# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk >  How to keep Bolbitis nice and lush?

## aqua2525

Hi james neo how do keep your bolbitis so lush and green care to give some tips on how to keep it so nice.Do you need chiller for this plant.??????
At what temp will it grow nicely.

----------


## jamesneo

> Hi james neo how do keep your bolbitis so lush and green care to give some tips on how to keep it so nice.Do you need chiller for this plant.??????
> At what temp will it grow nicely.


Length of Bolbitis (Pics) is about 25cm base and 20 cm height



My setup is simple and does not require 5 star equipment. My tank spec.
3FT Tank.
1 External Filter.
C02 tank. (Manual solenoid)
1 computer DC Fan. (8Hrs)
36W PL x 4. (8Hrs)
Plants: 
1) Petite Nana.
2) 100+ Downoi as foreground plants
3) Bolbilts x 2 bushy. 
4) Around 30 stalks of Brown yellowish (I do not know why it's yellowish) Crypto. 
5) Alot of US Fissiden (Still have alot after selling over 20pc of DW with Fissiden) 
6) Gu Jing X 1 (Finally growing :> )
NO PH meter
NO thermometer (Got one brother who came and view my tank put his finger in and told me it's about 27 deg.) 
NO Chiller.
NO CO2 diffuser. 
Happly planting.  :Flame:

----------


## genes

Keep bolbitis in shaded areas or low light tank and with co2, they will grow nicely. If you blast your tank with high lights, those parts under direct light will just "burn" and melt away.

----------


## bryan

Bolbitis is also a magnet for algae if you have strong lighting due to the slow growth and height.

----------


## Johnc

> Bolbitis is also a magnet for algae if you have strong lighting due to the slow growth and height.


I would second that. I had 'explosive growth' for my bolbitis. Grew to 2 feet tall and overtook the back of my tank. And then... the algae problem started (I think the fronds were too near the lights). BBA grew on all the fronds. The fern began to slow down in growth rate and began to look rather tawdy.  :Sad:  . And I am only running 110 W for my 5 footer. 

/John

----------


## StanChung

> Keep bolbitis in shaded areas or low light tank and with co2, they will grow nicely. If you blast your tank with high lights, those parts under direct light will just "burn" and melt away.


Christel Kasselman has noted that as well in her aquarium plants book. However, i have to disagree with that. The newly received plants will blacken whether you put it in the light or the shade, it just takes longer in the shade.

It actually grows nicer in high light in my experience. The blackening of the old leaves is natural, just trim it. The newer, fresher leaves looks great as they form nice and complex branches.

The difference in low light they grow deep blue green and in bright light the colour is medium blue green. The leaves grow upwards in high light and vice versa. In bright light, they are likely to pearl and create a sparkling effect! Try it!




> Bolbitis is also a magnet for algae if you have strong lighting due to the slow growth and height.


This can be avoided with regular trimming. Blackening leaves tend to invite BBA. Should have been trimmed way before. Bolbitis grows well in high light so the new growth overtakes the old leaves before algae has a chance to sprout on old leaves.

Hi John, do trim off the old leaves as you see it turn black, the leaves look dull anyway. The BBA will not have enough time to grow on new leaves in 'high' light conditions. I'm running 300 W on my 5 footer-6hour photoperiod nowadays as i prefer them to be low maintenance from the 8 hour 444W photoperiod previously.

----

A side note is that C. Kasselman noted that in alkaline conditions the leaves of this plant tends to turn black. Quicker perhaps but it still turns black in acidic or shaded tanks from experience.

----------


## Xema

I would like share my experience with Bolbitis...
I keep it in my shrimp tanks attached to driftwood or rocks. Having a relatively high lighting, soft and slight acid water, without CO2 supply. it grows healthy but slowly.
I think this plant would be growing so well and healthy with large size in a well lighted tank with extra CO2 supply.

----------


## ramirezi

Thanks for the advice Stan! I was getting worried about my bolbitis too as it starts to "burn". It is tied to a driftwood on the upper part of the tank and receives the most amount of lighting (36W PLL) as it is very near the light source. Time to trim away the blackened leaves and hope for the best! *gulp...*

----------


## StanChung

I had problems with this plant years ago, i use to strip the brown roots and plant it in the shade. *Duh*! After many failed attempts, I just tied it onto wood and left it alone.

 
Grows into a tree. The blackened leaves are trimmed monthly.
As you can see it's right at the top with one 150MH + 2x36W PL's trained on it. Myth-busted. Grow it fast enough and you wouldn't be too concerned with trimming or BBA for that matter.

----------


## Shadow

Wow Stan... it grow very nicely

----------


## genes

Stan

To trim the bolbitis, do you cut the whole stem away right at the bottom near the rhizome or just the leaves that are black?

I'm using 4x39W T5HO Retrofit. I would love to try bolbitis again after all my previous 3 attempts failed...  :Sad:

----------


## StanChung

Hi Genes,

Trim close as to the rhizome. 
Don't be too disheartened, the rhizome needs light for the new leaves. I think I tried it for 4 times in 2 years before getting it right. Nowadays I'm selling cuttings.

----------


## valice

Does that mean that everytime we buy bolbitis, we need to cut the plant till it is botak then let it grow out new leaves?
Will the rhizome die as a result?

Then why do we see browning of the leaves under strong lighting? What could be the possible reason?

----------


## StanChung

You only cut the old leaves. Leave the young leaves. The browning will happen when you have a change in conditions. Just like what happens to crypts.

Even taking healthy plants[bolbitis] and transporting it to my rented house will result in browning. So it's better to just trim it off.

----------


## jamesneo

> You only cut the old leaves. Leave the young leaves. The browning will happen when you have a change in conditions. Just like what happens to crypts.
> 
> Even taking healthy plants[bolbitis] and transporting it to my rented house will result in browning. So it's better to just trim it off.


Yes agree with you. Just trim the brown old leaves and those which look burn ones. 
Happy planting...  :Grin:

----------


## genes

Great, will get a small plantlet and leave in in the open under my T5HO to see how it grows.

----------


## Shadow

> The browning will happen when you have a change in conditions. Just like what happens to crypts.


Does this mean browning or burn on fern leave because of too much light just a myth?

----------


## StanChung

In my experience it grows fine in bright light. 

You can try growing it in low light, then switch to a brighter light and see what happens.

I think bright light speeds up the metabolism of the leaves and cause it to age faster as well.

The statement 


> browning or burn on fern leave because of too much light


 is misleading as it makes people fear to plant this in bright light.

So do not be afraid to plant this in bright light, old leaves may brown but the new leaves will look great!  :Kiss:

----------


## Plantbrain

I grew it at very high light without any issues, it grew like "weed".
The water was very hard also.

I added good CO2(critical), NO3, lots of PO4, I attached it to cork etc.
It hates being moved.

Like most plants, it will grow in low light, but no plant is obligated to do so.

More light = more CO2= more nutrients.
Less light = less CO2= less nutrients.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

----------


## StanChung

Haha, for me weedy plants are Cabombas/Hygros/Rotalas. Bolbitis certainly slow enough to avoid this category.  :Laughing:

----------


## jamesneo

Certainly one of the slowest growing plants i encountered. I just leave it there, don't even bother to look at it and one fine day (after a few months), i started to see beatutiful plantlets shooting out....just be patience. Happy planting.....  :Smile:

----------


## ranmasatome

I have the same experience as Tom. It grew like a weed in my tank...which is high light and doused with lots and lots of nutrients... water change weekly..

I had new leaves coming out once or twice weekly.... Valice can attest to what i say..haha... i started with 2 nodes.. ended up with more than 150 in a span of 6-7 months.

----------


## StanChung

No lah, weed is like it curl up a cover your whole tank in two weeks! Not months. kekeke. Reserved title for the truly weedy. Anyway it seems the discussion is exhausted.

----------

