# WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY EMERSED SETUP :mad:



## Dominic (5 Dec 2013)

So i set up an emersed setup a few weeks ago, to try and grow some plants prior to planting, but for some reason all of my plants keep dying. They are in pots, in a spare 10gallon fish tank, with water up to 1cm below the edge of the pots, and some of them were dying so i decided to replant them. I had eleocharis s.p, hemianthus Cuba, hydrocotyle triparita japan, and staurogyne repens. And now my hydrocotyle has melted, with two or three healthy leaves, all my hemianthus has developed a white stringy covering overnight and seems all melty and sloppy, and my eleocharis s.p has turnt all yellow. The only thing that seems to be doing okay is my staurogyne. 

This has really annoyed me because i spent good money on those plants and this seemed to be such a failsafe decision to make. Where have i gone wrong?


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (5 Dec 2013)

Did you cover the tank, and heat the water below so they were in 100% humidity?


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## Dominic (5 Dec 2013)

covered the tank and i didnt think the heating would be important as long as i kept spraying it?


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## Andy Thurston (5 Dec 2013)

What light and substrate are you using?


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## Dominic (5 Dec 2013)

18w t5 tube and a homebase soil not sure which


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## Andy Thurston (5 Dec 2013)

Well your lights and soil sound ok its sealed and misted only really leaves heat mat and possible humidity problems.


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## Dominic (5 Dec 2013)

do you know what could be forming on the plants? As i dont understand what it could be, is it some sort of mould? And how much do heat mats cost?


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## Andy Thurston (5 Dec 2013)

Not sure what the mold/melt is. I did my hc twice in a heated propagator and once in a tank it grew about the same all three times. Couldn't comment on the hydro or the price of heat mats.
Try more light i used 2x t5 in the tank.


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## Dominic (5 Dec 2013)

hmmm, i would but i have no spare lights haha,

How could i save them? I have a spare 5g with plenty of liquid co2 and ferts. Should i put them in there and dose the liquid co2 and ferts until my tank is ready for them to go into?


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## tim (5 Dec 2013)

Maybe too wet Dominic, I only misted my wabi kusa once a week but kept them permanently covered, even though the plants looked dryish the glass was always steamed up.


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## Dominic (5 Dec 2013)

okay thank you tim, the stuff is taking over pretty quickly though, it's worse than it was when i got home from college at 6. I'm just trying to think of a way that i could salvage the rest


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## flygja (6 Dec 2013)

Stringy covering like cotton is some sorta mould alright. I got it in my DSM too and had to throw out a lot of HC. My DSM failed because of high temps, as high as 32-33'C as I live in the tropics and the greenhouse effect of covering the tank didnt help.


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## OllieNZ (6 Dec 2013)

If you can hang a pc fan in the tank for air movment alot of vivarium guys use this method and it seems to work quite well.


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## foxfish (6 Dec 2013)

Dominic, you know a picture paints a thousand words!
A picture of your set up method and of the plants would help a lot.


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## GreenNeedle (6 Dec 2013)

shouldn't need to heat it unless its out in the cold.  ambient is more than enough.  I've never used heat for DSM or emersed nurserys in the years I've been doing it.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (6 Dec 2013)

SuperColey1 said:


> shouldn't need to heat it unless its out in the cold.  ambient is more than enough.  I've never used heat for DSM or emersed nurserys in the years I've been doing it.



I wasn't meaning heating for warmth, but rather heating water inside the covered tank to keep humidity levels at max.


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## dw1305 (6 Dec 2013)

Hi all,





Big clown said:


> Try more light i used 2x t5 in the tank.





Dominic said:


> hmmm, i would but i have no spare lights


Dominic do you mean they don't have a light over them at all? "Big clown" is right, at this time of year ambient light will be too low for plant growth unless the plants are right in a S. facing window.

cheers Darrel


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## dw1305 (6 Dec 2013)

Hi all,
Have a look here for the differences in daylight during the year. <http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1194947347997>.

cheers Darrel


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## foxfish (6 Dec 2013)

I put this little set up on a south facing window with a heat mat & some sort of sword plant has thrown up a flower spike.
I am not sure what the plant is as someone gave it to me about 6 weeks ago as a bit of root & a couple of dead leaves.


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## Dominic (6 Dec 2013)

i've just taken pictures, theyre on my phone, how do i upload them?


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## Dominic (6 Dec 2013)

Alright i figured it out haha, these pictures were taken about half an hour ago, and last night i removed all the dead bits, so that portrays how quickly this stuff is killing the hemianthus. 

Close up of the dying hemianthus



You can clearly see all the damage.





The setup as a whole, 18w t5 light, soil in pots with water up to 1cm below water line, and nightly spraying.


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## foxfish (7 Dec 2013)

It seems your light is doing a good job of lighting the room but not the plants!
Growing immersed is not like growing the same plants underwater as there is not limitation of C02, so you can light it up strong & long.
Double the lights & use some form of reflector, keep the tank sealed & the lights a bit higher above the film.
If you can get a piece of glass instead of the film that will allow more light in too.
Moving the whole thing under some natural light would  help no end but, trying to save the wasted plants might not be possible now.


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (7 Dec 2013)

I'd be inclined to say the soil looks too wet for DSM, thus bringing on the mold your experiencing.

The balance is to keep every plant moist without getting the soil saturated.


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