Comment by hoyttt on November 10, 2013 at 12:53am

well.

trimming it to what you like

Comment by hoyttt on November 10, 2013 at 12:55am

easy peezy.

Comment by Joe covella on November 10, 2013 at 2:45am

To my understanding it's the roots that need to be kept under control

Comment by Joe covella on November 10, 2013 at 2:46am

Just keep pulling the plant and trimming those also!?

Comment by Peter on November 10, 2013 at 4:31pm

All plants once established trow out crazy long roots. Wisteria does this sag does this hell my dwarf baby tears do the same. If u have a sword plant same thin nothing u can really do about it.

Comment by Joe covella on November 10, 2013 at 8:33pm

Thanks for all the info feel a lot better about planting it now! I came a crosse one article about how invasive they are and it started to scare me away from the plant

Comment by Robert Jango on November 13, 2013 at 2:46am

Lotus are very large pond plants that can easily spread their roots 20-30 feet. I wonder why Dustin sells them for tanks. Maybe the kind he's selling is a Dwarf variety (?) or maybe they just don't grow that large in tanks. Not sure. I've found that lots of pond plants will exist in a miniature state inside a tank and then explode when you place them outside.

I've seen tiny little 4 inch Cardinal plants grow woody stems 3 feet high when placed outside in the sun. 

But roots are good!  Healthy for the soil and for your fish. Like Peter said all your plants will try to take over the tank, either let them or trim the roots. If allowed to take over, Water Sprite will suck up all the ammonia your fish produce. No filter necessary. The leaves will actually grow out of the water 2 feet+ into the air.

Comment by Ben Hill on November 14, 2013 at 4:49pm

I found a simple trick for smaller tanks: 

Plant the lotus in a shallow container that will sit just below the your cap.  The RTL will not grow as fast and the root will not run wild.  I used this method in my 10 gallon work tank. http://fishtanktv.com/photo/20130712-153817?context=album&album... and after 6 months is still doing fine as a foreground plant.

Comment by Tiger Barb on November 15, 2013 at 3:59pm

I planted 3 of them in my 35g tall, I have to trim the roots and the pads/leaves I cut them out so they don't block the light but 2 weeks later is the same thing, it is beautiful and really bronze color with red on the edges, my fish love it and my ammonia and nitrates are always zero!!!

I do 25% wc a week on all my tanks since I have heavy fish loads. so I don't mind having it and it does not destroy my set up.

Good luck with yours.

Comment by Joe covella on November 16, 2013 at 11:17am

Thanks!!

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