Growing Hemianthus callitrichoides emersed Help

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SnaKeheAdSrAwSomE

Feeder Fish
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Oct 23, 2008
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as the title says, i need help growing HC emersed. (out of water) .
I want to know if dosing ferts/co2 will be necessary and how long i should keep lights on. the tank is a 10 gallon with 2 cf bulbs at 15 watts each bulb. Substrate is eco-complete.

thanks,
Neil.
 
No you don't need to dose ferts. How could you do it anyways? There's no water... Also the HC will be able to get CO2 from the air, you do not need to inject any. On my last setup I chose to grow the HC emersed and it was a slow, drawn out process. Once I added water, growth just took off and was 10x faster than it was emersed. I still don't know why...
 
Most people swear by growing HC emersed and then filling when your happy with the growth of its scape.

The eco complete is a OK medium for growing HC. But a more nutritious soil based substrate would be alot better. I would switch to a top soil substrate or other more costly planted tank soil substrate. Also I am unsure if the HC can pull nutrients from eco when its dry or semi dry.

Most people fertilize emersed set ups by filling spray bottles with light amounts of all the ferts and spraying the HC on occassion.

The best thing about an emersed set up is there is zero problems with algae. There for you can use as much light as you want the more light you have the faster the growth. As long as the bulbs dont generate enough heat to burn the HC. I would suggest the largest CFL 6500k GE daylight bulbs u can fit. 2 26watt bulbs would be my pick for a 10g as a start ( I run 2 15wt's on my 5g filled set up). May need more, like a nice t5ho 20" fixture. Which can be found on ebay for 39.95. While Emersed I would run a 12-14hr photo period 8-10hr when filled. Also fill the tank with water to just below the plants so they dont dry out and the eco can release some nutrients. Put some glad wrap over the tank so that your water doesn't evaporate to quickly.

It will take a couple of weeks for the HC to adjust and start growing. But once it does it spreads quickly when grown emersed.

When you get to the point where your satisfied and ready to fill the tank. Make sure your co2 levels are ultra high for a few weeks while it adjust and transforms to its under water form. Or you will get a large amount of die off. Also have your fert regiment rock solid before filling. After a few weeks to a month you can start to lower the co2 bubble rate slowly and when safe levels are reached then add fish.
 
I'm actually doing this with Utricularia graminifolia right now and I've done HC as well. Its a great method. I don't add any ferts directly, but the water I mist with comes from my planted tank, so there are definitely some in there.
 
mikeb210;4155827; said:
I'm actually doing this with Utricularia graminifolia right now and I've done HC as well. Its a great method. I don't add any ferts directly, but the water I mist with comes from my planted tank, so there are definitely some in there.
Click to expand...

Sounds awesome...got any pictures?
 
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