# Planted Tanks > Plant Talk >  Planting Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC)

## n707jt

Hey guys

I've realized that HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides) are normally sold being attached to the cotton wool in LFS. What would be the best way to attach them onto your substrate (ie ADA Amazonia). Should I remove the cotton wool and plant in small bits sparsely? The roots seems really fine and its not easy for it to grip the substrate tho.

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## Shadow

You should remove the cotton wool, plant it in small clump. You might want to follow Tom Barr suggestion on planting HC emerse. This way you no need to worry that it is uprooted, actually using emerse method you can just dump it, it will grow root and grip the substrate.

One thing though, Tom Barr said that it would not melt when you start flooding the tank (convert from emerse to submerse) but my experiment shows HC melted after a week and new leaves grow. It is might be because of excell. I'm currently experimenting small amount without excell, will know the answer within 1 or 2 weeks time

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## grespania

> You should remove the cotton wool, plant it in small clump. You might want to follow Tom Barr suggestion on planting HC emerse. This way you no need to worry that it is uprooted, actually using emerse method you can just dump it, it will grow root and grip the substrate.
> 
> One thing though, Tom Barr said that it would not melt when you start flooding the tank (convert from emerse to submerse) but my experiment shows HC melted after a week and new leaves grow. It is might be because of excell. I'm currently experimenting small amount without excell, will know the answer within 1 or 2 weeks time


Hi, I am trying to grow emerse too. I find that hc when growing in garden soil spread very fast and have big leaves. When i put them in tank they spread very slow and have smaller leaves. BTW. What is "excell" ?  :Smile:

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## Shadow

seachem excel

Garden soil under aquarium light or sunlight? Emerse leaves seem to be bigger, even it is under the tank light. I'm comparing it with new leaves that grow underwater.

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## grespania

> seachem excel
> 
> Garden soil under aquarium light or sunlight? Emerse leaves seem to be bigger, even it is under the tank light. I'm comparing it with new leaves that grow underwater.


Sunlight. I am going to use CO2. I hope mine would not melt too much after i submerse them. I think my tank will not be cool enough cause i have no chiller.

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## n707jt

Shadow, you mentioned about Tom Barr's suggestion. is there a link to his site?

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## Shadow

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...highlight=Barr

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## n707jt

Hmm problem is my tank is now filled to the brim already and I have other plants in it. So doing the emersed method might not be possible.

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## torque6

believe aden has recommended to perform water planting during aquascaping.

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## yck

sorry i would like to borrow this thread , does HC grow well in outdoor ? temp usually 28 to 30 degree . anyone tried ?

and is it ok that 15 W of light for HC in a 2 feet tank ? what is the recommanded lighting for HC in 2 ft

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## EvolutionZ

lighting for HC is better at 3wpg and above.. 15watt is only 1 - 1.5wpg. not enough to grow any foreground plant. T5 is better.

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## Shadow

for outdoor the chalenge probably to keep the soil wet.

15W for 2ft? you probably having trouble to grow almost anything  :Grin:  not to mention HC which required lots of light. If just for grow, 55W is enough but to make it creep, you need more than that, maybe 70W. I personnaly never try HC on 2ft tank  :Razz:

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## yck

> for outdoor the chalenge probably to keep the soil wet.
> 
> 15W for 2ft? you probably having trouble to grow almost anything  not to mention HC which required lots of light. If just for grow, 55W is enough but to make it creep, you need more than that, maybe 70W. I personnaly never try HC on 2ft tank


 
but on the other hand , adding more lights could cause temperature rise .

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## Shadow

I probably should asked first what plant do you have and how is it with 15W?

In my opinion temperature is not that critical. Most plants survive 28 to 30 degree though they do happy with lower temp. You can add fan to lower about 2-3 degree from ambient temperature.

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## EvolutionZ

ferns, moss and nana can survive well in a 2ft tank with 15watt

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## Thirteen

hi shadow, any progress or findings from the batch of HC without excel dosing?

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## Shadow

it also turn yellow, I guess in my case, it shed emerse leaves and grow new subemerse leaves. At this point I would say that Tom Barr might be wrong. Lets hear from others who try these method.

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## Thirteen

aww...was hoping that your experiment works out fine. Could it be the singapore climate...? We all knows that melting of leaves is the plant's way of acclimatisation from emerse conditions to submerse condition be it HC to crypts.

wonder anyone manage to convert them without melting..

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## Shadow

Most likely not a climate, because it is office tank so inside air conditioner. Water temperature wise probably around 24 to 25 degree celcius

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## vurbul

Shadow, just wondering. Did you inject co2 immediately after you add in the water?

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## Shadow

this my biggest problem, I can't smuggle in CO2 to office  :Opps:

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## Thirteen

hahaha! maybe try those small canister. but will be wasting money.

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## EvolutionZ

can use those 0.5l aluminium canister.. NA got.. but price i think its gonna be high..

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## WiNd08

hello guys, 

my HC started melting on wednesday, before that they were bubbling. 

have no idea what happened, but they completely stopped bubbling and melted. i've started my planted on 1 nov, and they were doing fine all along un til wednesday  :Sad: 

anyone can recommend me what could be the reason?

pH 6.6-6.8
dkH 4
CO2 2-3BPS
Lights - 2.3WPG

got a feeling it's due to me stopping my liquid fert (i was told to stop doing liquid fert until my tank is about 2weeks old)

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## torque6

> hello guys, 
> 
> my HC started melting on wednesday, before that they were bubbling. 
> 
> have no idea what happened, but they completely stopped bubbling and melted. i've started my planted on 1 nov, and they were doing fine all along un til wednesday 
> 
> anyone can recommend me what could be the reason?
> 
> pH 6.6-6.8
> ...


They probably have used up their resources, so melting. By the way, dont think dosing liquid fert has a time frame as to how mature the tank is. You can start dosing even at start up, but that depends on your plant mass and their requirements.

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## WiNd08

> They probably have used up their resources, so melting. By the way, dont think dosing liquid fert has a time frame as to how mature the tank is. You can start dosing even at start up, but that depends on your plant mass and their requirements.


Thanks for the input!

i'm quite afraid of dosing now as i have shrimps in my tank :Opps: 

anyway, do you think root monster could aid them?

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## z_z

Root ferts does help with their growth, but you got to get them to settle in 1st....

If your tank is cycled and there are already other plants inside, I think you can start dosing fert. Your shrimps should not be affected unless you really over-do the dosing.

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## WiNd08

Hi, for me i cut the sponge into pieces and plant them together with the HC.

Some of them, approx 30-35% will melt. But whatever that's remaining will start to stretch out shoots which will form creeps. :Smile: 

i'm growing them at 2.7WPG with 2-3BPS in my 4ft tank :Grin:  hope this helps

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