# Dry start bubble update



## ndrj1 (22 Apr 2016)

6 weeks in, Dwarf hair grass slooooow, but the montecarlo and Pogostemon H seem to be enjoying things


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## dean (22 Apr 2016)

Like this please tell me more about it


Regards
Dean


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## Greenfinger2 (23 Apr 2016)

Hi Ndrj1, Fantastic


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## chrismiller12341 (23 Apr 2016)

Looks great!


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## ndrj1 (23 Apr 2016)

dean said:


> Like this please tell me more about it
> 
> 
> Regards
> Dean




Hello Dean,

The bubble is around 45Ltrs, it's glass and I picked it up from a bric a brac shop. Being glass, I seriously worry how long it will stay into one piece, but so far so good!!

For the substrate I used Amazonia soil, first the bigger pieces, then the tiny ones on top.

all the plants were bought were growing emerged in gel. they are:

dwarf hair grass - planted in very small clumps.
Staurogyne repens.
Montecarlo
Pogostemon.
Spiky moss - layed on the red moor roots- it's holding itself freely to the wood now.

The plants didn't do much for about 2-3 weeks, but now I'm seeing good growth in all, especially the pogostemon. The hair grass is sending out new runners, but too slowly for me!!

I plant to add some taller stem plants once it's flooded, probably pogostemon erectus and a few stalks of a FAKE red/pink plant as I never manage to keep them alive. I find that using fake silk plants among real growth has always been a good cheat for me... some of them are really very good.

I initially started lighting it with a TMC mini LED tile 400, but I'm not sure it's powerful enough to cover the whole bubble, so I've currently rigged up an old set of T5s which is A LOT of light for this bowl... I'll switch back to the LED once it's flooded.

I also had a heat mat under the bubble to start with, but now I've turned it off as I'm not convinced it was really helping. 

That's all really. I spray daily in the morning and have covered the opening with cling film, with a small gap. Whenever I see white mold appear, I just open the cling film a bit and it soon disappears. Because of the heat generated from the T5 lights, I find myself spraying more these past few days, with the tile it wasn't really necessary at all.

I was planning to flood this weekend, but actually, I'm quite enjoying watching this develop without water, so maybe I'll give it another couple of weeks... Keep your eyes peeled for a flooding post, I'll probably be on here begging for help when everything turns to mush!!!!

Thanks!!

John


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## dean (23 Apr 2016)

Thanks John 
Looks great and thanks for the info 
Flood or not to flood 
That is the question 


Regards
Dean


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## foxfish (23 Apr 2016)

Looks great!
 I find it difficult to give these type of sets ups to much light!!
My hairgrass hardly moves in the winter but now the sun is out & daylight is around 12 hours a day, my little tanks have taken off.
In fact my Dwarf HG is about 5" tall at the moment.
I still use the heat mat to keep humidity up, even though the temp gets up to around 34c mid day, it seems as long as the plants are wet they love the high temp and just grow faster.
I don't spray my plants at all but there is always condensation dripping from the lid.


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## ndrj1 (23 Apr 2016)

k@


foxfish said:


> Looks great!
> I find it difficult to give these type of sets ups to much light!!
> My hairgrass hardly moves in the winter but now the sun is out & daylight is around 12 hours a day, my little tanks have taken off.
> In fact my Dwarf HG is about 5" tall at the moment.
> ...



Hi! 

do you keep your tanks in a window then? What kind of light do you use?


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## foxfish (23 Apr 2016)

Yes in the widow at the moment but outside from June till about mid September.
In the winter they go back on the widow sill with a GU10 11w led on for 14 hours.


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## foxfish (23 Apr 2016)

Here is one....


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## ndrj1 (24 Apr 2016)

WOW! that grass is out of control!! How long has the tank been running


foxfish said:


> Here is one....



?


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