Florida Rics won't attach to LR

I've had various orange and green Rics for months and they only thing they're attached to are the little pieces of rock or plugs that they came with. They won't attach to my LR. 2 of the 3 rics have split so those have absolutely nothing underneath them.

I've read about about using netting and everything like that but I don't think that will even work. Here's my reasoning...the one ric (my oldest) has been in the tank since Dec2010. It is attached to a plug that I bought it on. It has been in the same spot, and has not moved from water movement. With the lights on, the ric opens up large enough to cover plenty of LR yet it has never put its roots down.

I'm guessing this is an issue because the ric isn't spread out in that position for more than 8 hours at a time, due to my light cycle. Any suggestions on allowing my rics to attach to my LR? I didn't care at first but as more of them split, its tough to keep the frags in place since they are light and like to move with the water.

Thanks in advance

 

Cut them off the plugs. Put a small layer of larger CC sand in the bottom of an old butter tub. Using a pair of scissors or a hole punch, put a bunch of holes into the sides of the tub to allow waterflow. Put the rics onto the sand inside the tub, cover with bridal veil, and rubberband the veil to the tub. Set the tub on your sandbed in medium flow. After a couple of weeks, they will have attached to the CC. Now you can superglue the CC to your LR anywhere you want.

 

Thank you!!

 

One more question: Since I don't want to cut the roots (I would think this would injure the Ric), should I cut away as much of the plug as I can so that the roots are hardly attached to anything?

 

I just use a razorblade. However, if you are more comfortable not doing that and your plug is made out of a material that can easily be broken and made smaller, just make it smaller and glue the plug to your rock. I don't want to push you past your comfort level.

 

If you can cut your plug down to a small enough size to glue to the lr then that's the easiest way but otherwise the tub of CC is the best idea and even if you cut the ric slightly it will be fine.