Attempting Dwarf Hair Grass Again.

[RainboWBacoN420]

In a previous post, I mentioned how my lovely, lush and green staurogyne had stunted in growth. Still not entirely sure why, but I finally got fed up with it and just uprooted it, and moved on to replacing it. It had such healthy, long and complex root systems and the stems were still healthy and green, but unfortunately, still no new leaf growth coming, and some did but very, very slowly... 
 
But I went out to the store last night and thought I might try staurogyne again, just a small amount this time to bunch up with the cardinal plants I have, but I went with something different, Dwarf Hair Grass. I tried growing this in my 55 gallon, and I had very little success , and I have the corys and shrimp to thank for that as they would always uproot the grass, not giving it a good chance to grow. I have a small clump of it barely growing right now, so I'm trying grass in my 15 gallon now. I'm expecting it to do well in there, I have CO2 going with some bright lighting over the tank, MarineLand LED Light Strip- 7800 K. Thinking I should add a fertilizer tab to the soil? My soil might be exhausted since my tank is about nine months old now. 
 
I planted it differently this time, I tried breaking the clumps up to only a couple or few blade of grass per clump and trimmed them down to about half an inch or so? I planted them closely together, had enough to cover the entire bald spot in the front.
 
I have no bottom dwellers to screw me over this time, hoping for a nice lawn for my Scarlet Badis (Kylo- that's his name, don't wear it out).
 
If there's any advice you guys think I should take into account, please feel free to tell me off. As always, much appreciated!

 

[BaylorPerez]

you could add a base micro nutrient liquid to the tank to help with the growth of it. Aqueon plant food is what i use, and it seems to be helping my plants stay strong, besides the algae thats growing on them every so often.  But each plant will need something more, carbon may be the best for it but it would also do good with fertilizer soil, or just adding as i said a micro nutrient liquid to the tank itself

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

I already dose Flourish: Comp., Flourish: Nitrogen, Flourish, Trace and API: Leaf Zone. I'll soon switch over to El? Some of the dry fertilizers that user: jag recommended. As I mentioned in the intro post, I'm injecting CO2, so there's really no need for a carbon supplement, plus I have crypts and a few valls in there, and I hear they don't respond well to Carbon Supplements such as Excel. 
 
Curious as to using root tabs, though, as I said, my soil might be exhausted. 

 

[StevenF]

 I useSeachem Flourish Comprehensive and Flourish: Nitrogen mayself. These two fertilizers should cover all elements the plants need except for phosphorous.  As long as you are feeding fish in the aquarium you will have phosphorous.  In my opinion Seachem Flourish comprehensive is the best available micro fertilizer.  Flourish nitrogen in addition to nitrogen adds potassium so unless you have extremly rapid plant growth you should have to add phosphorous.  If your CO2 and light is adequate the plants should grow unless the GH, KH, and PH are not at levels the plants prefer.  However there is very little information available as to the ideal GH, KH, and PH for plants.
 
Note the API leaf zone and Fourish trace are already covered by the comprehensive and Nitrogen fertilizers.  If you want you could drop the trace and API.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

Flourish nitrogen in addition to nitrogen adds potassium 

Did you mean Flourish Comprehensive added to Nitrogen?
 
 

.  If your CO2 and light is adequate the plants should grow unless the GH, KH, and PH are not at levels the plants prefer.  However there is very little information available as to the ideal GH, KH, and PH for plants.
 

That may be why my staurogyne was stunted. Possibly a change in the GH? I'm not sure...
 
All my other plants are doing great! My cardinals and crypts are growing slowly but surely, as well as my bacopa that reaches the surface about every 2-3 weeks, sometimes even less! 
 
 

  As long as you are feeding fish in the aquarium you will have phosphorous. 

That could be a problem, because I barely feed my badis, as he munches on micro crustaceans and nematodes in my tank. There's a large abundance of them for him to snack on, but I'll soon be investing in a culture of mosquito larvae or some other small live food that'll be more sustainable than just pecking at the micro critters all over the driftwood and worms that randomly swim around. 
 
 

 
Note the API leaf zone and Fourish trace are already covered by the comprehensive and Nitrogen fertilizers.  If you want you could drop the trace and API.

Leaf Zone is added for extra iron and potassium, and some of the other macro nutrients it covers. And I add trace as I hear Trace elements can dissolve quicker, I thought it would be best to have an additional source of trace elements. 
 
Thanks for your help. 

 

[StevenF]

 
StevenF, on 02 Feb 2016 - 12:55 PM, said:

Flourish nitrogen in addition to nitrogen adds potassium 

Did you mean Flourish Comprehensive added to Nitrogen?

Yes use both together.

 
StevenF, on 02 Feb 2016 - 12:55 PM, said:

  As long as you are feeding fish in the aquarium you will have phosphorous. 

That could be a problem, because I barely feed my badis, as he munches on micro crustaceans and nematodes in my tank. There's a large abundance of them for him to snack on, but I'll soon be investing in a culture of mosquito larvae or some other small live food that'll be more sustainable than just pecking at the micro critters all over the driftwood and worms that randomly swim around. 

There is a typo in that line should have written that "As long as you are feeding fish in the aquarium you should not have  and excess phosphorous problem"  I had a high phosphorous issue for about a year and a lot of algae.  by using Comprehensive + nitrogen I was able to get the plants to consume the excess.  Now my tank almost always has low phosphorous readings and my algae issue is nothing like it was.  But now that I think about it with bright light and  CO2 you might not have enough phosphorous to keep the plants healthy.  You probably should get a phosphorous test kit and monitor it.  I like to keep it below 0.5ppm 
 

 
Leaf Zone is added for extra iron and potassium, and some of the other macro nutrients it covers. And I add trace as I hear Trace elements can dissolve quicker, I thought it would be best to have an additional source of trace elements. 
 
Thanks for your help. 

Leaf zone fom what I found on the we has only iron and potassium.  The Macro nutrients are Nitrogen, phosphorous, and possaium,   Potasium is in comprehensive and the nitrogen fertilizer.  And iron is covered by your comprehensive fertilizer.  So the leaf zone doesn't add much and iron is only needed in very small quantities.  And there is probably some iron in your aquarium substrate already.   Overall leaf zone is of little value to you in my opinion.
 
The trace has 9 elements of which  6 are in comprehensive  The other 3 are not in the comprehensive and are only pressent in very small quantities and seldom seen in most fertilizers.  If you are concerned that you might be short a trace element i would just add more comprehensive.  The Trace in my  opinion doesn't look much better than leaf zone.  
 
for myself I am using RO water in my aquarium.    If I don't fertilize my plants die.  I originally used a API micro fertilizer but plant growth was inconsistent.  When I switched to SeaChem Comprehensive I only added one element copper.  That made a big difference.  Adding the nitrogen  plus adding a bit more light made helped clean out the excess phosphorous I had.   My Anachais is currently adding about 1/4" a day (it was hardly growing with just the API micro fertilizer).  
 
The only other things I add  aquarium are Calcium and magnesium carbonate (my first attempts at keeping shrimp ended in failure because the water was too soft) and iodine (Animals need it not plants) and my shrimp were becoming less and less active until I added it.  Now they are always active.  Calcium and Magnesium are present in the Comprehensive and API micro fertilizer but it was apparently not enough for shrimp and they were not molting.  Now they molt at least once a month.  

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

 

 

 
The only other things I add  aquarium are Calcium and magnesium carbonate (my first attempts at keeping shrimp ended in failure because the water was too soft) and iodine (Animals need it not plants) and my shrimp were becoming less and less active until I added it.  Now they are always active.  Calcium and Magnesium are present in the Comprehensive and API micro fertilizer but it was apparently not enough for shrimp and they were not molting.  Now they molt at least once a month.  
 

Shrimp can't withstand soft water? It all makes sense now. I tried caring for cherry shrimp in my 15 gallon, and I thought it was the CO2 that had killed them, but my water is moderately soft (about 4-5 dKH/ 80-90 ppm- Using the German Measurement chart). But that makes sense that they need hard water to survive and thrive. I thought you would need to feed them food high in calcium to provide the calcium they need to molt, I wouldn't think they could just get it from the water column directly. 
 
I under dose everything, not by much though, but I try not to dose as much as the bottle says I should. I also checked my phosphates yesterday (checked it as soon as the solution arrived in the mail)! My phosphates are about .5, give or take. They could have been higher before I began dosing the Nitrogen, I have noticed the brown algae not growing so rapidly as it used to, though. 

 

[StevenF]

 
 
Shrimp can't withstand soft water? It all makes sense now. I tried caring for cherry shrimp in my 15 gallon, and I thought it was the CO2 that had killed them, but my water is moderately soft (about 4-5 dKH/ 80-90 ppm- Using the German Measurement chart)

 
It isn't hard water that they need.  Just Calcium and Magnesium.  I add the calcium and magnesium carbonate to the water before it goes into the tank.  Even if the water is saturated with it, the water is still soft and the KH about 50ppm.  When you have hard water it isn't from calcium or magnesium. instead it is from all the metals, minerals, and salts in the water.

 

[RainboWBacoN420]

 

 
 
Shrimp can't withstand soft water? It all makes sense now. I tried caring for cherry shrimp in my 15 gallon, and I thought it was the CO2 that had killed them, but my water is moderately soft (about 4-5 dKH/ 80-90 ppm- Using the German Measurement chart)

 
It isn't hard water that they need.  Just Calcium and Magnesium.  I add the calcium and magnesium carbonate to the water before it goes into the tank.  Even if the water is saturated with it, the water is still soft and the KH about 50ppm.  When you have hard water it isn't from calcium or magnesium. instead it is from all the metals, minerals, and salts in the water.
 

Okay, that clears up some confusion, I always thought calcium factored into the hardness of water, or could factor in I should say.
 
What calcium and magnesium supplement do you use? I'm curious. I assume it's supplements for corals, as I have not seen or known of any calcium or magnesium supplements for Freshwater use, unless it's a certain nutrient for plants, which I still have never seen as most usually cover a variety of nutrients, not just one specifically. 

 

[StevenF]

 
 
What calcium and magnesium supplement do you use? I'm curious.

I just went onto Amazon.com and looked for Calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.  Apparently this stuff is sold as a dietary supplement.  Just make sure you get pure material.  Also buy the smallest amount you can get.  Due to its low solubility a little bit goes a long way.