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Re: Wiccia & Alage pads


> Micranthemum is a great foreground plant and grows very fast so I'm pretty
> sure it would do well in a low light setup.

It does quite well and can be trimmed, especially the Amano "two per node"
The type Neil brought back a number of years ago from Amano's place.
The stuff can be trimmed just like hair and grows back to look nice
amazingly fast. It can trimmed down to about an inch and kept that way well.
> 
> Hairgrass is Tom Barr's favorite foreground plant and I have it in my tank as
> well. 

Not sure I have any favorites....maybe all plants but one single one is very
hard to say. Most folks like them all if done well and have healthy growth
and no algae.

>It doesn't grow as fast as the baby tears in my tank but Tom says his
> stuff grows lik mad. Others have told me that algae loves to grow in the
> dense lawn though. I don't have any algae now so I can't speak from
> experience.

It doesn't go as fast the M. amano stuff but close.
ADD a number of shrimps or keep a good clean tank and no algae will grow.
Same goes for the foreground plants generally. Many algae cleaning fish rip
foreground plants up and moss/Riccia etc. A comb is surprisingly effective
for cleaning, Riccia removal etc. Fingers for bladdwort that can form an
interwoven netting by itself in the Riccia mat and hair grass. you can see
some this in many Amano tanks but it's just a pest plants that it just left
in. I doubt he ever really wanted it in there but just learned to live with
it.

> 
> Riccia is the hardest thing in the world to grow. It's not that it doesn't
> grow, it's keeping the growth down and keeping the stuff on the bottom from
> rotting. I don't recommend it unless you've got some patience. I'm trying
> again using a lawn of hairgrass to keep the stuff down rather than tying it
> down to rocks.

Do you have the Aqua Journal vol 38? You can learn a thing or two about
handling it. All you do as it starts to pull up is add a freshly tied stone
to bulge. Just lay it on top of the bulge. That is easier than the other
method(s). I've kept a nice lawn in a tank for 8 months and have not pulled
anything out etc. I just keep putting stones on it if it starts to pull up.
I do trim it and make new stones from the trimmings. You can build a more 3D
effect by piling the stones on top of each other like stairs. Easy, simple
and looks good. 
But I cannot get it out of hair grass without dropping the light levels way
down. Once there- it's there for good.




> I bought a Scotch Brite Scrub Sponge today to use on my tank and noticed on
> the back it said "not for aquarium use!"  There is nothing to indicate that
> it is anything but a sponge (no soap, ingredients, etc) w/a synthetic
> scratch pad.  Anyone know why it shouldn't be used?
> 
> Bob W

Two words:
Scratched glass
Regards, 
Tom Barr