In my opinion the dry start method is a waste of time, but it does allow for easier planting of the individual pieces. HC isn't a particularly hard plant to grow. Just give it light, CO2, and occasional ferts and it will flourish.
Help With Growing HC
Hello all, I've never attempted to grow HC before and I wanted some advice before I start anything. From what i've researched the dry start method is the best/only? way to go about it. I understand that in order to grow HC using the DSM I have to use a spray bottle and mist the HC for about 2 months so that the roots can grow into the soil before you flood your tank. My concern is that i'm going to mess it up by either not supply the plant with enough or right nutrients, its gonna melt the second I flood it, or I'm going to have a horrendous algae problem thats going to kill it all. My confusion stems from my lack of understanding on how dry ferts work. I was under the impression that you very very thinly spread them under your substrate, and they would only work in a filled tank. Or can you mix dry ferts in a water bottle and spray that on your plants? Or can you only use liquid ferts in a spray bottle? I know using excel with help keep most of the algae away, so should I use it along with these:http://greenleafaquariums.com/aquarium-fertilizers-supplements/micro-macro-fertilizers.html to gaurantee my HC doesnt disintegrate right in front of me? Also I read somewhere that I should mix micro and macro ferts seperately, is that true?
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I agree. And 9 times outta 10 people get impatient and flood too early anyways.In my opinion the dry start method is a waste of time, but it does allow for easier planting of the individual pieces. HC isn't a particularly hard plant to grow. Just give it light, CO2, and occasional ferts and it will flourish.
I was able to plant my HC submerged and it was pretty easy. I was doing pretty small/single pieces as well. Strangely enough my HC is spreading about 10 x faster than my DHG.
Hi There,
I also had issues growing HC, I dose Excel Flourish which is good for it, I planted them in my tank filled with water, with a DYI CO2 system, and within a few days moved to a pressurized system with a Max-Mix reactor. I had a small melt and then the plants recovered but the leaves were much smaller, real tiny and were spreading very slow. I dose micro and macro ferts. However as the HC spread slowly it did not look real healthy untill I increased the injection of CO2 from about 2.5 BPS to 3.5 - 4 BPS, the results were dramatic, within 4 - 5 days the HC started to spread rapidly, the leaves grew to a larger size and they looked really healthy.
In my openion CO2 injection is the singlemost important thing followed with lighting to get your HC growing well. They are CO2 Hogs as someone aptly put it. All the best!
Bobby
I also had issues growing HC, I dose Excel Flourish which is good for it, I planted them in my tank filled with water, with a DYI CO2 system, and within a few days moved to a pressurized system with a Max-Mix reactor. I had a small melt and then the plants recovered but the leaves were much smaller, real tiny and were spreading very slow. I dose micro and macro ferts. However as the HC spread slowly it did not look real healthy untill I increased the injection of CO2 from about 2.5 BPS to 3.5 - 4 BPS, the results were dramatic, within 4 - 5 days the HC started to spread rapidly, the leaves grew to a larger size and they looked really healthy.
In my openion CO2 injection is the singlemost important thing followed with lighting to get your HC growing well. They are CO2 Hogs as someone aptly put it. All the best!
Bobby
So, putting HC in an established dirt'd plant tank is even harder? I have organic potting soil, flourite then silica sand. Guessing I need to pushed off some sand in order for the HC to grab and go thru. Right now I have DHG on the other side. Would that look stupid with two types of flooring? I'm trying to make one side more of a forest look and the other open grassy feel. I have a DIY CO2 running. Should I try the HC?
IMO, the substrate you have is pretty important. HC has trouble rooting in large substrates. years ago when this plant was first becoming popular, i tried it in a tank with a flourite and eco complete mix. it slowly died away.
a while later i put it in the same tank after a tear down and redo (bad parasites, got meds from the vet, but everything died anyway), but i upgraded my substrate to ADA AS. it did pretty good, and my light, CO2, and fertz were the same.
i never did dry start for HC, and it did just fine.
dry fertz are highly soluble in water. they are dosed instead of liquid fertz, or mixed into a bottle and then they ARE liquid fertz. what you put under the substrate (if you want) is mineralized topsoil.
yes, mix the macros and micros separately. never looked up why, but im assuming that some of the micros will react with the macros to form insoluble precipitates.
a while later i put it in the same tank after a tear down and redo (bad parasites, got meds from the vet, but everything died anyway), but i upgraded my substrate to ADA AS. it did pretty good, and my light, CO2, and fertz were the same.
i never did dry start for HC, and it did just fine.
dry fertz are highly soluble in water. they are dosed instead of liquid fertz, or mixed into a bottle and then they ARE liquid fertz. what you put under the substrate (if you want) is mineralized topsoil.
yes, mix the macros and micros separately. never looked up why, but im assuming that some of the micros will react with the macros to form insoluble precipitates.
I never dry started mine. Like others have said, Co2 is extremely important. In my experience, these plants just take a lot of everything to get them to carpet (Light, Co2, Fertz).
What I have seen people do, and I feel it does work very well in my own experience, is inject your Co2 directly underneath a powerhead and shoot the Co2 directly across the HC. Supposedly it does make a difference actually directing the Co2 directly across them. I mean, the Co2 is going to get in and around your tank either way, but this may help to get them to propagate more quickly.
What I have seen people do, and I feel it does work very well in my own experience, is inject your Co2 directly underneath a powerhead and shoot the Co2 directly across the HC. Supposedly it does make a difference actually directing the Co2 directly across them. I mean, the Co2 is going to get in and around your tank either way, but this may help to get them to propagate more quickly.
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