Super easy method to set up new tank without any algae (really!)

[wildfish]

Interesting. Do you think it's possible to grow HC this way ie little water initially and fill up the water after 8 weeks and NOT adding CO2 in the end? Since the HC was doing well without CO2 initially, do you think's necessary to add CO2 after filling up the water?

I think the tank eco condition is entirely diferent after filling up. Access to air surface is "isolated" with higher water level. So adding Co2 becomes necessary as plant need to absorb them readily from water itself.

[Plantbrain]

Tom, how come the 2 tanks (showing how you started off) and the final tank is not the same ? the HC over-grown and have to be transferred ?

Because these photos where taken all at the same time at various stages to show a progression.

The first tank is merely a starter, the second is planted, the 3rd is filled in. Tank difference, eg, all the same tank does not matter.

Give a few more days and I'll post the other tanks.

I'm not into taking photo progressions of tanks, they are nice, but my habits are rarely that way for photography

I like to take pictures of places like this:



Regards,
Tom Barr

[uklau]

Hi folks,

I tried this method on my new tank with Glossostigma as the foreground plant.

For the first 7 days, I blasted it with 2 x 39W T5HO (with individual reflector) & the soil was kept moisture. I'm using mixture of Seachem Flourite & Onxy. Liquid fertilizers were mixed to the water to keep the substrate moisture. The plant is growing healthly but straight up.

On the 8th day till today (7 days), I blasted it with 6 x 39W T5HO to see if it helps to keep the plant low. I also tried with about 1cm of water above the substate. It only managed to slow down the plant from growing taller. It is still crawling.

Would appreciate some help on how to proceed from here. Attached are the photos of the plant. Thanks.

[ranmasatome]

Lau... trim anything that grows striaght up... just simply cut everything off..

[uklau]

Oh. Thanks, bro. I'll do just that!

[uklau]

Trimmed the glosso twice over the last 2 weekends. Still, growing upwards . I'm sure the plant is doing well as there are lots of new leaves sprouted everyday. The only problem is that they are not crawling . With 6 x 39W T5HO tubes, they are growing upwards, although at a much slower rate compared to when only using 2 x 39W T5HO.

I'm also positive that the nutrients & lightings are sufficient as I already seen green algae covering my damp substrate. What else could go wrong?

[ranmasatome]

i dont understand..didn't you want them to crawl?? so how can that be a problem?

[Shadow]

maybe typo.

Anyway if it i not crawling yet and you want it to crawl, you might want to try to force it crawl. Use a bamboo tooth pick, bend it until it break but not until seperate. Use it to pin down your glosso to the ground. It was suggested by StanChung but I never try it though , my glosso craling without any help

[uklau]

i dont understand..didn't you want them to crawl?? so how can that be a problem?

Sorry, bro. Typo error...perhaps, too depressed .

[uklau]

Use a bamboo tooth pick, bend it until it break but not until seperate.

Oh, thanks. I'll try that out to see if it helps. Another weekend with backache .

[chaosdiablo]

Quite a good idea

[dialow]

Hi,

I'm really keen to grow some HC using the methods above. Saw at Colourful today that they have very beautiful HC carpets on sale. Very tempted to grow that for my new tank. However, I'm quite puzzled by the earlier posts.

1) For a start, do we cover the tank?
2) No CO2 needed at all?

[Shadow]

It would be good if you cover the tank, keep the moister lock. No CO2 injection needed at all, it submerse, CO2 from atmosphere.

[torque6]

For a moment, i thought tom "back to the future2", then noticed he posted this last year.

Dialow, you can just post the link and create your own.

[PeterGwee]

It would be good if you cover the tank, keep the moister lock. No CO2 injection needed at all, it submerse, CO2 from atmosphere.

Emergent growth...not submerse.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

[dialow]

For a moment, i thought tom "back to the future2", then noticed he posted this last year.

Dialow, you can just post the link and create your own.

Hey Torque6,

Yeah sorry but I was just browsing thru the forum today wanting to know abt more abt such planting method. Know the post was quite some time bad.

Anyhow, I'm very new to this forum. How do i post the link and create my own?

[Shadow]

Emergent growth...not submerse.

Regards,
Peter Gwee

O yeah my mistake