# Is Riccia, Glosso, and Mini Pellia suitable for 2WPG tank?



## PlantsAndMe (Apr 3, 2005)

I was wondering if mini pellia, glosso, and riccia were suitable for a no CO2 2wpg tank? I'll probably add CO2 in the future. At the moment, my 5 gallon tank holds a flourishing java fern attached to a rock.

Edit:
I added some pics from my webcam just for fun.




























The Rock:


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Glosso needs more light and C02. 

Ricca should do ok floating.

Not sure about mini Pella.


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## brianclaw (May 17, 2005)

They'll all do fine with proper water column dosing of ferts. Your Glosso will just grow upwards as a stem plant, that's all.


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

What fertilization routine will you be using?


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## PlantsAndMe (Apr 3, 2005)

I'm not using any ferts right now. Basically, all I have right now is a 5 gallon tank with Coralife 10 watt 10,000k bulb (I know, I gotta change the bulb soon).


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

These tiny tanks are high maintenance especially with those plants. You will need to get yourself on a fertilization and water change routine pretty quickly in order to keep it going well.


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

My riccia grows really well submerged at 2 wpg no CO2. My glosso grows well also but fairly slowly compared to what I have heard it does in other tanks. Still it stayed low which was my main concern. I also read Tom Barr saying that the best glosso carpet he ever grew was at 2 wpg no CO2. Haven't tried pellia but I'm convinced that's there's a lot more to grow at 2 wpg with no CO2 than what is commonly believed. See Tom's article "Non CO2 Methods" at the "barrreport.com".

Good luck, Bill


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## MiamiAG (Jan 13, 2004)

Interesting. What is your fertilization/water change routine? Was that tank a nano?


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

Art_Giacosa said:


> Interesting. What is your fertilization/water change routine? Was that tank a nano?


I've had four tanks setup that way. One of them I'm thinking of switching to CO2 to play around with getting more colors. Closest to a nano is the 10 gallon. It has 2 screw in 11 watt cf bulbs. The riccia in that one grows totally beautifully but not so fast that maintenance is a pain.

I only do water changes once a month or so. Fert routine is to test for NO3 using Hach (my AP test kit was measuring twice the actual levels) test kit once a week. I then dose KNO3 once or twice a week based on that, enough to keep NO3 in 10 -20ppm range. I then dose KH2PO4 in proportion to the KNO3 - a smidgen of KH2PO4 for every dash of KNO3. If I'm getting any GSA or green dust then I dose a more KH2PO4.

For traces I was using flourish but switched to equilibrium because without the water changes I needed a source of CA and Mag.

I'm also growing HC, L Aromatica, Ludwigia brevipes & repens, Cabomba, Bacopa australis, Hygrophila corymbosa, Lilaeopsis and a bunch of other "easy" plants along with the riccia and glosso. Jury is still out on HC and Lilaeopsis as they are newer plants but so far I'm optimistic. Colors seem to be the only real weak point of these tanks.


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## James.......... (Feb 8, 2004)

stcyrwm said:


> For traces I was using flourish but switched to equilibrium because without the water changes I needed a source of CA and Mag.


Nice to read that your tanks are doing well. I question your switch from Flourish as a source of micro-nutrients over to using Equilibrium instead. What is the nature of your source water - tap water or R/O water?

Equilibrium is designed to "re-mineralize" source water that has been produced by a R/O filter unit (or any other processed water which lacks mineral content). For this purpose, it works very well.

But Equilibrium will not supply your plants with the necessary trace elements. Flourish/Flourish Trace are the products that will do that for you. If you want or need to increase the Ca/Mg level in your water, by all means use Equilibrium. But use the Flourish as well.

For any "self dosing" system, you really ought to have a good idea of the minerals present in your water before you start adding more chemicals to it. If you are on a municipal water system, they can provide you with a detailed listing of the makeup of the water from your tap.

James Purchase
Toronto


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## stcyrwm (Apr 20, 2005)

James.......... said:


> Nice to read that your tanks are doing well. I question your switch from Flourish as a source of micro-nutrients over to using Equilibrium instead. What is the nature of your source water - tap water or R/O water?
> 
> Equilibrium is designed to "re-mineralize" source water that has been produced by a R/O filter unit (or any other processed water which lacks mineral content). For this purpose, it works very well.
> 
> ...


Well the source of my water for the most part is the water in the tank . I'm only doing water changes once a month or so and sometimes not even that so minerals in water are being depleted and I'm using Equilibrium to replenish them because I have no other adequate source. As I said these tanks are all based on Tom Barr's article "Non CO2 Methods" and unless I'm reading something wrong (it has happened before) he says there are adequate traces in the Equilibrium. So far I've been pretty happy following his advice .

BTW original source is tap water and I do have my city report. Here's the quote from Tom's article:

"While trace mixes can be added, I decided to use SeaChem Equlibrium instead.
It has Fe and Mn as well as Ca/K/Mg/SO4."

Bill


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