Anyone growing lotus?

[dergheist]

Since no one else seems to want to chime in, I guess I will keep on a suggesting from my own personal experience.  Keep in mind all of this is just my opinion and what has worked for me.  The green water means that the water is now populated with micro-algae which is not good at all, second the large algae that could be described as more plant like is macro algae and is much less harmful, yet it still sends your CO2 and O2 all over the place.  The lotus seed is supposed to sink to the bottom of the water column, yet some of the seeds do not.  Those that float should be planted in the substrate as soon as they sprout.  Once they are planted they will send up their leaves to the surface and therefore use them for photosynthesis while the rest of the plant acts as a uptake of nutrients and an anchor.  If it was me I would dump the water out, fill back up the container with as clean of water as possible (hopefully purified or rainwater)  around neutral or lower pH and switch to a fert that is for ponds which you can get at almost any home improvement, garden center, or Wally World.  I would get a bag of pea gravel (since you don't want to mess with soil)  at about 4.00 a bag at Wally World.  Rinse the gravel repeatedly in a separate bucket until the water comes out clear.  I would then put the pea gravel in some pots for plants or any container will do as long as the top of the container is no more than a few inches below the surface of the water.  Then, I would plant the seeds in the substrate and fert as necessary dependant of course upon which fert you use.  If this still does not solve the problem look into lotus growing in your favorite search engine and see how the pro's grow them.  The blue lotus has almost the identical requirements as any of the other lotus on those sites.  I wish you the best of luck.  If all goes well I recommend that you go with a bigger size container as these guys like room.  If money is tight or you just wanna scrimp I would buy a kiddy pool since they are dirt cheap and paint it with spray paint if you want it to look good such as in a garden or such.  Of course, this is all just a suggestion.

[Stonehenge]

Those are good suggestions. I think what I'll do at some point is dump it all out and start over. I like the 16 gallon tub because it's sturdy. I could get more of them. I'll get some pond nutes but may keep using sand since I don't see any problem with it. Why would algae take away the oxygen? I thought algea, being a plant, would produce oxygen at least when there was light. I'd like to put a minnow or two in there in case mosquitoes start to hatch.

[anti-light]

wild oxygen variation is what i would imagine....

eutropification.... is that the word im lookin for.....
algal blooms..... they suck up all the nutes... and throw the co2 and oxygen content all out of whack....

yup... take care yall

[Stonehenge]

If I'm not mistaken, eutropification involves decay. The algae or other problem plant blooms, crowds out other plants and then dies. The dead plants rot which uses up oxygen. I don't see that happening here, it's just an algae bloom. The lotus is still growing but not very well. I might dump the water and put h2o2 in the new water to kill the algae then reseed.

[anti-light]

ahhh... thanks for the clarification

the reason i said that... is because here in the swamps.... the ditches and bayous and shit get all mucky.... full of algae and other shit.... and it kills everything in the water .... i think its mainly due to fertilizer run off from the sugar cane industry...

but there aint no tellin.....

good luck stonehenge

[dergheist]

Sounds cool stonehenge.  That is also a good idea with using the H2O2, just make sure you let it decompose for a while afterwards so that it does not shock the plants with a high level, otherwise it sounds like a great alternative to a harsher chemical cleaning.  Make sure that the sand you use does not come from an ocean beach as this will surely throw your pH into the basic range which is very bad for freshwater plants.  Wish ya the best and keep us updated, especially in a couple years when they bloom.  That will be so cool if you never have seen them before.  

[dergheist]

Oops! I forgot to answer your question about the algae.  You are correct about the algae producing oxygen when there is light, which at too high of levels is also toxic to any living organism.  But you also need to keep in mind that plants exhale at night when there is no light and that creates anoxic conditions in the water.  This wild variation is very stressful on plants so it can be considered a contributing factor to your plants overall well being.  And just as a side note, IMO bettas are really cool to put in a pond for the warm seasons and since they can breath oxygen from the air, they do not need the oxygen levels of other fish and if you put a male and female in there, they will not only eat anything that moves, but you will get lots of babies that you could sell or trade at a pet shop for aquatic ferts and other items, or just keep the fish for fun.

[Chris W]

Hey guys,
    I am going to be starting some Lotus soon also.  I have an article in a growing magazine somewhere I have to dig up that tells you how to set up an aquatic ecosystem that would be perfect for Lotus.  Within a few days I will post some tips but for now I remember reading about getting just a cupfull of natural pond water and adding it to your res.  It gives you certain natural enzymes that are adapted to eating algea I think.   and this guy uses 50 gallon barrels.   when all the elements are there I think I remember reading about him not even needing an airstone.

[dergheist]

There is micro and macro algae.  Macro is good algae and micro is bad.  "green water" is from waterborne microalgae and that means that you either have too much sun without enough leaf cover in the water, or too much nutrients.  If you are serious about these and algae is a problem, get either algal killer that is safe for plants, or if it is a constant problem, then I suggest you invest in a UV sterilizer for the water.

[RifeHeretic]

what you could do is grow some duckweed and toss in some barley straw.

The duckweed is a tiny plant that proliferates to cover the entire water surface. It keepts the water very clean and helps keep pests and algea down.

The barley straw is a natural way to clean a pond of algea.


Hope this helps some,
Rife