# Dying Riccia?!?!



## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

I bought some riccia from ebay and it didnt look so fine when i got it but i hooked it up in a 2 gallon tank with some tap water and a homade CO2 injector. It looked really good at first but now its loosing the green color and turning yellow. I have 1 26 watt 6500k bulb over it. The top of the riccia is still a little green(not as green though) but underneath its tan colored. Is this normal or am i doing something wrong? To much light? To much CO2?


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## JoshK (Jan 5, 2009)

I can't comment on the amount of CO2 needed for Riccia, but I do know that you don't have too much lighting, if anything I think you need more. The Riccia in my aquariums and terrariums all like very bright light.


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

I have hard 2 watts of 6500k per gallon, 26 watts for 2 gallons seems more than aqdequate...right?


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## JoshK (Jan 5, 2009)

I'm always growing java and riccia in ten gallon tanks and I keep 2 65k bulbs above the tanks. I know in my vivs it turns tan when it isn't recieving enough light.


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

I was growing it really well with 54watts of t5ho's at 6500k in a 24" cube. I basically shut the tank down with no lights and that is what happened to my riccia. I would assume it's a lighting thing based on that.


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## JustinF (Apr 13, 2009)

The X watts per gallon rule is garbage. 

A 2 gallon with 26 watts of light is not comparable to a 100 gallon with 260W watts of light, and not all watts of light are equal. 

A more important measure of light is lux. It's not easy to measure like watts per gallon but it is far more relevant. Riccia should do well at 1000 lux, it has for me.

If you don't want to find a lux meter, look at crudely measuring your footcandles with a digital camera and converting footcandles into lux. It's all rough but will be close enough.

It may be a nutrient deficiency as well, but it sounds more like a light issue, or lack thereof.


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

JustinF said:


> The X watts per gallon rule is garbage.
> 
> A 2 gallon with 26 watts of light is not comparable to a 100 gallon with 260W watts of light, and not all watts of light are equal.
> 
> ...


Its a nutrient deficiency i think, i have nothing in the tank aside from CO2, tap water, and riccia. WHat do i do to add nutrients? Can i just throw some dirt in the water until i get some real stuff?


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## JustinF (Apr 13, 2009)

If you want to grow it in water that is fine. What is the make up of your tap water like? It might have plenty of nutrients in it.

Secondly you can grow it on substrate just fine, in fact it should be easier to grow. If the top is growing and staying green, and the bottom is brown, spread it out thinner. 26W of CF is not going to penetrate through the Riccia very well.


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

My riccia is almost completely yellow now, including the top part of the riccia. Im not sure what my tap is like...I live in NY so i would asume its normal?


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## JustinF (Apr 13, 2009)

See if you can google your water and find some info on it. 

Try putting your tank in a window that gets some good light and see if that can keep it going before you lose it all. I don't think you have enough light.


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

getting 6500k CFLs and putting in them in desklamps, then sticking those over your tank helps as well.


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

Water quality: How do you know your water is safe?
Drinking water, including bottled water, may reasonably be expected to contain at least small amounts of some contaminants. The presence of contaminants does not necessarily indicate that water poses a health risk. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sets national limits on contaminant levels to ensure the safety of your drinking water. These limits are known as Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). For some contaminants the monitoring techniques may be unreliable, too expensive or too difficult to perform. In these cases, the EPA establishes treatment technique requirements instead of an MCL: if it can not be determined that a contaminant is not there, systems operate as if it is and provide the treatment necessary to produce safe drinking water. The EPA regulations also specify testing and reporting requirements for each contaminant. Something every regulation has in common is a requirement to notify the public if there is a regulation violation. If a regulation is violated the supplier is required to inform the consumers being served by the system. The EPA also requires water suppliers to monitor for unregulated contaminants to provide occurrence data for future regulations. 

Currently the EPA has established regulations for 140 individual contaminants. This includes six microbiological contaminants, 4 radionuclides, 26 inorganic chemicals, and 106 organic chemicals. The SDWA requires the EPA to review and revise each regulation on a regular basis. For example, the MCL for trihalomethanes was lowered from 100 to 80 µg/L (parts per billion) as part of a review completed in 1997. The 1996 reauthorization of the SDWA also requires the EPA to consider at least 5 new contaminants for regulation every 5 years. 

In New York, the State Health Department is responsible for enforcing EPA's regulations. The State has the option to implement alternative regulations when the alternative is equivalent to or more stringent than the EPA's regulation. In Onondaga County, due to the strength of the local unit, the State Health Department has delegated its primary enforcement and surveillance activities to the Onondaga County Health Department. The County Health Department reviews and approves all treatment plant and distribution system modifications as well as new construction. They also review all our operating and monitoring data for compliance on a monthly basis. The Authority takes a similar, cooperative approach with the Health Departments in Oswego, Oneida, and Madison Counties. 

OCWA's monitoring program exceeds both EPA and State Health Department requirements. The Authority's New York State certified water quality laboratory collects over 4,000-distribution system and 2,000-treatment plant samples each year and performs over 12,000 analyses. We also have about 600 specialized analyses performed by independent laboratories. As part of their surveillance program, the Onondaga County Health Department independently runs additional monthly surveillance monitoring on samples from our distribution system. In 2008, for water delivered to Authority customers, OCWA and MWB had no treatment plant, distribution system bacteriological, or chemical Maximum Contaminant Level violations. Accordingly, the water provided to consumers consistently meets or exceeds all New York State Health Department and EPA drinking water standards. With respect to the City of Syracuse, on February 18, 2008, due to high winds, the City experienced a treatment technique violation when turbidity exceeded 5 NTU’s. Other than that exception, the City of Syracuse water supply also met all New York State Health Department and EPA drinking water standards. 

OCWA's and MWB’s raw water monitoring programs are specifically designed to address concerns about Otisco Lake and Lake Ontario as main sources of supply. In both instances raw water intakes extend from a mile to a mile and a half out into their respective lakes. This was done by design to minimize the effects of near shore currents and run-off. Lab results consistently confirm that levels of organic compounds and heavy metals do not exceed the MCL. General raw water quality remains high for both Otisco Lake and Lake Ontario. Both sources are monitored more frequently, and for a wider range of compounds than required. 

A water quality summary is provided for each of the three supplies in the tables included in the appendix found at the end of this report. More detailed information can be obtained by calling OCWA’s Water Quality Manager, Bob Rusyn, at 673-4304 ext. 11. 

This is the water quality report. Hopefully you can decipher it. Thanks.


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

so now i have 2 26watts. I have one above the riccia and one underneath. Also, i took out the CO2 because the riccia was fine without it and i just want things to be a little less complicated. I changed the tap water to fresh tap water. Lets see if this helps.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

mine never did well with tap h2o - chlorine perhaps- I use rainwater and it grows great, but definitely needs lots of light


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## Rick (Apr 10, 2009)

Aside from my main setup i have one in just tap water with overhead light and another in distilled water with dirt in it(for nutrients) and an overhead light.


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