Two+ Questions - looking for first hand experience

[pm]

1.  Has anyone here used one of those stainless steel filter intake screens (so small shrimp or fish don't get sucked up)?  If so, would you recommend them?  I have been using fluval sponges, but they clog too often for me.

2.  Having recently removed ALOT of hairgrass from my tank, I am considering other low forground plants (assuming space).  Does anyone have experience growing glosso or HC Cuba in a fluorite/pea gravel sized substrate?  If so, do they grow fine, or do they uproot too easily?

Thanks

[charlie]

1.  Has anyone here used one of those stainless steel filter intake screens (so small shrimp or fish don't get sucked up)?  If so, would you recommend them?  I have been using fluval sponges, but they clog too often for me.

2.  Having recently removed ALOT of hairgrass from my tank, I am considering other low forground plants (assuming space).  Does anyone have experience growing glosso or HC Cuba in a fluorite/pea gravel sized substrate?  If so, do they grow fine, or do they uproot too easily?

Thanks

(1) i did the switch & they work great , for the very same reason you are thinking of doing.
(2) never tried glosso in flourite but did with HC let`s  say it ticked me off because every time it `starts to really carpet & grow lush it lifted out of the substrate , it was like wig sitting on top of a scalp but the shrimp loved the hiding space underneath, i heard/read you need to constantly prune it to keep it in check since as soon as it gets dense & starts to pearl it tends to be buoyant with a very small root system.
Errol

[pm]

Thanks Errol,

I can totally see it in my head.  The HC pearls, becomes buoyant, and lifts up in one big patch.

I guess I will pass for now... it does make you wonder how the heck the stuff stays attached to riverbeds in Cuba in the rainy season.

[fischkopp]

I find that bigger and coarser sponges won't clog as fast. In fact, in some tanks with low fish load and sparse feeding they never clog at all. That said, I ALWAYS clean these pre-filter sponges when I do my water changes. It's quick and assures that the filtration stays alive. The filters itself I don't clean very often ...

HC works fine in medium fluorite as well as in the sand version. I tried both. I had glosso only with eco complete, and based on that I don't see why it wouldn't do well.

Don't be turned off by the fact that HC can lift. It will take a few months until it get to that point. Re-scaping cycles are usually shorter with most planted folks ...

[dan2x38]

I held HC in place with pieces of acrylic. Once it all rooted removed it and it stayed until I up rooted and sold it all off. I had a nice carpet of the stuff. In one tank it was with Eco-Complete the other 50-50 Red Florite & Pea Gravel. It was harder to root in the latter substrate.

[magnosis]

Sorry for the very late response ...

I have successfully grown (and maintained) a pretty big carpet of HC cuba in a 20g tank using only Black Flourite as the substrate.  This tank was started using the Dry Start Method, and it worked out very well.

The tank is CO2 injected, lit with 2x24w T5HO 7h/day, and doesn't get any ferts beside what the fish are providing.  So far, so good.  Not meant as a repeatable experiment, just saying that it worked for my tank. It may be different (either way) in yours

I have a tread on this tank, it's quite out of date but I will make an effort to bring it back to life with updated pictures.

[pm]

Magnosis, please do update your thread.  I was following it with great interest.

I ended up using flourite black sand in a 10 gallon for the HC.  I used DIY CO2 and spiral CFL bulbs.  The HC did not grow as fast as others have mentioned, but it has expanded nicely.

I am planning on taking down this 10 gallon, which was only supposed to be a temporary tank anyways (quarantine tank), and replanting the HC (plus some other plants) in a 7.9 gallon fluval flora/ebi nano type tank which I just picked up.  I will scape it in advance this time versus after the fact, and try a dry start to get the HC to root.

And before I forget, for anyone interested, the stainless steel filter covers (from my first post) have worked great for me.  No baby shrimp in the filter, and no real need to clean it out like a sponge prefilter.