# Riccia growing in sand?



## Neptun (Dec 18, 2004)

I know how to get Riccia fluitans attached to a stone or a piece of wood, but is there a way to make it attach to the substrate?

If it is attached to a stone, will it then grow into the substrate over time without something to hold it down?

My substrate will be sand, 0.2-1.0 mm.


----------



## pineapple (May 4, 2004)

Check this article on APC.

Andrew Cribb


----------



## Raul-7 (Feb 4, 2004)

You need to way it down on the substrate with rocks, stainless steel, etc. untill it takes hold.


----------



## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I'm holding my Ricca down with plant weights, bent in half and pushed through the Ricca into the substrate. If you do attach it to rock it will eventually spread.


----------



## Neptun (Dec 18, 2004)

Thank you!


----------



## sexybl7 (Aug 10, 2007)

I have tried for ages to get ricca to stay submerged. It wont attach to the tuffa rock I have in my tank. (purely there to keep the ph from crashing due to no kH in our water and sand / potting soil subrate) 

I have used 'granny nets' to attach huge clumps to the rock, completly covering it 1/4 inch thick and completely covering it all in a double layer of 'granny hair nets' it still manages to get loose and float again within a couple of weeks. The entire top of the tank is now covered with it in thick mats and i'm actually feeding it to my cichlid tank to keep it down a bit.

Any idea's of what I might be doing wrong? No surface movement at all, and now due to the thick mat of ricca its starting to get a bit 'slimy' on top of it and I have to dunk it down to break up the surface scum thats forming. I have labarinines in there so need to keep the surface 'beathable'

Love the plant but its starting to cause me more problems than joy.

Nic


----------



## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Riccia is naturally a floating plant. It doesn't, as far as I know, ever attach to the substrate. Amano found that it looks nice when tied to a stone or wood piece, so that's how he used it. But, I don't believe he ever claimed it would permanently stay attached to anything.


----------



## fluffiebuggie (Sep 25, 2007)

sexybl7 said:


> I have tried for ages to get ricca to stay submerged. It wont attach to the tuffa rock I have in my tank. (purely there to keep the ph from crashing due to no kH in our water and sand / potting soil subrate)
> 
> I have used 'granny nets' to attach huge clumps to the rock, completly covering it 1/4 inch thick and completely covering it all in a double layer of 'granny hair nets' it still manages to get loose and float again within a couple of weeks. The entire top of the tank is now covered with it in thick mats and i'm actually feeding it to my cichlid tank to keep it down a bit.
> 
> ...


If you are using cotton to tie the net together, or if the netting is cotton itself, this degrades under water extremely quickly. I have tried this and it lasted a week.
I know a lot of sites give advice saying "simply attach with black or green cotton" but they clearly haven't done it themselves, or did it as a temporary display.
I am currently using plastic netting and fishing line, wrapping a thin layer of riccia around weighted plastic (simply because I recycle, and bits of flat plastic weighted with plant weights is cheaper than slate or other stone, and you can bend it and drape it over things etc).
I say a thin layer of riccia because the mass beneath the top will rot away without light anyway, I'm sure you know.

I put a few pieces in last week and it is growing nicely through the net.

I am by no means an expert, but after trying what all the sites suggest regarding cotton and stone, I have found plastic net, fishing line, plastic (from desert pots etc) and plant weights to be a great solution for me.


----------

