With enough light, will HC (baby tears) grow with Excel?

[Brian_Nano12g]

I'm planning another nano tank and i want a low carpeting plant such as HC (Dwarf Baby Tears). Its a 4g build so it was suggested that a DIY co2 might not be a good idea with such a small volume of water. I also read that HC needs 40 micromoles of PAR ( Photosynthetically Active Radiation) to do well. If i can supply the lighting (with a Finnex Fugeray LED fixture, which claims 38-42 PAR at 10" from the source ), will i be able to satisfy HC's need for co2 with just dosing Excel? Investing in another pressurized co2 system is something i don't want to do at the moment.. I'm already going to buy a paintball setup for my 12g. I'm on a budget...

If not HC, any suggestions would be welcome. I plan to house Red Cherry Shrimp and maybe some chili or mosquito rasboras. Mainly shrimp though.

 

[George9]

If this tank wont have fish, id do a diy co2 because theres no livestock to kill, baby tears will do 10x better with co2 and high light

 

[Billbug68]

I was looking into this light for my 5gal too. Interested to see how it works out. There is a cheap DIY way to do paintball co2 that I also might try out for my 5gal eventually. You might wanna look in to that. I'll post a link to it in a minute, I'm on my cell right now.

Edit:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=115850

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

@George .. It will be a shrimp tank so don't think that would work well.

@Billbug.. Thanks for that link.. I'll certainly consider it. I've never messed with pressurized co2 and I'm worried if i do something wrong in rigging up a DIY paintball co2, something can explosively wrong? Haha.. I'll have to read through that thread to see if others experienced any difficulties.

If you want to read more on that light check these out:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=182769

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=173593

 

[Billbug68]

My only worries is that it's supposed to be medium light depending on height...

 

[Rivercats]

I have dwarf baby tears in a high light (3x150watt HID MH 4x39watt T5HO) 220g using excel. The only thing that has slowed its spreading is that my angels (10 of them) love eating the new growth and the yo-yo loaches like to uproot the ends of the growing DBT to see what goodies they think are under it.

 

[aqua_chem]

HC is one of the more Excel tolerant foreground species. I've heard good things about it.

As far as light goes, don't try and attach numbers to light unless you yourself measure it. Manufacturers often exaggerate their output, and the 40 mmol is probably an arbitrary minimum.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

So I decided to get the GLA 6g rimless tank instead of the Schuber Wright 4g. The added size will allow me to utilize the Finnex Ray 2 fixture instead of the Fugeray, which the stats are as follows:
Finnex Ray II
PAR Data(Source) PAR vs. Distance from source
16" fixture: 130 PAR @ 6", 49 PAR @ 12", 27 PAR @ 18")

I'm going to try growing the HC emersed first and then fill it with water. I was a bit worried that using the extra Floramax I have on hand wouldn't do well for HC, so I did contemplate on caving in and buying some Aquasoil (Up or ADA).. but I really don't want to spend that much and didn't want the Floramax to go to waste.. So I searched around online and found this interesting thread where this guy had some good growth using floramax...
Oscarfish.com

Once I submerge it I will use a combination of Excel and CO2 injection..

What do you guys think?

 

[aqua_chem]

You're going to need nutrients to grow emersed, which Floramax doesn't have. That's one of the reasons you generally don't see people using it for emersed setups. You might be able to get by by filling the tank with fertilized tank water (ie no dechlored tap)

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Aqua.. did you check out that thread I linked to? Ted filled the Floramax substrate with some water but only enough to just get the substrate submerged. Perhaps if I use my tank water from my established tank, should I use that and follow what he did? From what I'm reading, it's hard to plant HC submerged and you need to let the roots develop before you fill up the tank. I'm already having a hell of a time trying to keep my Staurogyne Repens planted in my floramax now. Like HC, this would have probably been a lot easier if I planted them before I filled out my tank.. only problem with that is that I got the Repens after all else considered.

I don't know if this is a big shot in the dark, but is it possible taking in to consideration that EC and Floramax have a high CEC to retain nutrients, that I could some how super charge it prior to my tank arriving? I have the floramax now and my established tanks, could I soak the substrate now with some siphoned out gunk and water from my other tanks.. Or how about dosing it too with some ferts? Is it conceivable to season the substrate that way? LOL...

 

[aqua_chem]

Nitrogen still has to come from somewhere. He didn't mention how he did it in the thread, but he had to have done something. As I said, just take some fertilized water and you'll be fine. Just don't overdo it or the whole thing will fall flat on your face (speaking from experience).


As far as "supercharging" goes, no, not really. I'm not sure what the rate of 'loading' of nutrients is of clay-based substrates, but it's probably fairly quickly. I would, however, recommend using the mulm from gravel vacuuming your tank in the DSM tank.