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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Same old Hemiantus 'Cuba'

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16 Feb 2009 14:40 #1 by zuciok (Anna Zukova)
Hi All,

I know there have been already posts regarding Heminatus 'Cuba'. I got this lovely plant again and wondering what is the best way to make it stick to the gravel:) I had it before and it was growing fine untill my shrimps and me (while cleaning the gravel) destroyed the beautiful carpet. Eventually I ended up with floating peaces of 'Cuba'on the top:(
I heared that people are using the soil , but the question is how?
Do you mix it with gravel, or just have a small sections of it?How to clean tank with the soil?
Or is it better to grow 'Cuba' on the rocks? But here again, how to attach it to the rocks. The roots are so tiny!

Any advise will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

Anna

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16 Feb 2009 22:30 #2 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
dear anna

hi!!!

floating cuba for a while on the top (it will float)
is a good way to let the roots get a bit longer

you really need to bed it down so its barely showing
it will look dormant for a couple of weeks while it roots in
and then should start to flourish

add even a little sand to your hc area
as it really is hard to keep it in gravel
the sand will work its way down into your gravel

my mate who got us the hc was told in the shop to leave a
little of the rockwool on the roots, but i dont know about that,

rgds

4

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17 Feb 2009 00:09 #3 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
If it came in little pots with rock wool leave a little rock wool on the plant. This will help keep it down untill it spreads.
The rock wool will do no harm in the tank.
If it is a loose plant. Take small pieces. Grab the small roots with a tweezers and push down in to the substrate. When it is down pull the tweezers sideways and release the grip with the tweezers. This will allow the gravel to weigh down the roots.

With small plants like HC Cuba you are better off not gravel cleaning or you will just uproot the plant.
It will attach to wood and rocks but it is better in the substrate.

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17 Feb 2009 13:02 #4 by zuciok (Anna Zukova)
Thanks a lot for all you advises.

Will try to follow them and will see what happens:)
Hopefully I will get a lovely carpet of Cuba soon.

Regards

Anna

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17 Feb 2009 23:01 - 17 Feb 2009 23:09 #5 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hi anna

i took some of my cuba out of the pots and floated it
in the tank and its roots are reaching right out after 24hours

its well worth trying, its getting lots of light at the surface and any stray co2 rising to the surface gets caught in your cuba :)

its interesting to hear platty's take on the rockwool method
my mate was told to do this in the green machine where he bought it
but i had read all sort of differing opinions on the subject

keeping small bunches in little pieces of the rockwool would certainly make it much easier to plant, but i assume the rockwool is gone by now

float it, honestly, the plant enjoys it!
(preferably in bunches rather than individual strands)

rgds

4
Last edit: 17 Feb 2009 23:09 by fourmations (NIall SMyth).

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17 Feb 2009 23:46 #6 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hey platty

when the Christmas avatar out of date?? ;) :)

rgds

4

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19 Feb 2009 00:01 #7 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
4 it's not that my avatar is out of date, it's early for next Christmas.
I will change it when you post a pic. of your tank;)

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19 Feb 2009 02:02 #8 by curefan (Dave Massey)
Yes...It was I who was at The Green Machine, and boy do those lads know their stuff! You just have to take a look at their display tanks. I planted my HC with a very small bit of the rockwool in tact and so far so good (but not planted that long!).

Dave.

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19 Feb 2009 11:13 #9 by fourmations (NIall SMyth)
hey platy

i'll show you a pic of my tank
if you are into diatoms!

over two months since setup
and still walking with brown algae! :(

cheers

4

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