Riccia Attachment

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clayt101

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May 4, 2001
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana
www.waterhyacinths.com
Whats the best way to attach riccia to rocks/wood etc.?

The clump I just bought mainly consists of very small plants, too small to be tied down like Java Moss.
 
my experiences

I first tried nylon thread. I scattered the stuff on the rock, wrapped and tied and put it in the tank. The problem was that pieces escaped after growing up - the Riccia began to escape if I ever let my trimming guard down. It turns out that if you neglect trimming, the tied down portions get shaded and weaken. One pass with a scavenger and it floats away. Besides, it was hard to get even coverage with wrapped threads.

So I tried a hair net from the local pharmacy. Pearling Riccia lifted the whole net up until I had a big dome of Riccia under a net and not at all attached to the rock.

Then I tried one of those exfoliating shower scrubby net things - if you untie it it is a simple tube of netting. This turned out to be much smaller and tighter than the hair net and just the right size for my rock. Success! Actually, I pulled the whole thing once to install only 'sinker riccia'*, which now seems to work fine.

* I found I had two kinds of riccia: a bright green kind that always floats and a darker green kind that normally sinks and only rises when it has bubbles attached. The 'sinker' kind stays put much better for me, so I have eliminated most of the other. Look at yours carefully - mine all came in one purchase.
 
I do stained glass work so I have a bunch of glass pieces and can cut them to any size I want to use. Nice and tank safe and nice and flat.
Cover what ever you're going to use with 1/2'' of Riccia. Take a fine mesh hair net, preferably light or clear in color, which you can buy at most pharmacies in quantities of from 3 to 10.
Anyway take the net and put it over the Riccia and draw it tight on the bottom by using fishing line or similar that won't degenerate in the water.
THEN....after it's good and tight take more fishing line and wrap it around and around from one end to the other, as tight as you can make it (like a little mummy) and tie it off. The new strands of Riccia will grow off of this tightly bound mass, nice and evenly. Then as it grows you just give it a hair cut to keep it close to the original mass. This will allow light to penetrate and keep the whole thing healthy. Try to keep it even and within about 1/2" of the original mass.
It's neat to see it pearl while sitting on the substrate.
Len
 
My riccia is doing great, but will it ever attach to rocks like java fern/moss? Right now I have it growing through a fiberglass screen.
 
clayt101- If you are asking will the Riccia "root" like a java fern might to a peice of wood or anything, the answer is - NO. Riccia has no "roots" and IME floats readily. For that matter I have never seem java moss root to anything either. It has always been tied down with something like a hair net.

I to have tried the hairnet thing with little success. And djlens way seems great but a lot more work than my way. I am going try the body scrubby thing if I can find an appropriate color. Right now, I use a green mesh stuff used on dresses I bought at Walmart in the fabric section for 57 cents a yard. I put a section of Riccia on top of the rock or whatever and draw the mesh over the rock and rubber band it underneath and cut most of the excess mesh. You can pull it as tight as you want. I use the rubber band so I can easily reuse the mesh. A couple days later you can hardly see the mesh. I don't really prune that often these days because I have found that letting the riccia grow and detach is a good way to propagate it. After about 2 weeks it has always released in a nice big dense "mat" which is easy to give to a friend or sell if you like. I just take the mesh off the rock, take some of the loose peices of Riccia from the edges of the mat(or floating free in my tank) and reattach it to the rock and it grows again.

TomfromStlouis- Where did you get the "sinking" Riccia? Would you part with some for a nominal fee?
 
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If you tie it securely and give it a weekly "haircut" it will stay nice and green and look like a pillow on the substrate.
If you let it get too long the tops will stay green but the bottom will brown off and it gets really messy in a few weeks.

BTW, it's one of the few plants that I've kept in a tank with 2.5 watts/gal. that will consistently pearl, not only floating, but submerged. A beautiful thing to see.

Len
 
Thanks for the response. I am using fiberglass mesh to attach it. It comes in gray and black and is used for screens on windows and doors. I think I will build a large rock formation and put the riccia on it.
 
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