cainechow Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 So yeah what do they look like? thin green tentacles? or they look just like the stems but smaller? I know the roots are white tentacles that are pretty short to start with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 Did this method for this plant as well. The runners are the same looking using this method or any other method. In my case, the runners are as thick as a couple blades of dwarf hair grass with every 2-4 mm a leaf sprouting out. With enough light etc the runners will be horizontal and in not ideal plant conditions the runners will be more vertical. If your purpose is to make it easier for planting you only need to do this method until the roots take hold not necessarily to runner off. After the roots take hold you can fill the tank as the plant is now anchored in the substrate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted May 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 I'm actually not quite ready to flood, so I am planning to let the HC grow out and fill out the substrate for a month or two while ensuring that it is anchored well. So then a runner will look like what I have circled in white. The magenta is a root. What is the tentacle that I have circled in cyan? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted May 15, 2012 Report Share Posted May 15, 2012 looks fine to me. nice and green too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted June 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2012 So now that I've been growing my HC DSM for a while I understand what people mean when they get runners from the HC. The radial horizontal growth would be the runners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted June 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2012 Back in May I had been reading way too many HC DSM threads that originate from Asia where they have issues with high temperatures cooking their HC during DSM. I was really overly paranoid about my HC not growing properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted June 6, 2012 Report Share Posted June 6, 2012 nah man...your doing great! Nice rich green. If your goal with the hc is to get 100% coverage...continue as is...it'll fill up quicker this way than throwing it underwater as the transition will retard it's growth for a little while. When 100% coverage then throw the water in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Serenity Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 HC is looking good! What substrate are you using? Are you using any ferts currently? The roots start off small after a couple weeks with proper light and ferts they should get as long as an 3/4" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgd Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) Do you have co2 ready for the tansition? Don't want to roast all your hard work. The fill in will actually be faster flooded, but submerged growth has somewhat shallow roots and tends to uproot after the hc gets thick. You want to be thorough with the trimming. Take it right down to the substrate every three weeks or so, or after it gets thick. If not, you won't be able to maintain it. Also, co2 is much more important for good growth than light. Nowadays, most people have more light than they need. Almost any stock tank with t5ho has more light than most can handle effectively. Dual t5ho all but nessitates co2 injection. With good co2, hc will grow with around 40umol of par at the substrate. This is less than one t5ho bulb with good reflectors over most tanks. Edited June 21, 2012 by jcgd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted June 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 (edited) I've just got fluorite for substrate. After asking around it sounded like fluorite has a good grain size and gives roots good hold. I am currently fertilizing with Schultz All Purpose Plant Food drops. It is a 10-15-10 formulation which is good for roots I think. I put one drop per 3" right into the substrate between my HC bunches every 2 weeks. Schultz says "guaranteed to not burn" not that I trusted that, but I figured that since I have water up to just below the substrate that it would dilute out anyway and it has worked out. Not very scientific eh? Once I flood, I'm planning on using the PPSPro fertilization system. It seems to be a good balance between lower maintenance than EI and keeping plants healthy. For CO2, I'm planning on just doing two bottles of DIY when I finally flood this little 10 gallon. I already have all the bottles barbed for silicone line and ready with crap catchers and check valves. And for lights I'm running a single T5HO with reflector and I've been steadily reducing my photo period from over 14 hrs to 8 over the last 4 weeks to get the HC and Water Sprite used to the reduced light slowly before I flood in the hopes that I'll keep the algae blooms at bay right off the bat. Almost a full carpet. I think it will be when I flood in 2 weeks. This is 6 weeks growth. I really want to flood soon since I've finished my mini PVC sump, but I still have to finish the overflow which shouldn't take long if I can just get some time away from taxi service for the kids' activities (but coaching u6 soccer IS fun for me too)... and paint the cabinet. Since my HC is really bushy now, when I flood it is going to be really bushy. How soon is it reasonable to do a trim after flooding? right away? after a week? after 2 weeks? Edited June 21, 2012 by cainechow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcgd Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 I would probably give it a couple weeks to get used to submerged growth. If it dies back I'd give it a hack to remove the melting. You don't want all that dead plant matter in there. Chances are there won't be much though, if co2 is good. Start one co2'bottle about a week early and the other the day before you fill to get consistent levels and no glitch in co2. Two bottle may be too much down the road when you add fish, but you can adjust the recipie later. Lots of gas is good for the transition. You may be okay I you have the sump running. I'm up to around 45-50ppm in my tank, which with a canister would be really pushing it. With a sump you get more oxygen do you can push a little more co2. It's also depends on the stocking level of the tank. Sounds like you have things under control. If you find you are getting algae you may have to raise that light up some. For a ten gallon a few spiral fluorescents is usually enough. You probably have very high light. The 8 hour period will help. Looks good. Healthy growth too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckmullin Posted June 21, 2012 Report Share Posted June 21, 2012 Looks nice. Don't set a trim by a date but rather height of the hc. After a while (dunno time frame) mine was aprox 1" in height with some a bit higher and I took it down to aprox 1/2" - 3/4". Noticed some had 1" root too ! The plant is going to be shocked by flooding, don't shock it even more by cutting it down so soon. imo/in my practice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) I like the green. its filling in good. I didn't have that much success myself. Are those other plants growing in there weeds? Edited June 22, 2012 by Iceturf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cainechow Posted June 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 (edited) Supposedly the other plants are Water Sprite. It seems they have different forms when they are above water vs. below water. I've had two phases of die back on them. first the original growth died back when new stuff came out. That new stuff was far skinier and spikier than the original growth. Now that growth is going out and new growth that has less spiky and more flat elongated leaves. To be honest I liked the spiky look better than the broader leaves. I don't know what the submerged growth will look like or if it'll do well. I liked it because I wanted to go for this tree like look or that probably takes a bit of trimming to get. But if the submerged leaves are too large and flat I'll pull em up and give them away to someone who wants it. Edited June 22, 2012 by cainechow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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