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A guide to Glossostigma elatinoides
from : http://forum.indoaquascape.com

Introduction

When I first started seriously making Nature Aquariums, I was introduced to Glossostigma elatinoides by a staff at Sam Yick's Aquarium at Pet Safari Singapore. I was a and I just wanted a foreground plant, not knowing how the art of growing Glossostigma elatinoides is so hard to grasp. As with most amateurs, my first experience was a painful and long one. But I have come a long way and somehow managed to successfully grow it and developed a deep love for it. Now my favorite plant, I want to share my knowledge of it with everyone. Thus, I have written this article as a more comprehensive, down to earth and informative guide to those interested in the plant that was introduced to the aquascaping world by Takashi Amano in the late 80s.

Summary

I will discuss the history of the plant, how it came to the aquascaping world. The biological profile of the plant will also be discussed. I will also touch on the various methods of cultivation, propagation and pruning techniques. Lighting levels, fertilization and CO2 levels which are equally important, will also be discussed in detail.

It will be a long and dedicated article on my favorite plant created based on my personal experience, online research, accounts of other hobbyists and scientific materials.

Profile of Glossostigma elatinoides
(Information from Tropica.com)

Family: Scropriaceae
Continent: Australia
Country of origin: New Zealand
Height: 2-3+cm
Width: 3+cm
Light requirements:
high - very high
Temperature: 15 - 26 °C
Hardness tolerance: very soft - medium
pH tolerance: 5 - 7.5
Growth: fast
Demands: very difficult

Quoted from Tropica:
Glossostigma elatinoides is much in demand in Japanese-inspired aquariums. It is one of the smallest aquarium plants, and thus a good foreground plant. A difficult plant demanding a lot of light. Grows upwards if light is poor. Make sure larger plants do not overshadow it. When planting in the aquarium small clumps (approx. 1/8 pot) should be placed at intervals of a few centimeters to help the plants grow together more quickly. CO2 addition and soft water promote growth significantly.

History of Glossostigma elatinoides in the Nature Aquarium
(Based on information from Suiso.com)

Glossostigma elatinoides was brought into Japan in the late 80s. Nature Aquariums was not new at the time but there were not many choices for foreground plants except Echinoderus tenellus.

While looking for low growing plants in overseas magazines and plant books, Takashi Amano came across some Glossostigma elatinoides in European Style Aquarium Magazine. It was not the first time Mr Amano had seen pictures of Glossostigma elatinoides, those he have seen were always growing vertically due to low lighting. Those in the magazine were however, different. They were growing horizontally. Mr Amano then contacted Dennerle Co. of Germany. He found that Glossostigma elatinoides was not very popular in Europe and Dennerle was out of stock. Eventually Mr Amano got one box full after much persuasion.

After the plants left Europe, ADA ran into problems with the customs who had no idea what the plant was, what Family it belonged to as no one had tried to import this plant into Japan before. The customs called ADA but Mr Amano was out of town and the staff of the ADA headquarters had to answer all the questions. Unfortunately, the plants still had to stay overnight. To make matters worse, it was in the middle of summer.

Mr Amano returned the next day. Upon opening his treasure box, Mr Amano said, "Ahhhh"! Most of the plants had turned brown and was melting and only a few green leaves were left, mostly index finger size. Mr Amano put all the green leaves into a 60cm tank and gave them lots of light and CO2. For several weeks it did not grow. The ADA staff gave up and didn't care for that aquarium anymore. Only Mr Amano himself cared for it.

Mr Amano set up the most favorable condition for the plant in the aquarium, which included adequate light, CO2, Iron and Potassium. After a few months it started to put out runners and grew fast after that, eventually covering the 60cm aquarium. By using the same Glossostigma elatinoides Mr Amano created the first Glossostigma elatinoides Nature Aquarium layout for another 60cm tank and a 90cm one.

After publishing the pictures of the aquariums above in a Japanese aquarium magazine, ADA received lots of orders for Glossostigma elatinoides. Back then it cost about 2000Yen ($18US) for a sprig of Glossostigma elatinoides.

Lighting

If we were to use the traditional watts per gallon rule to describe the lighting needed by Glossostigma elatinoides, one would need more than 3 W/g in a typical 60x30x36cm tank. On my main 60cm Glossostigma tank, I am using 2x36W compact fluorescent tubes which yields about 4 W/g, which is considered by many to be a "high light" tank. But lighting is actually more complex than wattage over volume.

A good way to know what Glossostigma needs is to look at other successful Glossostigma tanks. I had done extensive research on Takashi Amano's lighting patterns used in Glossostigma tanks and found that the watts per gallon rule does not seem to apply. In Mr Amano's tanks, smaller tanks usually have higher lighting than big tanks. A detailed article on this can be found in this article on Fitch family's web site. Usually, the W/g rule works and using 3-4W/g will help Glossostigma put out horizontal runners.

Other than the wattage of lights, a good lumens output is essential for a lamp used for cultivating aquatic plants. Lumens refer to Unit of measure for amount of light produced by a lamp once it is started. One lumen equals one foot candle per square foot. High light intensity provides more energy to the plants for photosynthesis.

The "K" rating is also very much discussed in Aquarium discussion boards. It is known as the Color Temperature and refers to Temperature of the black body that emits radiation of the same chromaticity as the radiation considered. Unit Kelvin, K. Many people like to use 5400 - 6500K rated lamps as it is closest to the color temperature of a midday sun, and that is considered by many to be the best for plant growth. My observation with lamps at such K ratings tend to have low CRI (Color Rendering Index) and appears warm (yellowish/orangish). Takashi Amano uses 8000K lamps which ADA claims to be closer to the exact and perfect temperature plants need. I myself use 8600K Sigma compact fluorescent tubes and I do feel it is not as good as Osram or Philips. The lumens output of my current tubes is also unknown but I had good success with them. Maybe if I switch to a 8000K tube with at least 2900 lumens, I would have better results.

I did not get good horizontal growth when I was using 4x15W FL tubes compared to the 2x36W compact fluorescent tubes now. I also noticed denser and faster growth where it's brighter under the middle of the tubes.

As with most green plants where chlorophyll is the dominant photoreceptor in the chloroplast, light rich in the red and blue-violet spectrum is favorable. One fine example of this kind of tube is NEC Biolux fluorescent. It appears pinkish but when used with plants, the plants absorb most of the red and blue-violet and reflect the rest of the green off, resulting in natural colors.


Ugly vertical growth due to insufficient lighting

Substrate

A suitable substrate is the next most important factor in the success of growing Glossostigma. Glossostigma roots fast given a fine enough substrate. Make sure the substrate have no sharp edges, as they can hurt the really fine roots. The roots of Glossostigma can go really deep into where it's fertile and rich. They usually do much better in an acidic and soft substrate where base fertilizer is present. I recommend ADA Aqua Soil used on top of Power Sand. Power Sand is a very rich pumice based sand and can provide the roots of Glossostigma the essential nutrients. Aqua Soil, which is permeable and soft lets mulm settle into the substrate and as they mulm decompose, the nutrients are locked into Power Sand. This means a long-lasting substrate. If the cost of ADA products set you back, consider laterite based substrate and base fertilizers. They should work just fine.


Healthy runners in a good substrate

Fertilization

I will start with substrate fertilization. Glossostigma prefers a rich substrate. I am not too sure what elements are more critical but I feel it is safe to fertilize the substrate with a decent base fertilizer that is rich in all the macro and micro nutrients especially Fe (Iron). As the nutrients do not seep into the water column, algae problems can be avoided and the Glossostigma will have a rich source of nutrients.

Liquid fertilization is more complicated. From my experience, Glossostigma is a heavy user of K (Potassium) and Fe. When deficient, it develops yellowed new shoots and sometimes older leaves stop growing and get taken over by algae. N (Nitrogen) and P (Phosphorous) must be maintained at good levels. Unbalanced and incorrect levels can indirectly Glossostigma as the leaves can be attacked by various algae such as Black Beard Algae and Green Hair Algae. Other essential nutrients include Mg (Magnesium) which is a central component of chlorophyll.


Glossostigma infected with algae due to nutrient imbalances in the water and lack of CO2