# Hemianthous Cuba Emmersed not growing



## Aquarium Ecology (Aug 19, 2009)

Hello,

for a month now I have tried to grow Hemianthou Calitrichoides Cuba emmersed without success. Here are the facts:
1. 40L empty tank covered with a piece of glass to keep humidity up
2. 38w fluorescent compact lap on for 16 hours per day
3. Substrate - Seachem Flourite Red which is high in Iron
4. Tank doesn't get reached by direct sunlight and room temperature is around 30 degrees celcius at most
5. The substrate is soaked in KNO3 and K2SO4 and a light mixture of Seachem Excel
6. The layout has small hills and thus the water may not reach those plants however the plants that are reached by water have now melted even though they were not soaked in water at all

It has been around two months now and no growth has been observed. The plants are still alive but not growing. 

Any suggestions?

Thanks!


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Try adding and removing water every day. Basically ebb and flow hydroponics, but the lazy way. Well, not exactly lazy - every day you add water to cover the substrate and you drain it as well as you can. The plant roots live in a very humid environment.

Also I'd skip the Excel. It damages some plants if it's too concentrated.


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## Aquarium Ecology (Aug 19, 2009)

niko said:


> Try adding and removing water every day. Basically ebb and flow hydroponics, but the lazy way. Well, not exactly lazy - every day you add water to cover the substrate and you drain it as well as you can. The plant roots live in a very humid environment.
> 
> Also I'd skip the Excel. It damages some plants if it's too concentrated.


So I add water to cover the plants and the substrate and drain it after a few minutes? How will that help so I undeerstand the procedure?

Thanks


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## miles (Apr 26, 2006)

i think flourite is too coarse; hc does better in finer substrates, ime.


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## mellowvision (Jun 18, 2007)

I'd put my money on the excel. I have an HC planted paludarium, and the one time I did an excel treatment, all of the HC around the waterline melted. Otherwise, I use only occasional ferts, and have a trickle filter running over it all, and it has been growing strong for well over a year.


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