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1st iwagumi attempt....

I went for the parvula as i planted it around the rocks and didn't want it to grow to tall.

I did look into making my own but I wanted to make it dimible and it looked abit more complicated, but I might be wrong!
Where did u get the heatsink?
You should rite a journal or write about it in the lighting section, I would love to read where u got all the parts n how u went about building!
 
They are not to hard to build, well i think anyways.
Dimmable is just the same as non dimmable, all that is different is the driver. I made the heatsink myself, I fit double glazing and conservatories etc and I get a lot of aluminium that goes for scrap metal. You could just buy some 40mmx40mm box section ally and cut it to the length of light unit you want and screw them together, each piece would work for a string of LEDs that's real cheap and still works well. I also got a little CPU fan which can cool it but the unit doesn't even get hot to the touch.
Like you mentioned I may do a write up on how I done it. :)

Cheers
 
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3 weeks in....
 
Seems abit like hc is growing more upwards instead of outwards! All the plugs a very thick! First time I've grown it so might be how it's supposed to grow lol!
 
Thanks people, wasn't 100% sure on the scape to start with but everyone's kind comments it's grown on me a lot!
Big clown would be interested to see some pics of your hc mate?
 
Here you go terry

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These were taken today with iphone so looks a bit yellow. I think this has been growing for 6-7 weeks and
could have trimmed it 2-3 weeks ago. I can't see the substrate through it now.
Next time I'm going cut it into 1cm ish lengths and sprinkle on substrate.
Based on what I've seen in my propagator 4-5 weeks of dry start, is more than enough time for it to take hold.
You could trim one of your clumps as an experiment to see how it affects growth.
Yours is looking good and I bet you can see it growing daily now.
 
That is impressive big clown, mine kind of looks like that but I'm small, dense clumps, I think it will eventually spread out tho!

Have had a couple of plugs go black and melt over the last few days, think they have the mouldy stuff on them, ether putting it down to not having a opening in the cling film, or not misting enough (every 2/3days).

Any advice?
 
Its possible that the higher parts are drying out. my hc is flat and level so doesn't dry out. Is it the hc or hair grass? if they are rotting I would remove affected clumps and a little substrate to stop them rotting and encouraging more mould growth. if it were just hc in there, I would say reduce your humidity, by leaving a gap in the cling film, but I don't know how humid the hair grass needs to be. in the short term id think about misting the high ground only but daily. the hc on the lower ground dosent need misting. I open my propagator 2-3 times a day more on sunny days when it gets hot. also I don't even mist it, the plants releases enough humidity via their leaves but others may need more humidity. I don't really know as this is my first emersed experiment. perhaps mattt will chip in and let you know how his dsm is going and maybe offer you more answers.
 
It's just the a few clumps of the HC that has 'rotted' hair grass seems fine. I've gone around with the tweezers and prodded about in each plug to separate the stems a little to let light through to parts that were yellowing.
Have also started pulling a few individual stems out and lying them ontop of the substrate (see picture) in between each plug to help fill it out slightly. Good idea to carry on and do it to whole tank?

Is it ok to have the roots exposed ontop like that?

Big clown thankyou for the advice, I think you just laid you HC out on top like in my picture didn't you?
RCvJUCd.jpg
 
Mine was laid on top, just like that, but it had no roots, so I don't know what will happen to them. Rather than pulling stems I would cut them and lay them in gaps this will encourage new growth from the roots and new roots on the cuttings which will naturally grow down into substrate. It looks like your starting to get some good size roots in there now. Its up to you if you want to carry on planting stems but remember it takes about 3 weeks for it to recover, put down roots and start growing again. This will increase your dsm time and you may have floaters when you flood it. Your hairgrass is looking good and I think you could probably reduce the humidity, by opening cover a few times per day to help with mould. I suspect the yellowing underneath is down to light being limited but have no firm evidence. foxfish had a similar problem when he planted a whole pot and let it go wild, have a read through this thread

Join the club | UK Aquatic Plant Society
 
Hey. I bought some hc and acicularis from the seller your mentioned (thanks for that)from ebay and ordered 3 pots of hc and it was ALOT, well worth the cash , took forever to plant though along with the acicularis (2pots) , that took toooo long :)
Just started my DSM yesterday , all the plants seem to being growing already :) , not in width but definitely in height .
Cheers
 
glad you were as impressed as big clown and i with the ebay guy!
any pics yet? you starting a journal?
im on week 5 now and after some good growth a in week 3 i cant really see any growth since then!
iv started to leave a big gap in the cling film and thats helped as i haven't had any more mold!
 
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