Anyone Need Riccia?

Was the package actually marked "plants" for customs? That might be a problem.

My experience (with floaty pens) is that it does take longer to ship from US to Canada than anywhere else. For an example, a package from South Dakota took 2-1/2 weeks to get here. A package from Germany took 8 days.
 
Be patient.....the lady at the P.O. said it would/could be a day or two more for Canada(but to be honest, the US postal system is clueless).
Let us know. This will help people who want to ship them in the future.

Len
 
I knew that it would take longer, but I couldn't help the rant. I suspect that CPC employees are as bad as USPS, but the bottom line is that bureaucratic inefficiencies always bug me. There's no 'good' reason in this day and age for it to take longer for something to travel half the distance just because it has to cross a line in the sand.
 
Woohoo!!! The package arrived today and the Riccia looks great! I made quite the mess trying to figure out how to put it into the aquarium. Right now it's secured to a rock with some butterfly netting (coudn't find a hair net).

Thanks a lot Len!
 
Very simply done. Just take a pad of it(it will form pads on the surface) and lay it over the object(something flat is best) and put a fine mesh hair net over it and tie it off on the bottom...tightly.
Then wrap the whole thing down tightly to the object, with fishing line, tie that off, and lay it on the substrate. It will grow over the netting and all you'll see is Riccia.

How did the little pieces of Val. look? I was concerned that they would be mush.

Len
 
Wow :) I just looked this particular plant up, as I was not familiar with it... how cool lookin!

I don't think I've got nearly the light for it though :P my java ferns get angry with me if I leave the lights off for more than a couple hours lol...

When I get a better light setup I might have to sweet-talk someone into sending me some :)

Do they require the same super-high light and CO2 if they float? (just curious)
 
The vals look pretty good, there's a bit of pearling right now. I'll find a hairnet tomorrow, I thought that the butterfly net would do, but I think that the holes are too small, i.e. blocking too much light. I didn't find any salvinia thought, I guess it didn't survive the trip.:(
 
PBQ - Riccia doesn't need super high lighting, nor CO2 supplement if its used as a floating plant. I used mats of riccia in my old low-tech 20 gallon bowfront (with a 36 watt CF light over it) to reduce the amount of light that got into the tank. The tank was not fertillizer supplemented, and it was not CO2 supplemented. The stuff grew just fine.

I knew someone who grew riccia in a 10 gallon tank lighted by a couple of incadescent bulbs... and he had no problems growing the stuff neither.

Alas, this grower stopped growing riccia years ago... and I was dumb enough to give all my Riccia to my LFS. Now I cannot for the life of me, find Riccia anywhere around here :mad:.

-Richer
 
Skitty, you didn't send me Val. It was a the Crypts. and those bushy stem plants, which BTW are growing like weeds.
I can't believe the Salvinia didn't make it either. I've had that stuff sit on the floor for hours and survive once put back in the tank. I must not have put it into happy's box. Sorry......

Riccia does not require high light or CO2 if grown on the surface, but unless you have a tank of about 15" or less, you should have 2 - 3 watts/gal. to be really successful with it on the substrate. That's been my experience, anyway. I would guess that the pictures we see of pearling riccia are grown with med/high light and CO2.
If left to it's own divices, floating in my 40 gal. with 110 CF and CO2, it would cover the entire surface in 4 weeks and be an inch thick. If grown in that environment, on the substrate, I'd be giving it a 'hair cut' weekly to keep it close to the object I attach it to. If I let it grow too high, it doesn't matter what the lighting. It will brown and die off on the under-side from lack of light.

Len
 
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