# [Wet Thumb Forum]-55 gallon planted tank.



## antreasgr (Nov 28, 2004)

here is my 55 planted tank.48 long - 13 wide - 19 tall.actually the whole scape is based on riccia.its been up and running for some months and the riccia is giving me a hard timesince i made the mistake to tie it in the stones with cotton thread and with not fishing line and now its floating many times.what i can do so i wont ruin the scape??any ideas?and how you clean under the riccia???when it came loose i saw it was very dirty under there.
thanks for the help.


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## imported_russell (Sep 14, 2004)

got riccia?? that tank looks great. riccia if well used is one of my absolute favorite plants.

great tank antreasgr!


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## antreasgr (Nov 28, 2004)

thanks russell.personally riccia is good for small tanks under 50 gallons cause it needs lots of trimming and it gets stuck on almost all the plants around.i get a handfull of riccia and maybe more every week.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

WOW, thats a lot of riccia! Good luck, I honestly think you are going to have to get some nylon line and start over, I personally use the bags they sell small onions in at the market. What you are seeing under the riccia is probably decayed and dying riccia, if light cannot penatrate to the bottom of the riccia this is what happens. 
This is why people have such a love/hate relationship with this plant, it looks great but it is high maintenance.


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## antreasgr (Nov 28, 2004)

how its possible for the light to reach under the riccia?maybe metal halides?or im still gonna have problem with that?


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## antreasgr (Nov 28, 2004)

one more pic from another angle.im sick today so going to work is not an option.so just playing around.


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## Ben C (Apr 16, 2006)

i don't think it IS possible for light to reach the bottom layers of riccia. Its a consequence of keeping this plant in an unnatural submerged condition.


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## Pete City (Sep 18, 2004)

Like Ben said, riccia is a floating plant and the way we use it is in an unnatural submerged state. My experience has been that as soon as no light can reach the strands that are connected to the nylon mesh at the bottom, big clumps start to break off.
Some people say they trim riccia before this happens, I've tried and it always looks like a bad haircut. I actually pull all my riccia out of my tank when it's overgrown and re-attach it to my mesh covered stones, then I head to my LFS and get a boat load of credit for the trimmings.


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## antreasgr (Nov 28, 2004)

well i think when i get tired of doing that all the time ill change the riccia with java moss.ive tried it in a 30 gallon and it looks really nice!


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## antreasgr (Nov 28, 2004)

well something like that!you think its gonna look nice?


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