Egeria Densa "Elodea Najas"

Profile of Egeria Densa "Elodea"

• Difficulty: Easy
• Family: Hydrocharitaceae
• Gender: Egeria
• Origin: South America
• Lighting: Low
• Temperature: 3nd - 35th
• Increase: Fast
• PH: 5.0 – 8.0
• Hardness: 0 – 30
• Co2: Optional

Characteristics of Egeria Densa "Elodea"

It is one of the best-known aquarium plants, and has been for a long time. This plant comes from South America, but can be found today in many warmer areas of the world, in stagnant and flowing waters. The stems, which grow to meters long, grow upright, often with bent tips and branch at regular intervals. They are densely covered with linear sheets, with transparencies and dark green. The shoots are anchored in the ground with a few long roots, but they also grow freely floating.

Egeria Densa is considered a fast-growing and undemanding aquatic plant, but it looks great with an abundant and complete supply of macro- and micronutrients, at least medium lighting and not too high temperatures (better 18-25 ° C). It is also suitable for cold water aquariums and can withstand temperatures close to 0°C. CO2 fertilization is not absolutely necessary, but if there is a severe lack of CO2, biogenic decalcification can lead to unsightly whitish limescale deposits on the leaves. Like other stem plants, it can be easily propagated by cuttings. Its very fast growth requires frequent pruning if you want to prevent it from growing too high to the surface of the water.

With its rapid growth, it produces a lot of oxygen, competes with algae for excess nutrients, and provides cover for aquarium animals. With its dense foliage and deep dark green hue, it looks great in planted aquariums, for example as a green background plant.