Dwarf Hairgrass Help.

[Esfa]

My dwarf hairgrass doesnt seem to be growing. I just get EXTREMELY bad hair algae on it. They are all planted, stem by stem, about 1cm apart. I use liquid ferts and c02. I have 2wpg in a 35gal tank. I have just normal sand as a substrate. Any idea why it wont grow?

Really bad pic, lol.

 

[nicklfire]

i bought some of this stuff about a bit over 2 weeks ago. it hasnt really grown at all, but ti's green and i am starting to see new shoots and propogation, takes a while for it to actually propogate. I've noticed alot of debris getting caught in it etc. how long has yours been planted for?

 

[Esfa]

About a month. It grew abit, but then started to get really bad hair algae, i was pulling out handfulls everyday, so I took half of the grass out and re-planted it all. That was two days ago and I'm starting to get algae again.

 

[nicklfire]

to be honest that doesnt seem like alot of ground cover.. just one little hair per whatever.. i have like a little bunch together.. spread all over my aquarium. Check out my tank the way i did mine:

http/www.fishaquarium.org/topics.html-t-115

I have that much grass and getting a bit of growth after two weeks and i have like 100X more then you do... Algae issue i'd focus on your co2, you know your hitting your 30ppm?

 

[Esfa]

Yup, i check my ph and kh every two days and work out my ppm. If it is below 30 i refill my c02. I usualy refil it every 5 days or so.

I had them in clumps before like yours. but i read somewhere to plant them seperately. So I did. Dont tell me it's wrong, cause it took me about 3 hours to do!

 

[nicklfire]

by individually stranding them your seperating alot of roots.. i dont know if they grow better independantly without the root support from others.. but i can tell you with my little clumps i'm getting good growth i would think for the amount of time i've had them here. I was told plant in little clumps..(about 4-5 clumps.... apart from the 1 big one you got) and then trim them short, should make them grow faster and propogate to the sides.. which is what i did.. growing good.

 

[Esfa]

Okay, thanks. I will try that later.

This is more trouble then its worth =( haha

 

[nicklfire]

Well dont despair maybe you are doing it right and me wrong.. maybe others will have input int he situation. There's not just 1 way to do it, that's the great thing about this hobby. learn from your mistakes early on you'll learn haha. I would definately figure out your co2 though, that ph / kh table does nto work very good, gives you a general guideline but a co2 drop checker gives far more accurate results, you could be underdosing yoru co2, leading to your algae problems.

 

[Maximumbob]

When I planted my dwarf hairgrass I did it in snall groups of about 10 plants per clump. The roots were so intertwinned I didnt want to separate them any more.

After about 2-3 weeks they started to propagate themselves through runners.

I think they just take a little while to settle in and develop a good root system... i'm sure this varies from substrate to substrate - i'm sure my course flourite substrate delayed things

 

[radioman]

mine has some algae on it but that of course is because when I bought it the store owner had been neglecting it and it had loads of algae on it. It has grown a bit but not alot. I will take your advice and cut it down.

 

[montyII]

Maybe it would benefit from some root tabs? Mine was struggling and took off after I added some.

 

[nicklfire]

some root tabs might be good sparely over the general area as your using sand instead of a nutrient substrate as the rest of us do mostly

 

[Esfa]

Thanks for your help guys.

I think I'm going to get some eco-complete soon, anyway. Should make all my plants grow better

I'll use root tabs till them.

 

[nicklfire]

yea that's your best bet, sand dosnt have any nutrition in it right so in heavy root feeders that's when you definately want some good substrate/laterite

 

[backtotropical]

Yup, i check my ph and kh every two days and work out my ppm. If it is below 30 i refill my c02. I usualy refil it every 5 days or so.

I had them in clumps before like yours. but i read somewhere to plant them seperately. So I did. Dont tell me it's wrong, cause it took me about 3 hours to do!

Sorry to stray off topic.

Esfa, do you mind sharing your knowledge? What's the formula for working out CO2 from PH and KH?

Cheers.

BTT