Tips for planting riccia and other carpet plants.

[retoid]

I would love some tips on how to plant a large mat of riccia in eco-complete.

The size of the mat is about 6"x8"

Thanks

[epicfish]

I'd tie it all down to a piece of slate and just wiggle the slate into the substrate...it should spread soon enough...it worked for me for a short while until I realized I didn't want a huge carpet of riccia and tore it all down.

PS: A new package is going out Monday.

[retoid]

epicfish, I had it tied to a piece of slate at first with sewing thread, that did not hold it very long and most of it found its way to the top of the tank again.
If I tie it better with some fishing line will it expand and stay growing along the substrate? If so, how does it keep itself down?

P.S. Thanks, I will keep you updated.

[ikuzo]

stainless steel mesh. make a huge sandwich of it. if you use slates, the carpet won't look good, the border between slates will be visible.

[epicfish]

Actually, I used a small piece of slate and then the carpet kind of spread over the substrate beyond the borders of the slate. Riccia grows pretty quickly!

If you go to Wal-Mart, you can get loofahs (synthetic bath sponges) for $1 or $2 each. Go home and unravel it. It becomes this huge mesh/net thing. I just put some riccia on slate or stainless steel mesh, wrap it with the netting, and tie the netting on the underside of the slate pretty tightly. It'll look ugly until the riccia grows up and covers the netting, but once it does, it looks pretty nice.

Loofah:

[retoid]

Thats a pretty good idea. What type of steel mesh do you guys use? And can it be found at a convenient store?

[weeds]

This is how I did mine>

http://www.dvaga.com/article_Secure_Riccia.htm

It's been in the tank for about 2 weeks and it's really doing well.

[retoid]

Originally Posted by weeds

This is how I did mine>

http://www.dvaga.com/article_Secure_Riccia.htm

It's been in the tank for about 2 weeks and it's really doing well.

Awesome, great example and nice looking tank!

[retoid]

Hehe my girlfriend is going to be mad when she gets home and notices I ruined her bath sponge thing :P



The riccia mat has been growing for some time now floating in my other 20gal tank. I can potentially cover the entire foreground and still have riccia left over hehe. I must fine some more slate.

Thanks again.

[CampCreekTexas]

Originally Posted by retoid

If so, how does it keep itself down?

It doesn't keep itself down. Riccia doesn't attach to things like java and other mosses do. And you have to keep it trimmed to allow light to get to the parts under the string/bath sponge stuff or else that part will die. Then the whole thing will let go and float to the top again.

[fishymatty]

You have to realize about ricca is since it spreads and grows so fast, and you have to tie it down or use mesh to grow it on a slate it will spread off the anchor point and eventually the bottom plants will rot out and die so it will break off the anchor and float up to the surface. That stuff is not meant for long term aquascaping.

[retoid]

ugh, thanks for the reality guys

[Nbot]

I had an awesome patch of it, but threw it out b/c its a mess, besides how pretty it looks pearling, I hate the stuff...

[ringram]

I recently made riccia sandwiches using regular black screen (for screen doors) from the hardware store. It's growing out of the holes and starting to look pretty nice, but it looks like the stuff inside is dying. uuuggh. I guess I'll take it back apart again. It looks nice if you can get it to get hung up in something like hairgrass. I have mine intertwined in some narrow leaf java fern and managed to get it to grow into a flat shelf (6" x 4" or so), but after a few days a piece of it always detaches and floats to the top.
I'm at odds with this stuff. Part of me wants to keep it b/c it looks neat (especially when pearling), but the other part of me is just annoyed by how hard it is to work with and the immense mess it can make of your tank while doing a water change and/or rearrangement of other plants.

[CampCreekTexas]

Originally Posted by retoid

ugh, thanks for the reality guys

Sorry and YW