Hey! Thanks for this journal! I was planning to grow HC cuba with this method too next month! How many of those mats of HC did u buy? I'm planning to do 3 feet tank, so how many would you recommend?
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This journal will document my successful growing of a Hemianthus Callitrichoides carpet (sometimes known as 'dwarf baby tears', or more commonly as 'HC') via Dry Start Method (DSM).
There have been numerous online guides by many other aquascapers over the years and i owe my success to all of them. In return, i'd like to thank the aquascaping community by sharing my experience using this method too, it has indeed been a very interesting journey.
Here are the tank specs:
Tank Size: 45cm x 30cm x 24cm
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil New Amazonia (Powder Type)
Temperature: 27-28 °C
Lighting: Up Aqua Z-Series Pro LED Z-15 (45cm)
Light Duration: 14 hours
Flora: Hemianthus Callitrichoides
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Initial Planting
The Hemianthus Callitrichoides were purchased from a local aquarium shop and they are packaged in "mats" secured to stainless steel mesh. I washed them well and let them sit in a plastic tub under shallow water for a few days to quarantine for a while under light (managed to find and remove some worms and snails in the process), then i proceeded to separate them into small bunches to prepare for planting.
I first filled the tank with ADA Aqua Soil New Amazonia (Powder Type), creating a gentle slope from front (2cm height) to back (6cm height). Some rocks of various sizes and shapes were arranged in the soil too.
The soil was sprayed with water until it was visibly moist (but not submerged), i took care not to allow any puddles or pools of water to form. The small bunches of Hemianthus Callitrichoides were then planted into the soil with tweezers, spaced out evenly from each other.
The large empty circle space on the right side is meant for a bogwood/driftwood feature that i'm planning to introduce in after the DSM.
Here is a front "landscaped" view of the initial planting.
I am using the Up Aqua Z-Series Pro LED Z-15 for my lighting. I've had good experience using it to grow other plants, so it was my first choice for this project. The light duration will be 14 hours daily throughout the DSM. Since the plants are not submerged, there is no issue with algae or lack of Co2, so they can focus on growing fast with long and intensive light durations.
For the next few weeks, the plants will be hydrated by a spray bottle. They will be misted a few times daily to keep the soil moist. I only use de-chlorinated water (no additional fertilizers).
The tank is not covered or sealed at all as the local ambient humidity in Singapore is high enough... it'll basically be like cultivating a mini garden within a glass tank.
Btw, i've actually seen Hemianthus Callitrichoides growing outdoors amongst carpet grass in house gardens before, and they were actually considered weeds!
Week 2
So far, i have been misting the soil a few times daily, just enough to prevent it from drying out, taking extra care not to over-saturate the soil.
Growth is slow but steady, with some minor browning on some of the plants, this slower initial growth phase is likely attributed to the weaker ones dying out while the stronger ones work at establishing their roots.
I maintain them by manually removing the brown or dead plants with tweezers and trimming the odd leaves that grow vertically, hopefully this helps to encourage horizontal growth.
Week 4
Good progress! The roots have started to establish and they are now spreading very fast, the plants are growing into a dense carpet and the development can be seen on a day to day basis.
Here is a front "landscaped" view of the growth after 4 weeks.
From the side of the tank, the roots of the plants can be seen anchoring into the soil substrate.
And i also discovered that the soil has inhabitants too... earthworms!
They probably hitchhiked on the Hemianthus Callitrichoides but were too tiny for me to spot earlier on, now they have prospered in the rich soil and plants. At any one time, i could count 4-5 worms from the side of the tank, so there are probably dozens more hidden in the soil too.
I don't view the earthworms as pests though... after all, this is technically a mini garden, and every successful garden usually has lots of earthworms, they eat dead plant matter and process them into worm castings which make great fertilizer for the soil, and they burrow through the soil which helps aerate and allow water to flow though better. So i considered them as little helpers in my DSM project.
But i also encountered un-welcomed guests too... mold!
Luckily i didn't encounter that much mold issues amongst my plants though, only a few scattered spots over the weeks, which i promptly removed with tweezers, so it was just a minor annoyance.
Week 6
The plant growth has been progressing rapidly and i could already see them start to connect together to create a nice carpet!
Noticed the roots are growing even deeper into the soil and anchoring well.
At this point, i decided that the plants have established their roots sufficiently in the soil and the tank is ready to be flooded.
Flooding completed!
With the Hemianthus Callitrichoides rooted firmly in the soil, there was very minimal clouding when i filled the tank with water (the photo above was taken right after the tank was filled) and the slope stayed intact too.
The establishment of a strong root system is indeed one of the main keys to getting healthy and sustained submerged growth from these type of plants.
Hope this journal is helpful for those looking at using DSM to create their own HC carpets too!
Hey! Thanks for this journal! I was planning to grow HC cuba with this method too next month! How many of those mats of HC did u buy? I'm planning to do 3 feet tank, so how many would you recommend?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
The HC mats i got came in various sizes and were packed in those small rectangular plastic cartons, i'd estimate i bought enough mats to probably cover an A4 size area (which seems to be sufficient for initial planting in my 1.5ft tank)... so i guess it would be good if you could get double that amount for your 3ft tank, so that you can have dense initial coverage from the start.
Thanks!
Nice journal. I tried doing dsm once before and mold starting growing instead. Just wondering did you manage to get it right the very first time round or this is your number # attempt? Any how nice carpet
Cheers
Congrats on your successful flooding!
I am also growing HC using DSM but the growth is not as fast. I too have flooded my tank and i discover the earthworm surviving in the tank. A lot of my HC has melted and turned brown but new leaves can be seen.
Inspired by Amano Limited by Yusof Ishak
Thanks!
I guess what i did was only mist the soil and plants slightly each time, i didn't make them soaked or over-saturated with water (which would create areas with stagnant puddles)... so maybe that helped to reduce the chances of mold developing.
Yeah, apparently i've read that earthworms can survive underwater for a while if the water is well oxygenated (they breath through the moisture on their skin)... but they will still die eventually (or the fishes will find and eat them first).
What i did during the flooding process was just fill with water until 1-2cm above the soil substrate, then switched off the room lights and left it alone for an hour. When i came back to check, most of the worms have popped out of the soil, then i used tweezers to remove them from the tank (counted almost 30+ earthworms removed)... the large ones i moved to my potted plants (good for the soil there too), the small ones i kept in a plastic tub and fed them to my fishes over the next few days.
I wasn't keen to leave too many worms in the tank once its fully flooded 'cos if they were to die while in the soil, i wouldn't be able to find them and they'll end up contributing to increased ammonia levels.
The HC does go through a transition period when going from emersed to submerged, i also noticed some browning of the leaves during the first few days too, then they recovered and started resuming their normal growth. I guess the established roots help them to recover quickly and bounce back from the transition.
This is a great journal!
Was wondering, did you cover the tank during DSM? Or you left it open and sprayed water occassionally to keep the soil moist?
Need something to scratch that itchy hand of mine.
Don't act smart. Be smart!
That's some fast growth, I'm trying to do the same for the past month or so, but I don't have anywhere as intense as your growth rates. I did start out with way less plants then you did though, so that might slow things down a fair bit.
Yeah, planting densely from the start will definitely accelerate the growth of a HC carpet... i guess if the quantity of HC planted initially is sparse, then it'll take alot longer to grow and spread out.
Maybe you could just buy more HC mats and plant them in the gaps between your existing clumps of HC, it'll definitely help speed up the process.
I'll just wait it out and see if it fills in properly, if not I'll have to boost it a little I guess.
hi, can share the equipment setup for your photos? confirm not using phone camera
Learning the hardway, not the highway.
Photo Blog - impervious-endeavors.blogspot.com
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"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
from the file, it seems taken by Samsung GT-I9300
Yeah, i use my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone camera to take all the photos.
MY GOD.... i didn't know s3 can take pictures this good...
time to utilize my 3s more then note 2...
what were the settings...? i see the options on my phones... wha.. indeed good buy
Learning the hardway, not the highway.
Photo Blog - impervious-endeavors.blogspot.com
Semi-Active currently
"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
I just used the default camera settings, only when taking close-ups then i enable the macro function, otherwise i didn't adjust anything else.
What i do is take 6-7 shots repeatedly for each scene or angle (will usually end up with 100+ photos each session)... after that i'll transfer all the photos over to my PC and then sort through and delete all the not-so-good duplicated shots, only keep the good photos.
i saw the marco too i am new owner of 2 androids...
you mean the burst mode thingy correct? i only used it to take silly photos of myself so far
Learning the hardway, not the highway.
Photo Blog - impervious-endeavors.blogspot.com
Semi-Active currently
"if he cant be bothered to take the time to write his question properly, why should I take the time to answer him."
I'm wondering if lengthening the photo period will enable the HC to grow faster...
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