Riccia Fluitans

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Alshain

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Apr 27, 2006
Messages
823
Location
Tyler, TX
I just thought I would share, this stuff started growing in my tank completely on its own. My guess is that it migrated when I planted glosso (which did not survive). For a time I thought it was glosso and I kept trying to replant it to no avail. Its a beautiful plant, but unfortunately it covers the surface and starves other plants. Also, one interesting note about this plant, I have had severe BBA problem with my tank recently, but somehow this one plant has managed to not get infected with it. Its a BBA proof plant, anyone know how to cross pollinate?

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I can hardly believe that is in your tank. It looks like an over watered lawn.

Any other shots? Perhaps an underside shot?
 
That is to cool! I got a little bit of Riccia sent to me a while back, once it gets going there is no stopping it. I gave most of it away, it is a very cool little plant. As rkilling1 says, there are alot of things you can do with it, you just have to keep on top of it so it doesn't get out of control.
 
I let it float around in one of my planted shrimp tanks. The shrimp fry love hiding out in it. I have to trim it every so often though or it will cover the entire surface like yours has.
 
Wow, I love the gridded idea. Gonna have to try that. In my picture I zoomed really close theotheragentm, the underside is not really impressive at all either. It just looks like a mess of weeds. But it isn't as large a carpet as the picture makes it look.
 
I tried the grid thing without stapling it. The stuff doesn't hold in well if you don't smoosh it or sandwich it. I think I might try that too with some of my other plants. Great idea.
 
I tried the grid thing and it didn't work for me at all. I've had much better luck just tying a clump to a stone and placing several of them together.
 
Peyton said:
I tried the grid thing and it didn't work for me at all. I've had much better luck just tying a clump to a stone and placing several of them together.

That surprizes me. I did a 4" x 4" grid of some and it's turned out great. It did take some time to fill in, but it looked just like Steve hamptons. The biggest problem I had was trying to find away to keep it on the substrate during the later part of the day. It would be covered in O2 and want to float up by then.
 
When I tried it it seemed like every time some would start growing through the holes it would break off. This is the best it ever got and it's only after I cut huge sections out of the grid.

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To be honest I probably didn't have enough wpg to grow it that way. However it grows great for me just tied to rocks.
 
The only problem I had when I tied it to wood, was portions of it would lift up during the day and not look very good. That and when it was time to trim it, I had to do it in the tank. Not very nice having Riccia Fluitans all through the tank.

BUt, if it works, don't mess with it.
 
You can only allow the riccia to get an inch thick. After that the stuff underneath that is actually attached will rot from lack of light and the mat will rip lose and float up.

FWIW, I use the netting from a shower poof. Works better than anything else I've tried.
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Very nice pic of the Riccia Fluitans, NoSvOrAx. Just goes to show ya that you can do MANY things with it.
 
A trick i use is to suspend a piece of that netting with suction cup airline holders across the top of the tank. You put it about a half inch below the surface, and toss any pieces of riccia you can find under it. Every tiny little fragment will work. Since you've set your net close to the surface the riccia can never get so dense that it will shade rot the part in the netting. So it just grows super dense and spread laterally really fast. Then you can just wrap the netting around something or cut it up into smaller pieces. Its alot easier to work with this way since it is held together by something. This also helps to keep it from getting everywhere in your tank. The one thing that is a must IMHO is to have atleast some surface water flow across the sheet of riccia to prevent algae since your so close to the lights. Also, if the flow is to strong the riccia won't stay in the net. You can raise the side of the netting that faces the flow alittle bit which will helps hold the riccia in place. The pic above is riccia grown submersed in the same manner. It actually looks more like a solid slab of sod when grown at the surface. I'll take a pic when I set the rig up again. This still does not solve the trimming problem once you submerse it fully, but if you set the rig up before you trim, you might find that the netting caught all the riccia on its own. Well assuming its in the right place and such....
 
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