# Hygrolon Experiment



## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

I got my order of Hygrolon today, and immediately began playing around with it. I ordered two medium Epiweb/Hygrolon slabs because I wanted to try some orchids on this material. First, I took one of the slabs and placed it in a glass with about an inch of water. The wicking began immediately, and the moisture made it to the top of the slab (8") within ten minutes. After that, I went to work and mounted a bunch of mini orchids on one of the slabs and a Phrag. besseae on the other. I took some pictures of the initial material and the planting. I plan to add a couple more plants on here and then let it grow. I'll update this as things progress. 

Here are the pictures:


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

looks interesting!! another thing you could do is add the same plants to a tree fern slab, and do a side by side comparison. i think that would also be interesting


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## dendrothusiast (Sep 16, 2010)

Good stuff man! Seeing this makes me want to use the rest of my little sheet I got from a friend. I think I'll try out some liverworts and moss on it to see how far I get in growth. I'll post when I have it set up


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

goof901 said:


> looks interesting!! another thing you could do is add the same plants to a tree fern slab, and do a side by side comparison. i think that would also be interesting


I thought of doing some kind of comparison, but I'm not sure I'd see any real results because of the differences in watering. If I mounted something on tree fern, I would have to spray the plants to water. I'm planning to only passively water this mount utilizing Hygrolon's wicking ability. 

Some of the plants on here were growing on tree fern previously. I know I did not like the growth I was getting from them then, so if there's a difference, I'll notice it. 



dendrothusiast said:


> Good stuff man! Seeing this makes me want to use the rest of my little sheet I got from a friend. I think I'll try out some liverworts and moss on it to see how far I get in growth. I'll post when I have it set up


Awesome! From pictures I've seen of Mikael's plants and other growers in Europe who have had this product for a while, the mosses tend to love this material. Allowing that constant moisture while keeping it airy seems to result in a lush green moss carpet. I added a few mosses I had on random mounts to try to get them established.


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## SLiK JiM (Oct 10, 2011)

Was there ever an update to this?


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

No, I didn't really like it for that purpose, so I scrapped the project.


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## Yuley (Feb 14, 2013)

Spaff,

Not trying to be pushy. Is there any explanation you could perhaps add as to why you didnt like it for this purpose? Would you say you wouldn't have liked to use this material for a background etc? Just wondering what made you decide you didn't like it. Might be a help to others and myself. As I was Initially quite interested when you began the thread.

Cheers

Liam


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

Yuley said:


> Spaff,
> 
> Not trying to be pushy. Is there any explanation you could perhaps add as to why you didnt like it for this purpose? Would you say you wouldn't have liked to use this material for a background etc? Just wondering what made you decide you didn't like it. Might be a help to others and myself. As I was Initially quite interested when you began the thread.
> 
> ...


Hi Liam, 

I have used this as background material and, to this point, it has done well for typical viv plants. I can't comment on the moss growth on it because mine hasn't been set up in viv long enough to really get moss going. I didn't use a moss mix, just placed pieces around it and pinned them down. I did not like the use as an orchid growing medium when allowing it to wick. It seemed to stay too wet, and I lost quite a few plants. It may work better if the mounts are watered daily instead of allowed to wick water, but I was testing the wicking ability of the material and how suitable that was for orchid growth. 

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I do think this may be good for tank backgrounds as most of our viv plants like to stay a bit more moist than orchids in general.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I love this material for backgrounds! 
Things that work really well for me on this background material... Microgramma, Rhaphidiophora, Microsorum, the Folius moss mix, all bromeliads, Bulbophyllums, Restrepia, Columnea, Pleurothallis. 

I do NOT mist it every day. The combo of hygrolon and aquarium filter pad( epiweb way over rated a d over priced) keeps a very humid yet airy microclimate behind the hygrolon. 
I have 2 tanks with this background combo and I might never go back to cork mosaics

Easy to use, light, and very conducive to the growth of epiphytes!!!


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## SLiK JiM (Oct 10, 2011)

frogparty said:


> I love this material for backgrounds!
> Things that work really well for me on this background material... Microgramma, Rhaphidiophora, Microsorum, the Folius moss mix, all bromeliads, Bulbophyllums, Restrepia, Columnea, Pleurothallis.
> 
> I do NOT mist it every day. The combo of hygrolon and aquarium filter pad( epiweb way over rated a d over priced) keeps a very humid yet airy microclimate behind the hygrolon.
> ...


Just so I know, you just stick (how) the hygrolon to the aquarium filter pads and use that as you background!? Sounds good to me. Any pictures? Do you make any 'features' in the background or is it flat?


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

I think hot glue is supposed to work well for attching Hygrolon to the filter material. 

I think misting may be the key to this material. I like it much better for a background that I mist than the wicking experiment that I tried.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

What I do is silicone the aquarium pad into place around the ghost wood that is glued to the glass. Then, I cut a sheet of hygrolon big enough to cover the entire background, slice and cut holes accordingly to accommodate the wood, then tuck the edges into the space between glass and filter pad, then stuff moist sphagnum over the top to help anchor it. No extra glue needed. 
When this step is finished, take your moss mix and rub it into the hygrolon, mist it to make it damp, rub it in some more, then stand your tank vertically. 

I then pin epiphytes in place with toothpicks to the background, mount my epiphytes to the wood, and let that grow in for a month. 

Then, I clean the bottom of the tank out well, add my egg crate false bottom, and then cut more aquarium pad to stuff between the edges of the false bottom and the glass. 

Then I add 1" turface as a drainage layer, followed by one 24oz culture of purple isos, one 24oz culture of white isos, and a 24 oz culture of Linbo isos. I then flood a good springtails culture and pour that in over the substrate, followed by lots of leaf litter( live oak) and sea grape over that if I have it handy


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## SLiK JiM (Oct 10, 2011)

Just checking, but is this ok:

3m AQUARIUM POND FILTER MEDIA WOOL FLOSS ROLL 18-22mm | eBay


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

I use 1" thick filter pad. I dont know about that stuff, never tried it.


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## NathanB (Jan 21, 2008)

Theres several kinds of filter pads, are you using foam, or the plastic kind similar to epiweb?


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

The stuff similar to Epi web, but MUCH CHEAPER!!!


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## NathanB (Jan 21, 2008)

Thanks, I might try that next time.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Dr Foster and Smith is where I get mine


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