# Attaching HC to Lava rock



## styderman (Jul 1, 2007)

I seen HC attached to a lava rock for sale online. How do you attach it to a lava rock? Do you attach it like riccia? What about the roots. If I were to attach Hc to a lava rock could I use a hair net? Will the lava rock affect the balance of my aquarium?


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

FAN sells this but they grow it emmersed so the HC has enough co2 to root into the lava rock fairly quickly, however it does not do to well when you sumberge it, Hc is a nutirent demanding plant, nurtients that arent available in the rock once they are thrown in sumbersed conditions. for best results with Hc, you must plant it directly into the substrate and make sure your co2 is at 20-30 ppm


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## AKnickolai (Nov 30, 2007)

I've tested this out in my tanks, it works fine. I used fishing line to attach the HC to driftwood and lava rocks. Don't put too much HC on each rock/wood, you want to allow the entire plant room to grow. It won't look all that pleasing to the eye for about a week or two, but after that it will settle in very nice. The trick is to no tie the line so tight that you sever the individual stems. My experience comes from tanks that have high light/ferts/C02 and nutrient devoid substrate. I think that if you fertilize the water column right you can easily overcome the lack of nutrients in the substrate. Also, once it gets settled in make sure you prune it! My HC does wonderful in my tanks when I prune every week or two.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

In a thriving tank HC will grow over anything in its path, wood, rock, whatever. You can see this in Oliver Knotts famous photo that more or less started the whole HC craze. People that buy HC already growing on rocks or wood have a problem because they either don't have enough light, or no C02, or both. If you have intensive light and C02, it shouldn't be a problem. Lava rock is rough like sand paper, so the roots have no problem sticking to it. A little thread just to hold it in place should be all you need, but I agree getting it started on rock deep under water is much more difficult than in water that just barely covers it.


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## styderman (Jul 1, 2007)

Its a 20L with 2-3bps, 115w6700Kcompact, PPS-pro. My tank is fairly stable, with algae appearing every other month if not less. If I do this, should I dose another ML of pps-pro into the tank?


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## jazzlvr123 (Apr 29, 2007)

Robert Hudson said:


> In a thriving tank HC will grow over anything in its path, wood, rock, whatever. You can see this in Oliver Knotts famous photo that more or less started the whole HC craze. People that buy HC already growing on rocks or wood have a problem because they either don't have enough light, or no C02, or both. If you have intensive light and C02, it shouldn't be a problem. Lava rock is rough like sand paper, so the roots have no problem sticking to it. A little thread just to hold it in place should be all you need, but I agree getting it started on rock deep under water is much more difficult than in water that just barely covers it.


haha well that shut me up, however i do agree high light and CO2 is basically all this plant need. especially if you dose the water column substrate is not needed


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Sorry, I didn't mean it to be direced to you! I probably should have worded that better. :tear:

I have found it does grow on wood or rock if you have the right conditions, but getting it started on wood is difficult. Experiences may vary 



> Its a 20L with 2-3bps, 115w6700Kcompact, PPS-pro. My tank is fairly stable, with algae appearing every other month if not less. If I do this, should I dose another ML of pps-pro into the tank?


I don't know, I'm not the pps expert, but everything else sounds ok.


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