# Difficulty growing HC (hemianthus callitrichoides)



## bimvil (Oct 1, 2014)

Hi guys. I've been trying to grow an HC carpet without success. I have a 50 gallon planted tank with pressurized CO2, 8 23-watt Philips T5 daylight bulbs, dosed daily with Seachem Excel liquid carbon. Temp ranges from 28 to 30 degrees. The HC is planted in small clumps on sand with baked soil underneath. Lights are on 10 hours daily. The HC, while staying alive, have not spread at all after more than a month. Some of the leaves have turned yellow. I do twice a month water change of 30%. What could I be doing wrong?


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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

Pics?

What is the ammonia level?


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

No fertilizers.


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## bimvil (Oct 1, 2014)

I dose the tank with 20 ml each of macro and micro nutrients every week. I didn't know ammonia plays a factor in plant growth so I have not checked its level.


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## roadmaster (Nov 5, 2009)

Might consider that although there appears to be plenty of light, that it is difficult in deeper tanks where carpet type plants reside to keep enough CO2 at the lower levels for the amount of light being used.
The gas want's to rise up and out nearly as fast as it is being injected.
Might try exploring ways to keep more of the gas at lower regions by maybe employing and then aiming powerheads down to help force the gas to lower regions along with aiming the return from spray bar (if applicable) slightly downwards as well.
Maybe could also increase the amount of gas slowly over day's while observing fishes reactions to the increase.
Other option would be to reduce light intensity thereby decreasing the demand for more CO2/nutrients.
My two cents.


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## Fissure (Jun 29, 2014)

Light should be enough, considered switching to EI?
What PH and KH do you have during in the middle of your light period?


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## Solcielo lawrencia (Dec 30, 2013)

bimvil said:


> I dose the tank with 20 ml each of macro and micro nutrients every week. I didn't know ammonia plays a factor in plant growth so I have not checked its level.


20ml isn't meaningful about what is actually being dosed. What are the actual ppm of all the nutrients?


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

I have to wonder about the temperature? Anybody know about that?


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

BruceF said:


> I have to wonder about the temperature? Anybody know about that?


HC doesn't grow as well at 28-30 celsius/Discus temps. Its form is more straggly and unless your other parameters are good, chances of failure is higher. A few degrees makes a difference though, 26 celsius & below its fine. Would advise the OP to add at least a fan. Many folks don't provide enough CO2 in the initial stages; even if they correct this after some time, the bottom portions of the clump of HC would have already yellowed and the surviving HC on the top layer cannot root properly; more over if its a freshly planted tank there may be algae issues to address. Getting it right from the start helps alot. Planting HC in an already established algae free aquarium, with CO2 & ferts already dialed in is the far easier way for less experienced aquarists to grow HC.

Ammonia burn is possible in ADA substrate + small tank, but I think he is using burnt soil ? If he is dosing something already and the HC has barely spread, its unlikely to be a deficiency issue. HC is a fast grower, If your lights are strong, you can see changes every couple of days, whether its creeping or reaching upwards, whether its pearling or not or whether its new leaves are yellowing. This makes it a great barometer; if its not growing visibly, it means certain variables are off. Waiting a month before reacting is a bit slow.


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## Zapins (Jan 7, 2006)

Without seeing pictures of the problem, fertilizing specifics, and without ammonia readings it is difficult to say what the issue is. I suppose we will have to wait until the original poster gives us more information to go on before we can help him.

HC is particularly sensitive to ammonia.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

Without more details I can agree with both posts saying that:

- Your tank is way too hot. Tone it down to like 24 - 26 degrees C.

- No fertilizers


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

klibs said:


> Without more details I can agree with both posts saying that:
> 
> - Your tank is way too hot. Tone it down to like 24 - 26 degrees C.


Doubt this is going to happen, chiller for 50gal probably costs twice as much as his tank, if not 3 times more. A fan drops it to 27-28 and he can rough it out as I do.

The reason I quote CO2 for HC in particular is a simple statistical observation:
Non-Co2 tanks with HC; almost non-existant
For people who dose EI, or using rich substrate like ADA; still plenty of failures till CO2/light is dialed in. Of which are harder to control than adding ferts. (ADA btw grows a full lawn of HC in a month even without dosing as long as your CO2/light is in check, of course longer term maintenance another thing )

However I concur with zapins that without further information, all these doesn't confirm anything. 



EI methodology


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

I forget that not everyone lives in New England weather...


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## j03yYunG (Mar 26, 2013)

It's harder to grow HC at high temps, but its possible.

Here's my Mini S with ADA soil, no CO2 (pressurized) or ferts. Only a bit of excel daily if I remember.

Temp is ~82 F, no heater.


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

I have some in a nano, no co2, discus temps, grown from scratch (not by turning off CO2 after grown in or from dry start), but these are outliers rather than the norm.


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## bimvil (Oct 1, 2014)

Thanks for all your replies guys. Sorry I have not given enough information in my initial post. Anyway, I live in a tropical country where temperatures are almost always in the 30s. I have mini fans installed atop my tank that are angled towards the water surface. This helps in keeping the tank's temp at 28. pH is at least 7.6 (it's the maximum level in the chart that came with the tester I bought; actual pH could be higher). KH is 6. I haven't tested for ammonia as I didn't know it has an effect on plant growth. I keep 15 neon tetras, 3 pristellas (not sure if I spelled this right), 4 guppies and 5 rummy nose and several shrimp in the tank. I don't know the exact formulation and the ppm of the macro and micro nutrients I bought from a planted tank expert who I couldn't contact anymore. I have no access to ADA substrate so a friend recommended that I use baked soil topped with fine sand as substrate for the HC since he says he is able to grow it well using those media. I don't have a powerhead in the tank but the return spray bar is positioned an inch below the surface and I see that water circulation reaches the foreground where the HC is planted because i see some of the HC that haven't rooted well swaying with the current. CO2 injection is about 3 bubbles per second. I have done away with the metal reflector that I used to have since it added to the water's hot temp. I planted the HC that was in emersed form 5 months after I set up the tank and most of the other plants were already thriving. About a week later, the leaves became smaller and darker with some turning yellow so just a few days ago, I reduced the light duration from 10 to 8 hours thinking the yellowing could be caused by too much light.

I hope these additional information give you a better picture of my situation. Here are pictures of my tank after more than a month of planting the HC.







http://20140926_164801{1}.jpg. I'm not sure i've attached the picture right. In case I haven't could someone teach me how? The prompt asks for a URL of tha image. I only know how to attach an image to an email. 

P.S. What is EI by the way?


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

1. Click on image hosting on the toolbar above
2. Upload the file from your computer
3. Attach the picture by using the hyperlink associated with your file










EI stands for Estimative Index; its a way of adding fertilizer to your tanks, you can search for very complete write-ups on this site


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## bimvil (Oct 1, 2014)

Thanks a lot for the tip Dennis. Here are the pics.


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

Have you been growing the rotala macrandra for long ? Does the staurogyne repens spread? I'm trying to gauge the conditions of your tank in the absence of data. 

From your light position, its possible that the front part is shaded.


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## klibs (May 1, 2014)

That is an excellent looking tank BTW


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## happi (Dec 18, 2009)

i have HC tank (about 20 gallon) which is my experiment tank where i carry out fertilizers tests, this tank currently use minimum water changes and slow release of osmocote+ pellets, i have added about 5 pellets on top of the substrate but without burring them, they release the fertilizer into the water slowly and i just add few more pellets every time they are about to run out, this tank is the most stable tank without any algae, some GDA occur when fertilizer release too much fert but it will fade away by itself. the co2 isnt that high either and kept in balance, the tank have 30 Amano shrimps in it and 2 bushy nose.


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## bimvil (Oct 1, 2014)

Hi Dennis. The staurogyne repens used to have yellowing and decaying leaves but it has recovered. It's a slow grower and is just starting to spread. The rotala macandra has been in the tank for 3 months now. I used to always fail keeping it alive but somehow it has managed to thrive with the onset of cooler weather where I live (in Manila). I just replant the stems when th get too leggy and the lower leaves wither.

I've started to do twice weekly 30% water changes and reduced light duration from 10 hours to 8 hours. Yellowing of HC has somewhat been reduced but I have yet to see the HC starting to spread. I've also increased CO2 bubble rate (can't count accurately since flow is too fast for my eyes). Ph is down from 7.6 to 7.2. Temp is at 28-29 with small fans on. 
I've just started doing EI with macro nutrients (KSO4, MgSO4 amd KNO3). Will adding more potassium help HC growth? At what ppm should it be and how should the dosing be? Is it safe for my fish and shrimp?

Bump: The front part is not shaded. Two light bulbs are directly above the HC bed. Should I use a reflector to help the HC? I'm afraid it might make the water hotter.


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

Having more potassium wouldn't help, you can stick to EI levels unless you see deficiencies in your plants. Anywhere from 10ppm to 30ppm is fine; exact number is not important as long as there is always some available for the plants. Temperature is not optimal but its still okay. Adding reflectors to your bulbs may be a good idea actually, i don't think it'll impact water temp significantly. If your two other plants are growing well then you're not too far off! Plants take awhile to adjust if you recently changed variables, so give it some time...


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## bimvil (Oct 1, 2014)

Hi guys. With the twice weekly water changes of 30% I'm doing plus the reduction of lighting time by 2 hours, EI dosing and constant use of fans to cool the water, my HC is showing some change in color form dark green to a brighter color. I'm still waiting for it to start spreading. However, I'm having trouble keeping pH and KH stable to maintain CO2 concentration at optimum levels. KH swings from 5 to 8 while pH fluctuates from 6.6 to 7.6 whenever I try to adjust the CO2 bubble rate. I'm targetting pH to remain at 7 and KH at anywhere from 5 to 8 but I think they change from day to day even if I keep the rate of CO2 injection at a constant rate? May I know what CO2 bubble rate I should maintain to achieve this? Thanks.


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