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I prefer softer woods than mopani, nothing attaches to it easily.

- Tell that to the 2 baby java ferns that appeared out of nowhere growing on my mopani wood . Somehow, my java fern had babies when I wasn't looking because there were leaves no bigger than a tear drop coming out of the wood. They are hard anchored and now about 1 inch long. The only thing is that the are at risk atm because they are covered in hair algae ]:|. I'm dosing excel because it is a pretty effective algaecide. . I can't pinch off the worst infected leaves because the whole thing is covered . I need to give the hair algae a hair cut so the light can get through. I can't even dip it in bleach or the wood would get dipped. I think it could leach out into the water if I did that.

I have too few plants in the tank right now so the algae is getting the best of it. Nitrates are at 5ppm and Phos is at 1.0, which is my tap water level. I have a phospate absorbing bag that took it from about 4-5ppm down to 0.5ppm overnight . I took it out so I wouldn't lose anymore phos. I'm hoping the plants will take up the 1.0ppm from the tap water.

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Frank, wonderful site. Too bad they are in singapore . But I like the pictures he has showing how to put it in mesh.

It is true that my mopani wood is kind of lumpy so I think tying it to that will be difficult. But, I'm going to give it a shot anyway .


Last edited by Cory_Di at 19-Mar-2005 18:10

Here's mine. You can see the hairnet in this one, obviously have to find a finer grade of hairnet You can also see the bald patches ]

It's a flat piece of rock with some filter wool soaked in tank water on top. The Riccia is spread and patted onto the wool, hairnet on top and tied tightly underneath.

bensaf attached this image:

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

What hairnet?

Looks nice. I have to find a hairnet, but I don't know where. I wonder if I can get one at the drug store. I'll have to check and see how it fits on my one cave.

I wish I knew how to attach multiple pictures.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 22-Mar-2005 16:48

last one


Falstaf attached this image:

duh! i still don't know how to attatch several photos in the same post


Falstaf attached this image:

Hi i got a camera and i took this photos for you to see how the hair net works.


Falstaf attached this image:

Ok, I have another cave that may be better yet for the Riccia. It has a flat top and I'll bet a hair net would fit tightly to the shape of it. I'll see. If I can cover the top in riccia, it won't look so fake

Falstaff beat me to it.

I'm growing some Riccia at the moment. It is a complete pain in the a** to keep down. A hairnet is the only way to go.

I have mine on a very flat large rock and the hairnet sits perfectly on and hold down the riccia nicely, although I still get a fair amount of floaters. Takes 5 seconds to put the hairnet on (I just know Babel is going to jump in here with a pom pom line ).

I'll post a pic tomorrow to show you.

PS Thanks to the sister in law for the hairnet

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

- Live and learn. If it is too much, I can always stuff some floating in my betta tanks. They will appreciate it

I've got this notion to take my pebble cave and not only wrap the fishing line around and around from one end to the other, but then I can weave fishing line in the other direction through them. This would make it "net-like". I'll see how much patience I have .

The best way to go to attatch Riccia ys a hair net, belive me i've tryed it all!!]:| I didn't want to use it because i thought it become a hazard for the fish, plecos and ottos, so i tried and i tried everything, from fish line to cotton thread and i always ended up with the bare surface and the Riccia happily floating (on Madonnas words: It's Riccia's nature).

I went and got 1 hair net to test and the stuff is the best not only is impercetible,but it atatches so well and close to the surface that the fish don't get stuck, that or i have really smart fish Anyway, mide did attatch to a piece of wood, not mopani though. and submerged i found that volcanic rock really mkes the trick it does attach there too.

BTW: 4 Teaspoons of Riccia is quite a lot!! It's a really delicate fragile plant, Imagine a single leaf of a cabomba, you can cover a good size surface with it, specially if you take uner consideration that each tiny piece that separates is a new plant.

Last edited by Falstaf at 20-Mar-2005 01:54

Ok - here's some ideas. Don't look at all my background junk hanging around. I need to do a better job of hiding stuff

See the pebble cave? Picture that with riccia. Now that I understand it doesn't root, I could probably just keep winding either fishing line around the cave from one end to the other. Then tuck the riccia in that. It's a favorite hiding spot for one of my cories and I know he'll welcome the camoflage

This is a much older photo when I had lush velvet algae coating everything. I liked the green appearance, but I'd rather do it with plants. Since adding co2 and prior to that, more Excel, much of it has died off. Now, I want to replace that green velvet with other greens.

Cory_Di attached this image:


Last edited by Cory_Di at 19-Mar-2005 18:32[/font]

I have some plants coming. [link=See this thread]http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/forums/Planted%20Aquaria/56613.html?04730358" style="COLOR: #C000C0[/link]

I hadn't thought about it before ordering, but what are some ways to tie riccia on. I just seen a pic of riccia on driftwood and it looked like they had some kind of netting it was in. I didn't like the look of the net. Will it eventually stick to the driftwood if I use black cotton thread?

What techniques are used?

Hi Diane,
Somehow, when I read your list of plants, I just knew
that this question would not be long in comming.

Check out this site for all sorts of possibilities:
http://www.nature-aquarium.com/home.htm

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Mopani wood is often very blocky and unsuitable for tying.

I much prefer smaller rounder branches. Cobble stones are nice.

If you'd like something that is less maintenance: Java moss, Erect moss or Xmas moss looks great and will attach.

I prefer softer woods than mopani, nothing attaches to it easily.

I alos prefer many smaller branches to one large block of wood.

That blocks far less light, makes the scene in the tank appear larger rather than smaller(much like adding larger vs smaller fish), allows you to rearrange the sticks in many different ways and it's easier to remove for maintenance and cleaning.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Interesting stuff!

Bladderwort. Carnivorous. Hmmmm.....

Thanks for the warning.

I may have to use two suction cups, one each from two adjacent walls. I may only do this at the beginning in order to let it establish. Then I may cut some loose and see if it survives in the darker regions. I really wish I had a light that was hanging above the tank, but I don't have the ability to do that.

Gah. Beaten to it. Riccia doesn't stick (by nature, it&#8217;s a floating plant); it's a fact of life. Basically, you'll spend the rest of your planted tank career retying it to sufaces. It is, IME, best not to even bother tying it up until you get a large batch.

Plunger (although I tend to call them suction cups - plungers are what you use to fix stopped toilets, and I wouldn't want one in my tank! ) with fishing line makes perfect sense.


Bladderwort is a tiny filamentous plant that often/practically always infests riccia. It's about the same color, so it's not a huge visual problem, but it grows out of control and can eat small fry (not livebearer fry, definitely, but some egglayer species). And before someone asks - Yes, really, it eats fry. It's carnivorous.

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

What's bladderwort

I have four, tsp size pieces coming from AZ Gardens. I plan to tie just one or maybe two to the driftwood. The rest will be floating.

But, the brightest area of my tank is under the light. No floating plants stay under that as it is in the middle. They drift to where the light doesn't shine .

Is there a way I can keep it under the light? I'm thinking of putting a plunger with some fishing line attached to the side of the tank to keep it out in the bright light.

Last edited by Cory_Di at 19-Mar-2005 11:07

Something must be up with yahoo. It was taking forever to load and I finally gave up. I've been having trouble like that getting into my own accounts. Every website loads fast for me except yahoo.

It'll never stick to the driftwood; however, it will quickly grow to cover whatever you use. You can use a dark thread that'll blend in with the wood (and it'll rot by the time you want to retie, ideally), or clear fishing line that could be fairly invisible.

My riccia hint: always leave at least a little floating, and keep a little floating in other tanks, so that a bladderwort or algae outbreak can't wipe out your supply - it's a bit tough to get ahold of!

-Molly
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