Cost of Being Tempted!

[nohomeleave]

Last night I was at C328 and among other some needed purchases to start my 2 ft tank, I was tempted and bought some plants (not sure if its moss) stuck onto a sponge like thingy. Bought it and didn't even ask the uncle (or aunty) there what it was! Brought it home and placed it in my tank and guess what, it floats like a life raft in the sea! Thought it would sink after it soaks up water and checked this morning, still floating!! Floats so well that I'm about to swear that it can take the weight of a full grown adult! Just something like a 15cm by 15cm piece.

Any ideas what I need to do to get it to remain planted in the substrate?

[eviltrain]

a picture says a thousand words

[nohomeleave]

Sigh...will try to post pictures tonight if i don't get back too late....

[heavenkid]

Sigh...will try to post pictures tonight if i don't get back too late....

Bro, use to metal mesh to tied to the bottom of the sponge thingy to weight your plant down. Metal mesh can get from C328

[nohomeleave]

Bro, use to metal mesh to tied to the bottom of the sponge thingy to weight your plant down. Metal mesh can get from C328

My goodness, just like that! I thought that I might have to try and pluck each strand out one at a time! The horror of so much work! Thanks, will try this one out! I remember seeing the metal mesh in one of their empty tanks atC328.

Anyway, anyone can tell me what plant I bought! Any other methods of getting the plants to stay down on the substrate is also welcome!

[Kiatster]

Seems like Hemianthus Callitrichoides 'cuba' (HC) to me. I could be wrong without image. Picture will help.

[eviltrain]

seems like HC to me too. the only way now is to tie it to the wire mesh to weight it down.

[nohomeleave]

I had difficulty loading pictures but I managed to sneak down to C328 and aunty there confirmed that I bought HC from her. Also got the metal mesh to tie the HC down. Will be tying it tonight. After that, add fertilisers and .....wait. Thanks for the valuable help!

[bigfthing]

Hahaha! i was there last night too & got 8 pieces of that to start on my 4ft tank. I cut them into small cubes & plant them into the soil. but i'm not flooding water into the tank yet, I'm doing the Dry start method! BUt i heard you can just leave it flooting on the water first & let it eventually sink by itself(not really sure) but since you got the mesh just use it ! Good luck!

[eviltrain]

Brother Bigthing, did you take out the sponge??

[bigfthing]

No just stick the sponge in as many suggested! Should i?

[eviltrain]

i will cut them into squares, pull the sponge away just before i plant them one square by one.

[bigfthing]

Oh o...did i do it wrong? I cut into square cube but didn't pull out the sponge!

[eviltrain]

just hope that they will root well then

[bigfthing]

Crossing my fingers! I was advise to do it this way by many...

[Xianghao]

i thought you were supposed to take out the sponge and insert the plantlets into the substrate? makes no sense to me to insert the sponge in as well dude..

[Raley]

I've also bought the smaller size sponge with HC. I was afraid that if I pull out the sponge, the roots would get damaged.

Anyway, so far about 30% have melted away so I'm afraid I won't have to worry about pulling out the sponge anymore. haha

[dew]

Is it the one sold in square pieces and kept in dry bags?

[Raley]

Is it the one sold in square pieces and kept in dry bags?

Yes, exactly. i was trying to figure out how to get the HC out of the sponge, but in the end I decided the "plant" the sponge in the soil and hope the HC spreads.

Then I can cut out the square part. As of today, I have about 10 stems still surviving. haha!

[nohomeleave]

Well, I recently saw that Polyart sells HC without the sponge (that's how it looks like to me so I stand to be corrected) at $5 a bag. My HC just melted away so I think I need to think about my substrate before I re-invest in HC again.