SOme help needed.. New tank

You've had it going for 2 weeks? Give it a little time. I'm running a dry start with glosso and it took about 2 weeks to start showing any signs of growth.

Also try alternating with some tap water on other days, or watering the substrate with nutrient loaded water and then misting with tap. I've found leaving the salts on the leaves can cause some problems.

Mould isn't my thing, but Biollante seems to have read over it well. He's fairly active, so I'm sure he'll reply at some point.

Your lighting is just fine for the dry start portion. You may want to scale back to 2x or at most 3x T5 later on when you fill the tank, presuming you have reflectors on them.

-Philosophos

 

Yes, I definitely had some of that happen. I've spent a lot of time picking out dead material that didn't adapt well, planting and trimming on this tank so far. Getting the dead plant matter out and trimming the healthy growth off the ends then replanting worked very well for me.

I've found that the plants do much more poorly if there's the slightest sign of pooling around them. I've also found that keeping the substrate damp at the same time helped a lot. Substrate that drains well is a big help in doing this.

-Philosophos

 

Hi,

Just keep an eye on the moisture level with the more intense lighting....you can always drop the light back if the growth is too much or it dries out too quickly.

I THINK I read that mold is caused by TOO MUCH moisture, but let me see if I can locate the thread....

Even using DSM, the plants will shed leaves as is normal when submersed.

 

Crank the light up; there's no CO2 limitation to worry about. Speaking from my experience with plants and adaptations tress though, it may be an idea to drop the lighting back down a couple weeks before filling the tank. The melt will already be severe enough without altering light levels at the same time. This is purely theory and experience mind you. I'm on my first DSM, but this is far from my first time converting growth back and forth.

As for the mold, I would start with mechanical removal; clip the leaves off that have it to prevent further spread.

If it feels humid in the tank, don't bother misting unless the leaves start to look dry. I mist every day because neither my DSM tank or emersed growth tray have good enough seals to keep things humid for much longer. It may be worth it to create a little ventilation your self depending on how humid the tank is. Keep an eye on the plants though.

-Philosophos

 

Hi Chris,

What Philosophos and Gerry said.

Generally, dry it out.

I am not familiar with Aqauatic Nature Fertisoil or Aquatic nature Fertiplant and I cannot find an analysis. If you have an analysis and would post it, that would be helpful. My guess is that there are plenty of nutrients available, so I would back off the NPK solution.

As I recall Malta is rather humid place and you are going into a humid (wet?) time of year.

Gerry is as usual correct moisture is a major factor in mold. As Philosophos pointed out any pooling of water should be eliminated.

Again as Philosophos pointed out you may even need to provide some sort of air circulation at least part of the day. A fan over or angled in can provide the necessary ventilation. I am currently using small personal, desktop fans in a couple of my dry starts.

I agree that high light is not a concern.

Above all else patience.

Biollante

 

Very Good Sign!

Hi Chris,

Yes, the Elocharis shoots are indeed a very good sign.

I know the instructions on these ‘dry start’ projects always have everyone sealing the tank with plastic wrap and in the kind of place I live (It’s a dry heat!) that may make sense.

Though as I mentioned earlier (after a number of failures ) I modified the system to make sure air around the plants stays very humid, relative humidity around of 95% (it is a cheap hygrometer though sort of calibrated), mainly I try to stay shy of 100% relative humidity.

I also try to keep some air movement, those cheap little personal fans are my current favorite and I have been known to shoot a little carbon dioxide gas into the tubs. Nothing to do with humidity, though now that I think about it CO2 gas is dry and I suppose altering the partial pressure of the specific environment… Nah, too much of a stretch, even for me.

Biollante

 

Biollante must have missed the post in all the spam.

Biollante showed me planting them with the rhizome solidly in the substrate but not covering the ‘crown’. (The top part of rhizome should be uncovered.) Plant as little bunches they grow together.

Split rhizome to make more plants. You can also grow them in wet or damp soil they will flower then brush lightly with clean (new) fluffy light brush and well produce seeds that grow.

Among plants, Biollante used these to go from underwater to shore and swamp in paludariums.