AHHH--I'm a plant retard. I can not get riccia to grow!
Everything else in my tanks is growing fine (Val, Sword,
Java Fern, Crypts) and I have CO2, but my riccia just
keeps shrinking. What started as 2 cups+ is down to 3
tablespoons worth and diminishing. Does anyone have
any good propagation tips?!?

-coelacanth (who will next be asking how to breathe)

On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 21:30:47 GMT, "coelacanth"
wrote:

Give us a little more info on your tank. How much light do you have?
The plants you have listed can survive on much lower light than Ricca
can.

AHHH--I'm a plant retard. I can not get riccia to grow!
Everything else in my tanks is growing fine (Val, Sword,
Java Fern, Crypts) and I have CO2, but my riccia just
keeps shrinking. What started as 2 cups+ is down to 3
tablespoons worth and diminishing. Does anyone have
any good propagation tips?!?

-coelacanth (who will next be asking how to breathe)



Semper Fi!

Visit the forums at Aqua Botanic!
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/#1

Need Nitrate or Potassium for your tank? Go to www.litemanu.com
(Just a happy customer of the above!)

You see my thinking--I just wanted easy plants which were
not too picky. I thought riccia would be a good floating plant
to provide some natural cover and keep the algae down that
grows near the water line. I tried Lemna, but it didn't seem
to like tropical temperatures. Maybe there is another
floating plant I could use?

I have 110 Watts of 4600K light on a 24" tall (40 gallon)
tank. The fixture is some sort of mutant CF retrofit that I
inherited, but the bulb is only a couple of months old.

Other parameters that might be relevant: The setup is about 2
years old. I do H2O changes every 1-2 weeks of 25%. The
pH is 7.4, KH is insanely high (more than 19 dH). Fairly low
stocking levels (3 adult angels, 4 3" clown loaches, some
vague number of corys).

-coelacanth

"Rex Grigg" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 21:30:47 GMT, "coelacanth"
wrote:

Give us a little more info on your tank. How much light do you have?
The plants you have listed can survive on much lower light than Ricca
can.

AHHH--I'm a plant retard. I can not get riccia to grow!
Everything else in my tanks is growing fine (Val, Sword,
Java Fern, Crypts) and I have CO2, but my riccia just
keeps shrinking. What started as 2 cups+ is down to 3
tablespoons worth and diminishing. Does anyone have
any good propagation tips?!?

-coelacanth (who will next be asking how to breathe)



Semper Fi!

Visit the forums at Aqua Botanic!
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/#1

Need Nitrate or Potassium for your tank? Go to www.litemanu.com
(Just a happy customer of the above!)

On Sat, 14 Jun 2003 16:23:10 GMT, "coelacanth"
wrote:

Ok, it looks like your CO2 is too low. Also it's very possible that
you may have too much water movement for the Ricca to do well. And I
have found that some Ricca just doesn't like higher temps.

You see my thinking--I just wanted easy plants which were
not too picky. I thought riccia would be a good floating plant
to provide some natural cover and keep the algae down that
grows near the water line. I tried Lemna, but it didn't seem
to like tropical temperatures. Maybe there is another
floating plant I could use?

I have 110 Watts of 4600K light on a 24" tall (40 gallon)
tank. The fixture is some sort of mutant CF retrofit that I
inherited, but the bulb is only a couple of months old.

Other parameters that might be relevant: The setup is about 2
years old. I do H2O changes every 1-2 weeks of 25%. The
pH is 7.4, KH is insanely high (more than 19 dH). Fairly low
stocking levels (3 adult angels, 4 3" clown loaches, some
vague number of corys).

-coelacanth

"Rex Grigg" wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 13 Jun 2003 21:30:47 GMT, "coelacanth"
wrote:

Give us a little more info on your tank. How much light do you have?
The plants you have listed can survive on much lower light than Ricca
can.

AHHH--I'm a plant retard. I can not get riccia to grow!
Everything else in my tanks is growing fine (Val, Sword,
Java Fern, Crypts) and I have CO2, but my riccia just
keeps shrinking. What started as 2 cups+ is down to 3
tablespoons worth and diminishing. Does anyone have
any good propagation tips?!?

-coelacanth (who will next be asking how to breathe)



Semper Fi!

Visit the forums at Aqua Botanic!
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/#1

Need Nitrate or Potassium for your tank? Go to www.litemanu.com
(Just a happy customer of the above!)



Semper Fi!

Visit the forums at Aqua Botanic!
http://aquabotanicwetthumb.infopop.cc/#1

Need Nitrate or Potassium for your tank? Go to www.litemanu.com
(Just a happy customer of the above!)

Your water has way too high of a hardness. You may want to look for
anything that may be releasing Calcium in your water - stones,
decorations, zeolite chemical media.

Hardness may be the problem. But I've seen Riccia refuse to grow in a
CO2 injected tank, with 3.5 wpg of 10,000K VHOs on top, and soft
water. What they did was to change the Riccia with a completely new
batch, from a different place. And it still wouldn't grow. The only
other plant in the tank was dwarf sag that grew very well. The water
in that tank had low nutrient levels, but that is valid for all the
tanks that that company maintains and some of them have very lush
Riccia carpets.

You may try reducing the KH first.
Also - making sure your CO2 is at least 20 and that you got the N, P,
and Fe right. I personally don't think Traces and K affect the Riccia
as much as the N, P, and Fe.
If none of the above works try a new batch of Riccia, totally
different than the one you have.

--Nikolay

That is the hardness of my local "water". I am able to soften
it somewhat by adding peat softened water, but it's a hassle
and so I do that only every third or fourth water change. CO2
is generally 20-25 ppm. I fertilize regularly and have laterite
in the gravel.

Maybe I should try another floater? Frogbit?

-coelacanth

"nikolay_kraltchev" wrote in message
m...
Your water has way too high of a hardness. You may want to look for
anything that may be releasing Calcium in your water - stones,
decorations, zeolite chemical media.

Hardness may be the problem. But I've seen Riccia refuse to grow in a
CO2 injected tank, with 3.5 wpg of 10,000K VHOs on top, and soft
water. What they did was to change the Riccia with a completely new
batch, from a different place. And it still wouldn't grow. The only
other plant in the tank was dwarf sag that grew very well. The water
in that tank had low nutrient levels, but that is valid for all the
tanks that that company maintains and some of them have very lush
Riccia carpets.

You may try reducing the KH first.
Also - making sure your CO2 is at least 20 and that you got the N, P,
and Fe right. I personally don't think Traces and K affect the Riccia
as much as the N, P, and Fe.
If none of the above works try a new batch of Riccia, totally
different than the one you have.

--Nikolay