I am thinking of mass propagating plants via dry-start emersed rockwool technique. I noticed that many of the emersed instructional videos on YouTube ended up failing when doing this *inside* the aquarium, probably due to fungus/mold caused by inadequate control of water level and water quality. It's hard to siphon/change water when the water level is below the substrate.
I'm planning to try this in a controlled environment using rockwool, then transferring the plants into the aquarium after 4 or 5 months. I would like to know if any of you have tried this method.
The main advantage of using rockwool compared to miracle gro organix potting soil mix (MGOPS) is that the rockwool will not have any gnat larva and does not have to be baked to kill the gnat larva. As many of you know, organic pesticide-free soil can be loaded with gnat larva which eat plants. A major advantage of using the emersed method is that the CO2 is unlimited, algae cannot bloom, and the light source can be brought very close to the plants for maximum intensity and more bushy growth. Mold is easier to control with the rockwool substrate compared to soil because you can see the water level clearly on the growing tray, the "substrate" is perfectly flat with no hills or valleys, and you can treat with hydrogen peroxide and change 95% of water quite easily. People have used this method to very rapidly propagate demanding plants like HC (dwarf baby tears), and local fish store plant suppliers seem to use this method almost exclusively. Oddly enough, there is not a single YouTube video showing how this is done for aquarium plants. This method is also commonly used to propagate stem clippings of a particular "medicinal" plant whose name rhymes with "seed".
One major concern is that emersed plants that are accustomed to very high atmospheric CO2 may melt when they are suddenly submersed/immersed due to the drastic drop in CO2. For some reason this melt has *never* happened to any of my dozen or so Petco/Petsmart emersed tissue culture plants, despite using zero CO2 injection and zero Excel/Glut. Maybe it only happens to HC and other demanding plants.
Sample videos:
I'm planning to try this in a controlled environment using rockwool, then transferring the plants into the aquarium after 4 or 5 months. I would like to know if any of you have tried this method.
The main advantage of using rockwool compared to miracle gro organix potting soil mix (MGOPS) is that the rockwool will not have any gnat larva and does not have to be baked to kill the gnat larva. As many of you know, organic pesticide-free soil can be loaded with gnat larva which eat plants. A major advantage of using the emersed method is that the CO2 is unlimited, algae cannot bloom, and the light source can be brought very close to the plants for maximum intensity and more bushy growth. Mold is easier to control with the rockwool substrate compared to soil because you can see the water level clearly on the growing tray, the "substrate" is perfectly flat with no hills or valleys, and you can treat with hydrogen peroxide and change 95% of water quite easily. People have used this method to very rapidly propagate demanding plants like HC (dwarf baby tears), and local fish store plant suppliers seem to use this method almost exclusively. Oddly enough, there is not a single YouTube video showing how this is done for aquarium plants. This method is also commonly used to propagate stem clippings of a particular "medicinal" plant whose name rhymes with "seed".
One major concern is that emersed plants that are accustomed to very high atmospheric CO2 may melt when they are suddenly submersed/immersed due to the drastic drop in CO2. For some reason this melt has *never* happened to any of my dozen or so Petco/Petsmart emersed tissue culture plants, despite using zero CO2 injection and zero Excel/Glut. Maybe it only happens to HC and other demanding plants.
Sample videos:
