Growing HC

[alpay]

Hi all, I've recently taken over a mature tank with 3" growth of HC. Previous owner had chiller, CO2 canister and T5 lighting. HC was bright green in colour.

My taking over of the tank involved downgrading many components, including using a fan (which does the job and keeps water at 24degC apart from evaporation losses), DIY CO2 and the exact same T5 lighting.

In the initial weeks, the HC started turning brown and I thought they were all gonna die. But over the past 3 days the HC is growing at a pretty phenomenal rate and bright green little leaves are appearing once again. I believe the conditions in the tank have stabilised.

Have any bros experienced such problems? My aquascape now is still pretty unsightly since the brown leaves as still prevalent in approx 20% of my HC. Is there any way to get rid of these brown leaves? I've tried pulling them out strand by strand but it's way too time-consuming.

Will they eventually decide to die and float up or something, where I can just scoop them and throw them away?

Looking fwd to hearing from bros with HC experience. Thx

[madnugget]

hmm, i'm still in the process of covering a lawn of HC but ya..i think giving a haircut would help.

[bokeholic]

I started growing HC in December by Dry Start Method too. 1 week after the transition period, they turned brown. However 1-2weeks later, new green leaves started to grow.

I am growing in non-CO2 tank. The progress is very very slow but they are not dying. Because of this, sometimes I feel like I am growing plastic plants

[kimchi]

I plant HC which i bought from shop direct into tank filled with water. They start melting few days later.

[kelvinlim11]

Any idea where can i buy HC? Wish to grow them but don't know where to get them.

[rainforest]

Any idea where can i buy HC? Wish to grow them but don't know where to get them.

Give your closest/favorite LFS a call, they can bring it in if there is no current stock.

br,
eric

[romanyao]

Any idea where can i buy HC? Wish to grow them but don't know where to get them.

you can get from C318

[nicken]

my HC carpet has a patch with yellowish leaves . anyone experience this before ? what could have causes it to turn yellow ?

[alpay]

hi bro, mine have almost turned entirely brown at the bottom. only the top few leaves are bright green. could it be CO2 depletion? i'm intending to get rid of my entire tank of HC as it's pretty unsightly now.

[barmby]

Looking fwd to hearing from bros with HC experience. Thx

I am not. But people like rogergoh and blue33 has very rich experience in keeping HC. The rest, they might. But I don't talk to them to find out much. not with saying the rest are not good.

[blue33]

Your DIY CO2 has killed your HC, they are unstable, inconsistent supply CO2. They loves seachem excel(because is liquid carbon), easily absorb by plant but they are costly. Small leaves plant need very fine CO2, that means you need a good mix of CO2 with water and circulate them around the tank. If possible try to get yourself a canister CO2 with solenoid regulator and a CO2 reactor. Hope this help.

[mikeang]

sorry, curious... may i know the full name of HC?

Thanks

[barmby]

Hemianthus callitrichoides

[mikeang]

Great! Thanks! ... That's the one I would like in my tank. Seems hard to go.. but i just got the CO2 set.. hope it helps

[rodriguesroyston]

Sorry to move this thread a bit away but I have bought a 4 inch piece of HC yesterday and am having a tough time trying to sow it within the substrate. I am using ADA Ammosonia II

I was told by the local experts here that HC takes sometime to get used to the Tank Environment and during that period either appears to die or melt away. Once the Tank parameters settle down and then get used to it, they then take off. Not sure how much of this is True.

Regards

Royston

[Tamama]

Sorry to move this thread a bit away but I have bought a 4 inch piece of HC yesterday and am having a tough time trying to sow it within the substrate. I am using ADA Ammosonia II

I was told by the local experts here that HC takes sometime to get used to the Tank Environment and during that period either appears to die or melt away. Once the Tank parameters settle down and then get used to it, they then take off. Not sure how much of this is True.

Regards

Royston

My tank has been stabilised after 2 months. I put a bit of HC in, it grows like mad in two days. I digged one or two out. I can see the roots has extended downwards from 1cm to 3cm. New leaves are growing from side areas.

[kimchi]

My tank has been stabilised after 2 months. I put a bit of HC in, it grows like mad in two days. I digged one or two out. I can see the roots has extended downwards from 1cm to 3cm. New leaves are growing from side areas.

Hi Tamama, what is the temperature of your tank? Do you use a chiller? I have a strange issue, when i dip the Dymax thermometer probe into the bottom of the tank it shows 29.5 deg but when the probe is above water level it shows around 28 deg. Any ideas why there is a difference? Tks..

I read that HC will only grow in low temperature & hence i think my HC will melt in this high temperature like 29.5. Btw, mine is a 4 ft tank.

[Shadow]

Not true, I'm currently growing HC at 28-30 degree C submerse. It is part of experiment to prove that it can grow at higher temp, kind of like myth buster .

The idea is when you grow HC emerse in enclose tank, the temperature inside is very hot around 30-32 degree C and HC still growing. Thus there is no reason why it cannot grow at 28-30 submerse. Cool water help because it slow down everything but as long as you can keep up with its need, there is no reason why it should not grow.

[blue33]

Actually Green House(sealing emmersed) effect and inside the tank is different, inside the tank when temperature is high, CO2 is low(cold temperature richer CO2), whereas in Green House(sealing emmersed) effect due to sealing up, the gaseous produce is abundant, thus CO2 is higher also.

[Shadow]

How many ppm of CO2 that water can hold at 30 degree C?
We are keep saying that higher temp have less CO2, which is true but how much less?
IMO as long as the CO2 concentration higher than what plant needs (30ppm?) then it does not matter whether more or less.