ra's al Ghul (Apr 28, 2010)

Yes it does, according to Tropica.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

wsl said:


> Does hornwort really exhibit allelopathy? Or are you just talking about how it grows fast and outcompetes algae for nutrients in the water column? Be aware that allelopathy refers to the release of a chemical substance to inhibit the growth of other plants.
> 
> To Mferko, yes you can cut the hornwort in half, and it will develop as two separate plants.


cool
whats the minimum length i can cut it to?


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## wsl (Apr 21, 2010)

Hmm, I can't say I really know what the minimum length would be. You should probably let each section be at least a few inches long though.


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