HC dry start advice

[Florio]

Hi guys, this is my first attempt at a dry start

I can't really find anything on how much water/moisture is required to keep it healthy.

Some people on Google say flood it, ADA say spray it and cover with plastic.

Currently I've added no water but I haze it in water 3 times a day. I feel like most of it escapes after a while through the bit of plastic I leave open.

Notes: I include a small amount of metricide while hazing to avoid fungus and algae.

I have about 9 hours of light exposure per day.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Hi guys, this is my first attempt at a dry start

I can't really find anything on how much water/moisture is required to keep it healthy.

Some people on Google say flood it, ADA say spray it and cover with plastic.

Currently I've added no water but I haze it in water 3 times a day. I feel like most of it escapes after a while through the bit of plastic I leave open.

Notes: I include a small amount of metricide while hazing to avoid fungus and algae.

I have about 9 hours of light exposure per day.

View attachment 294951

I've done this in a 3G cube just recently. I filled the water up to just below the substrate surface (basically under the top layer of substrate.) you want to make sure you don't have any puddles tho. Once the water gets abit high then suck it out.

I left one corner open with the plastic to avoid mold.

I had 12-14 hours of light per day. Misting twice a day. You want the substrate to stay completely moist and never dry out so having water atleast half way up the substrate is a good idea.

Here's a pic of the small carpet I grew
http://pho.to/AcHDR

 

[Florio]

looks good! I'll have to try filling it a bit then.

Its never DRY but the wet shine definitely goes away after a while.

 

[Bert2oo1]

looks good! I'll have to try filling it a bit then.



Its never DRY but the wet shine definitely goes away after a while.

Yea mine was constantly wet. What substrate are you using? If you fill half way up the substrate it should draw the water to the surface and keep the substrate wet even without misting. Definitely keep a corner open for air flow tho or you will get some serious mold issues. Also you want your lighting to be as strong as possible. I had a 6w led over mine and it took a good 5-6 weeks to fill in

I'm actually about to do another dry start in a few weeks but this time I'm using glosso from seeds (just for experience).

Are you going to be injecting co2 once you flood the tank?

 

[Florio]

Yea mine was constantly wet. What substrate are you using? If you fill half way up the substrate it should draw the water to the surface and keep the substrate wet even without misting. Definitely keep a corner open for air flow tho or you will get some serious mold issues. Also you want your lighting to be as strong as possible. I had a 6w led over mine and it took a good 5-6 weeks to fill in

I'm actually about to do another dry start in a few weeks but this time I'm using glosso from seeds (just for experience).

Are you going to be injecting co2 once you flood the tank?

It's Ada aquasoil. I have used it previously so hopefully there's still some good nutrients in there. And yes I have a c02 reactor set up

 

[Florio]

Yea mine was constantly wet. What substrate are you using? If you fill half way up the substrate it should draw the water to the surface and keep the substrate wet even without misting. Definitely keep a corner open for air flow tho or you will get some serious mold issues. Also you want your lighting to be as strong as possible. I had a 6w led over mine and it took a good 5-6 weeks to fill in

I'm actually about to do another dry start in a few weeks but this time I'm using glosso from seeds (just for experience).

Are you going to be injecting co2 once you flood the tank?

The set up is also pretty hilly so I think misting will be nessisary for the higher spots

 

[Florio]

Here is another question. What's the max about of time I can keep the lights on? I have 2 out of 4 of my t5 HO on. Should I put on all 4? The two are on for about 10 hours right now but I would love to keep them on longer

 

[Bert2oo1]

Here is another question. What's the max about of time I can keep the lights on? I have 2 out of 4 of my t5 HO on. Should I put on all 4? The two are on for about 10 hours right now but I would love to keep them on longer

I've read that you can go 12-14 hours with no problems. I had mine on for mostly 12 hours. I'd say with the 6w led over the 3G cube I would of had some pretty intense light. Switch another one on a see if you get faster growth. If you do then go the next one aswell. Just experiment with it and watch the plants reaction

 

[Florio]

I've read that you can go 12-14 hours with no problems. I had mine on for mostly 12 hours. I'd say with the 6w led over the 3G cube I would of had some pretty intense light. Switch another one on a see if you get faster growth. If you do then go the next one aswell. Just experiment with it and watch the plants reaction

I just started the tank yesterday so I'm really not sure if I'm doing a good job yet. I'll have to see.

 

[Florio]

Hey guys so some of my hc isn't doing too well their starting to look kind of yellowed or brown. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Hey guys so some of my hc isn't doing too well their starting to look kind of yellowed or brown. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

What substrate you using? Was the HC you brought grown emersed or was it in a tank?

Is the substrate staying completely moist?

 

[Florio]

It turns out I have a stringy fungus, what can I do about it?

 

[Florio]

What substrate you using? Was the HC you brought grown emersed or was it in a tank?

Is the substrate staying completely moist?

It's in aqua soil I mist it every day but I do have a stringy fungus around some of the plants which from what I understand means those plants are just full blown dead? I started misting with a little bit of exel and some other anti fungal fertilizer so I'm not sure what else I can do unfortunately


I bought it potted so likely emersed

 

[Bert2oo1]

It's in aqua soil I mist it every day but I do have a stringy fungus around some of the plants which from what I understand means those plants are just full blown dead? I started misting with a little bit of exel and some other anti fungal fertilizer so I'm not sure what else I can do unfortunately


I bought it potted so likely emersed

Id pull back the plastic abit more. Get some more air in there. Excel is a good idea. I'd stay away from fungus killers (might hurt the plants)
Crank your lighting to max.

Did you fill it to just below the substrate?

 

[Florio]

Id pull back the plastic abit more. Get some more air in there. Excel is a good idea. I'd stay away from fungus killers (might hurt the plants)
Crank your lighting to max.

Did you fill it to just below the substrate?

It's actually just kh2p04 which is just a macro fertilizer with anti fungal property's. And yes I did, I filled it to just below the lowest part which is pretty low cause the set up is on a large slant.

Everything you said I have just done. I spot treated some of the plants with a slightly higher dosage of exel and the fertilizer in a last ditch effort to save some of the very effected plants

 

[Bert2oo1]

It's actually just kh2p04 which is just a macro fertilizer with anti fungal property's. And yes I did, I filled it to just below the lowest part which is pretty low cause the set up is on a large slant.

Everything you said I have just done. I spot treated some of the plants with a slightly higher dosage of exel and the fertilizer in a last ditch effort to save some of the very effected plants

Ah yea I tried misting my HC with PPS pro ferts when I was dry starting. Same thing happened to me. The HC went yellow and some died. Are you able to remove the fungus manually? I ended up ditching the ferts and just using water. Have you got high humidity in the tank?

The excel and phosphates may have been abit strong for it. As your only misting it, the ferts will tend to sit on the leaves rather than getting dispersed by the water so it may be burning the plants.

 

[Florio]

Ah yea I tried misting my HC with PPS pro ferts when I was dry starting. Same thing happened to me. The HC went yellow and some died. Are you able to remove the fungus manually? I ended up ditching the ferts and just using water. Have you got high humidity in the tank?

The excel and phosphates may have been abit strong for it. As your only misting it, the ferts will tend to sit on the leaves rather than getting dispersed by the water so it may be burning the plants.

No this is the first time I used it just now. The fungus is for sure eating the roots right now

It doesn't seem like it's something that can be removed by hand, it's stringy and supposedly microscopically eating the roots

 

[Bert2oo1]

No this is the first time I used it just now. The fungus is for sure eating the roots right now

It doesn't seem like it's something that can be removed by hand, it's stringy and supposedly microscopically eating the roots

Oh really? I can't help you much with that sorry. I only got a little bit of green slime algae and that was it. You could always try just flooding it and killing the fungus with excel by column dosing

 

[Florio]

Oh really? I can't help you much with that sorry. I only got a little bit of green slime algae and that was it. You could always try just flooding it and killing the fungus with excel by column dosing

So I just changed up to submerged dosing pps pro with injected co2. This will take care of the fungus in the roots correct?

 

[Bert2oo1]

So I just changed up to submerged dosing pps pro with injected co2. This will take care of the fungus in the roots correct?

Hopefully yes. I wouldn't imagine that fungus can last very long being submerged. The fungus you get on driftwood when you first add it dies out pretty quick so that's what I've based my advice on. I'd also keep dosing excel to recommended or even 2x if you have no fish or shrimp in the tank