new and interesting ways to keep those riccia down

**Simon** · 14th Jan 2003, 23:16

found this, hope the owner dun mind me linking

link

I find this method rather workable, especially if u intend to keep a thick lawn of riccia and weighting it down with stone will usually result in having the bottom portion rotting away.. with this method, I think it solve that problem.. perharps, its time to go back to having riccia

**David** · 14th Jan 2003, 23:26

quite interesting...and the rounded edges do not have the danger of hurting bottom feeders.....problem is metal poisioning.....

**apollo** · 14th Jan 2003, 23:46

Hi Guys

Not so sure that it wont rot in time. When it gets too bushy, am sure lights wont penetrate and it will rot in time.

The way it goes, he has simply weighing down the riccia. Why spent time bending wires when yu can buy nettings and drop over the riccia like he do!??

I love riccia but its the maintenance after it. My shrimps loves to get to the base and eat them up. In no time a lobang will appear!

Dont tell me not to put in shrimps cos i loves them equally as well!... Sigh...Good things never last! Haha...

**tawauboy** · 15th Jan 2003, 00:00

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he has simply weighing down the riccia. Why spent time bending wires when yu can buy nettings and drop over the riccia like he do!??
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you answered your own question. wire has more weight compared to netting so will be able to keep ricca down. you won't be able weigh down ricca with netting alone.

**Allen_1971** · 15th Jan 2003, 11:08

I echo apollos thinking... why spend time bending wire when you can use a stainless steel mesh/netting. Also doesn't solve the problem with riccia floating up when the bottom rots

**Simon** · 15th Jan 2003, 11:16

I dun agree with that, firstly, the weight of a mesh netting wouldnt do much compared to a metal rod like whats shown, the thing here is the use of something heavier, like a stone then weighting riccia down, a wire mesh dun do much to push it down.. rotting will happen sooner or later, perharps I shldnt have mentioned that the rotting prob is solved thru using this solution.. this method will prolong the use of riccia without have to retie them over and over again.

**notebook** · 15th Jan 2003, 12:12

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On 1/15/2003 11:16:05 AM

I dun agree with that, firstly, the weight of a mesh netting wouldnt do much compared to a metal rod like whats shown, the thing here is the use of something heavier, like a stone then weighting riccia down, a wire mesh dun do much to push it down.. rotting will happen sooner or later, perharps I shldnt have mentioned that the rotting prob is solved thru using this solution.. this method will prolong the use of riccia without have to retie them over and over again.
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well how about using the lead strip that comes along with the plant that you buy from LFS. anyway NA is selling them.

**Simon** · 15th Jan 2003, 12:25

the thing here is that, we have to be careful with the selection of the metal used, lead is a definte no, lead poisoning... so something that isnt harmful or rust

**notebook** · 15th Jan 2003, 12:33

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On 1/15/2003 12:25:46 PM

the thing here is that, we have to be careful with the selection of the metal used, lead is a definte no, lead poisoning... so something that isnt harmful or rust
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oh i see...thanks.
but ah... whats the material strip that they used to hold the stem plants down?
please enlighten me.... and will the strip cause any poisoning?

**Simon** · 15th Jan 2003, 12:35

thats lead, not advise to use them to weight down plants

**Goondoo** · 15th Jan 2003, 12:51

hi,
Pardon my stupid question. Any ones noes where to find such stainless metals that is safe for tanks? I tried a few hardware shop before but no ones sell it.

Cheers,
Goondoo

**Allen_1971** · 15th Jan 2003, 12:52

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On 1/15/2003 11:16:05 AM

I dun agree with that, firstly, the weight of a mesh netting wouldnt do much compared to a metal rod like whats shown, the thing here is the use of something heavier, like a stone then weighting riccia down, a wire mesh dun do much to push it down.. rotting will happen sooner or later, perharps I shldnt have mentioned that the rotting prob is solved thru using this solution.. this method will prolong the use of riccia without have to retie them over and over again.
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haha... and I have to say I dun agree wif that...[

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] I've grown riccia in the past, and wire mesh worked just fine... it sinks right to the bottom even with the riccia tied on. So no... I don't see why you need a heavier metal wire when a lighter wire mesh will do. [

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**Simon** · 15th Jan 2003, 13:02

coz I too also did the same and I find it too light, unlike thin rocks which does the job but the bottom rots away faster

**apollo** · 15th Jan 2003, 13:18

Hi Tawauboy and Simon

Just like Allen, i have used stainless steel mesh and have keep the riccia down without prob.

My prob comes from rotting and shrimps eating at the base of the netting.

**tawauboy** · 15th Jan 2003, 13:49

if you compare a wire mesh and a square spiral, you will see that the wiremesh will block out quite a high percentage of the light. so the lower layers of ricca will have a higher chance of rotting. for the square spiral, only a minute portion of the ricca will be blocked thus reducing the chances of rotting. it will still rot some but much lesser.

**Allen_1971** · 15th Jan 2003, 14:42

TB, again I'd have to disagree...

My Riccia never rotted because the light got blocked by the wire mesh... my riccia rotted because the light got block by the riccia on top. So no my wire mesh doesn't block light.

Lets consider this... how is the riccia held down? in one case its a 3mm diameter of wire, in the other case its a 1mm diameter mesh. Now assume I had riccia tied down below this wire/mesh and a light shining from on top... consider the strand of riccia which is being pinned down... which blocks more light? a 3mm line or a 1mm line? So if riccia was going to rot away due to light blockage, the 3mm line would block more. No Riccia rots away because the riccia on top of it is blocking the light.... not because of the wire or mesh which we use.

**Simon** · 15th Jan 2003, 15:45

i think we getting out of point here, its an alternative method of holding riccia down, its up to the individual to evaluate what they want, whether a wire mesh is heavy enuff to hold them down and how compact depends on the medium they used. I think regardless of 1mm to 3mm diameter wire, it will still be the same.. cause riccia aint that small till 3mm diameter will block light nor a 1mm diameter ..

**Allen_1971** · 15th Jan 2003, 16:48

While I can't dispute that what birgit has done looks really beautiful, I'm just wondering whether her method is in any way superior to our method of using a simple steel mesh. So far I've not heard any convincing reasons why it is better... I've also posted on AB asking birgit's opinion... for all we know they can't get steel mesh easily in US/Austria

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