hi new to going HC and it's not speading as fast as i thought it would. i havent trimed it at all and i was wondering if i did trim if this would help spead it faster.

thanks..

It always helps to start with the tank size, amount of light, substrate, fertilizing method, and if pressurized CO2 is used. Then it is much easier to make suggestions or answer questions.

55gal, pressurized lime green on the drop checker, EI, 4 55w ( i know it's too much) i've had the HC for 3 or 4 weeks now and really cant tell if it's growing or not. is it a slow grower?

HC is slower than other stem plants, but once it gets established you should be able to see the new growth. I do think that trimming/topping the HC will help it to send out side shoots and spread quicker. Adding excel also really gives the HC a boost. I have pressurised co2, but definately see a growth spurt when I add excel to the tank as well.

One thing to remember, when you do get your HC growing, dont let it get too thick. Mow it down occasionally. I just learned this the hard way. My foreground was about 1.5" thick and the bottom of the mat of HC started to die and melt away. Part of it started to rise off of the substrate. I had little strands of HC breaking off and floating on top of the water. By the time this started happening, it was too late to just trim it down. I had to pull up the entire lawn of HC, in one big mat, and replant the entire foreground, strand by strand. I hated to do it, because it looked so good and took so long to get that full and thick, but it was just going to get worse if I didn't do something about it. So... just keep an eye on it further down the road.

Good luck!

-Mike B-

ok thanks.. for the help

actually 220 watts isn't too much on a 55 gallon tank(4 wpg). I have 82 watts on a 10 gallon(8.2 wpg).

4 watts per gallon is very high light intensity for a 55 gallon tank. And 8 watts per gallon is a getting to be pretty high light intensity even on a 10 gallon tank. It isn't too much if you mean it will kill the plants or fish. But, if you don't really keep up with the maintenance of the tank, prune every other day, make sure the CO2 concentration in the tank stays the same day after day and is about 30 ppm, and you make sure you are dosing every nutrient so as to avoid a shortage of any nutrient, the plants will not grow fast and algae will soon take over.