Azolla sp.
Contents:
- re: Genus Azolla
by Michael Eckardt <mike/odg.com> (Tue, 16 Mar 1999)
by Michael Eckardt <mike/odg.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999
Jason writes :
> Has anyone ever kept this genus of plant before? It is a floating
> fern, closely related to Salvinia, but has symbiotic algae that live in
> its leaves. These algae fix nitrogen; therefore, I was wondering if
> keeping this plant would alleviate adding nitrogen supplement to the
> planted tank (i.e. KNO2
I have tried a number of times to get Azolla (carolinia ?) to grow in my
tanks
and it never went very far - until recently. For the last few months, Azolla
has been as bad a duck weed. It turns nicely red under the lights.
I contribute its explosion to a drop in temperature - instead of 78-80, the
tank has been running a little cooler at 74-76 in the winter.
As far as alleviating nitrogen supplementation is concerned, Jason's idea
is a no-go: the Azolla uses all of the produced nitrogen. Once I "harvest"
the plants, they supplement my compost, but they do nothing for the rest
of the tank.
Michael Eckardt, near Waterloo, Ontario, at 6 deg C. (Yessss!)
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