Aldrovanda culture, Utricularia and algae

From: Adao Pereira (miguelporto@mail.telepac.pt)
Date: Sun Feb 21 1999 - 14:52:29 PST


Date: Sun, 21 Feb 1999 22:52:29 -0000
From: "Adao Pereira" <miguelporto@mail.telepac.pt>
To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com
Message-Id: <aabcdefg520$foo@default>
Subject: Aldrovanda culture, Utricularia and algae

Hello!

Many things have been said about this, and I wanted to share some questions
and thoughts...
It seems that the presence of fish will increase [CO2], but it will
increase [NH3] in the water, too.
The 1st thing is good and the 2nd will make the plant stop producing traps,
right? Isn' there a way to reduce the [NH3]? If you put some aquatic
plants, won't they use the NH3 for their own growth, letting the water more
pure? What kinds of plants should be, then? I remember that Azolla sp. have
simbiotic cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria have heterocists whose function is
to capture nitrogen (I don't know in which form - N2 or NH3?) and give it
to the plant (I'm not sure...). You know, something like the simbiotic
bacteria that live on the roots of peas, etc... So, Azolla would be good
for reducing the nitrogen in the water???
What about other aquatic plants? Water lilies, Lemna sp., Salvinia sp.,
water hyacinth, etc...
Placing an air pump constantly producing bubbles won't increase the [CO2]?
Isn't this enough?

Also, I read that some people use "peat tea" to grow it (because of the
pH), this is, boiling water with some peat. Does this work? What should be
the desired pH, then?

Now, about Utrics and algae... I had some U. gibba and U. vulgaris growing
outdoors, and so, there was lots of algae growing with them. Then, I took
one cutting of each and placed it indoors, at 30 C and plenty of light in a
very small container. Guess what! All the algae died! Not even a little bit
survived! Now, the plants are thriving without any algae (I really mean it,
ALL the algae disappeared!), and growing very, very fast.
Can't this be applied to Aldrovanda? I heard that this plant can die
because of algae, what if one places it in such an environment?

Thanks,
Miguel



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