"hemianthus Callitrichoides Cuba" - Kept Successfully?

[Primous]

I've been looking for a good carpeting plant ever since I started taking the planted aspect of this hobby more seriously and fell in adoration with this plant many moons ago. I was so enthused that initially I bought 5 tropica pots of this species. Which was basically money down the drain because it melted into mush with a month. With a little more research I figured that the problem was that I was dosing liquid C02 and that this particular plant has a high C02 demand. So after I made the switch to diy c02 I bought some more pots (3 to be precise.) But by that time I had added 3 juli corys to my aquarium and although this time it didn't melt, my cory cats kept up rooting it and with a couple of months it died.

I have since made the switch to a pressurized C02 and have been running this setup for several months. Yesterday I ordered more and am thinking I could hopefully be 3rd time lucky kinda thing.

My tank substrate has since changed and now is dirt based with a fine 1-3mm quartz like gravel cap. Any tips from planting to maintaining this great plant would be most welcomed. Hopefully I can keep this thread as a journal of sorts that others can reference as it does seem to be one of the more harder species to keep and grow successfully.

Primus

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Tbh it doesn't matter what CO2 you dose as HC loves liquid carbon, I use it in 3 set ups successfully and got a lush carpet. It could also be down to your flow? Your lighting? There's lots of things that affect this plant.

 

[Primous]

It could also be down to your flow? Your lighting? There's lots of things that affect this plant.

Please elaborate. I'm here to learns, and hoping to grow this successfully

*edit*

I have one pot planted and surrounded by rocks since my cory cats seem to hate rocks?

 

[mark4785]

I have had the same problem with HC in that my Dwarf cichlid finds it excitable to go about uprooting the HC and/or the tank environment causes the HC to turn yellow and then transparent. I wouldn't get your hopes up that you will be able to grow this plant just because you've upgraded to a pressurised c02 system; I employ this set-up along with liquid c02 dosing and the result is always mush. I've also witnessed this plant dead in my LFS.

It's a very difficult plant to keep in summary.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

In my set up I have a filter that runs at 600lph, its a 60 litre tank so 10 x turnover, this creates good flow allowing the HC to get all the nutrients it needs. I have an 18Watt light so not very high at all, I dose Excel and TPN+ daily and it grows so fast I have to trim it weekly.

 

[Primous]

I have had the same problem with HC in that my Dwarf cichlid finds it excitable to go about uprooting the HC and/or the tank environment causes the HC to turn yellow and then transparent. I wouldn't get your hopes up that you will be able to grow this plant just because you've upgraded to a pressurised c02 system; I employ this set-up along with liquid c02 dosing and the result is always mush. I've also witnessed this plant dead in my LFS.

It's a very difficult plant to keep in summary.

Hmm

This plant seems to be something of a milestone in this hobby of ours. Where in very few people have managed to keep/grow hc successfully. The information out there so far tends to vary from site to site and I'm yet to find a uniform guide as to how to do it. but one bi9t of info that does appear pretty regularly is that excel/liquid co2 and HC rarely go together so perhaps in your case that may be why it turned yellow. But with that said I am yet to ID the science behind that claim so it could just be one of those aquatic hobbyist myths/laws that fall apart when you apply scientific scrutiny.

In my set up I have a filter that runs at 600lph, its a 60 litre tank so 10 x turnover, this creates good flow allowing the HC to get all the nutrients it needs. I have an 18Watt light so not very high at all, I dose Excel and TPN+ daily and it grows so fast I have to trim it weekly.

Sounds like a great setup. Any pics?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

My journal in planted journals titled Cuban Delight, trust me HC loves liquid carbon, it sinks quickly and with good flow it will get loads of it and floursh, were you dosing ferts? I dont know why you think it's so hard to keep, loads of people on here have had success with it. I think it's a case of the right balance mate.

 

[mark4785]

In my set up I have a filter that runs at 600lph, its a 60 litre tank so 10 x turnover, this creates good flow allowing the HC to get all the nutrients it needs. I have an 18Watt light so not very high at all, I dose Excel and TPN+ daily and it grows so fast I have to trim it weekly.

This would imply that flow is key to growing HC. I planted HC within an aquarium with a low-flow-rate internal filter so I had to install powerheads to distribute the co2 bubbles. The bubbles do not resemble a fine mist which, when in this form, are 'supposed' to be more useful to plants. So without being scientific, I could say my problems with HC comes down to inadequate flow/transport of co2 and the co2 bubbles are not of an effective size to do justice; I believe larger co2 bubbles rise to the surface whereas the mist form follows flow.

It would be nice to know what would happen if you replaced excel with co2. It might be that HC is better utilising liquid co2 than the actual gaseous c02 for the reasons I state in the above paragraph.

I'll give HC a try when I have my new aquarium set-up with an external filter and see if I can derive any logic as to why it dies off or lives.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Yeah the reason it loves the liquid is because it does drop in your tank even without flow pushing it down, hence most people growing HC with CO2 pressurised will still dose some excel.

 

[ian]

I have won and failed with HC, at the moment it's my nemesis. I won with it in a Juwel Trigon, with T5 lighting, OK flow, hardwater. I then went to T8 lighting, RO water, awesome flow and failed...My thoughts are that HC needs flow and decent enough lighting (this is meaning PAR), for you to get a successful spread. There are also whispers that it dose better in harder water, but who knows.

I have used it 3 times, once with just liquid carbon and won, second with pressurised and liquid carbon and won, third with pressurised and liquid carbon (RO, and T8's) and failed.

 

[SuperColey1]

IME purely circulation which then gets the CO2 down there. CO2 addition is not a must though. People grow this in low light non CO2 not liquid carbon tanks as well so they are using the natural CO2 however it is getting the CO2 (whether added or not) down to the substrate level where ppms can be very low in comparison to higher up the water column.

Whether using 10x or more filtration or 3x or less filtration circulation can still be an issue. Just gives you more of a chance of good circulation the higher up the turnover table but it doesn't mean you will have great circulation at the substrate just as a 3x turnover doesn't mean you will have poor circulation

Andy

 

[ian]

The best method (i haven't tried it) is the dry method that Tom Barr used, also Diana Walstad used it in a really low tech tank. They start by not filling the tank for a month or so, and let it carpet that way, they then flood the tank and it seems to do a lot better that planted and filled straight away.

Courtesy of Tom Barr

 

[ian]

heres a good explanation to the dry start method (forum linked as we don't have this info on here)

http/www.aquaticquotient.com/forum/showthread.php/74860-Alvin-Koh-s-Journal-90x45x45cm-Planted/page4

 

[Primous]

@ianho @SuperColey1 @ps3steveo & @mark4785

Thanks for the info. The problem with HC is that there are few people that seem to be able to grow this. Looking around the web, on other forums and even some youtube vids, few people get this right. Unfortunately I can't do the dry start so that's out non starter but I really appreciate the info for future reference.

As for the co2 penetrating the substrate. I use organic dirt capped with fine gravel so I'm not sure how much co2 will penetrate the soil

I had to add a few more stones because my corys still seem intent on playing in the hc area. But since adding the stones earlier today they spend far less time in that area before swimming on. So there is hope...

 

[Primous]

I have had some growth but some leaves are turning yellow. I also, had one uproot itself and float which I had to weigh down again (second from left)

The growth appears to be more upward than spreading out/creeping. Any ideas?