Dwarf Hairgrass........

[stevereade]

Just wondered, high light or low light? What would you recommend?

 

[ian]

It really depends on what you're gonna be dosing I.E. ferts and C02. I have had it survive in low light, i have had it go wild in medium light, with C02.

 

[JoshuaA]

I've currently got it in a low light and medium light tank. The low light is dosed regularly with ferts, tropica substrate and has CO2 for those plants that are actually hugging the bulb and grow rapidly. The rest are shaded and extremely slow growers, the dwarf grass has barely changed since putting it in and it's not as green as I would like I imagine that is completely down to the low light.

My medium light tank which has tropica substrate and ferts well the dwarf grass is growing really well but it's taking its sweet time to spread. It's only been 6 weeks and on a "Low tech" tank I wouldn't expect it.

On a further note, anyone know much about upgrading T8 bulbs on the standard light bar of a juwel rio 125. I found one product by Arcadia but they don't seem to do it for 125s or I could take the Arcadia Eco LED route but I'm not convinced as I'm yet to see anyone with them and at £79 per bulb it feels a bit of a rip off for what I may or may not be getting. With the main aim of pushing more light into the tank I'm finding this increasingly harder than I first imagined.

 

[GrayScale]

I have dwarf hairgrass in a low tech 10g tank no ferts and no co2 and it stays healthy but grows verrry slow. It's been down there for a few months and it only has just a couple runners.

More info about dwarf hairgrass: there is eleocharis parvula and acicularis. Both are very similar in that they stay somewhat small and create carpets however one gets slightly taller, the blades are a little thinner and the shade of green is slightly different.

As for the LEDs, I've seen no evidence that freshwater plants benefit from them as much as they do from a t8 or t5. I'm not sure about your specific fixture but I do know there are inserts that can be put into t8 fixtures to convert it to t5. Just not sure where or who makes them.

 

[ian]

On a further note, anyone know much about upgrading T8 bulbs on the standard light bar of a juwel rio 125. I found one product by Arcadia but they don't seem to do it for 125s or I could take the Arcadia Eco LED route but I'm not convinced as I'm yet to see anyone with them and at £79 per bulb it feels a bit of a rip off for what I may or may not be getting. With the main aim of pushing more light into the tank I'm finding this increasingly harder than I first imagined.

have a word with Supercoley regarding the LED's he uses them on his planted tank, i'm sure Arcadia do a light called the OLT which fits over a rio 125...

 

[stevereade]

Thanks guys, just wondered as I have a high tech set up with ferts and co2 but just wanted to know if it will survive in an area that sometimes gets shaded.

 

[JoshuaA]

Thanks guys, just wondered as I have a high tech set up with ferts and co2 but just wanted to know if it will survive in an area that sometimes gets shaded.

As far as I am aware they will just stunt growth and not carpet the tank if they are in shade, according to tropica and my current experience.

have a word with Supercoley regarding the LED's he uses them on his planted tank, i'm sure Arcadia do a light called the OLT which fits over a rio 125...

I did believe I found a company which had light bars in the same design as the Juwel ones however they never did it in my required size.

Regarding the OLT, I would like one however the design of the tank would make it look silly, with the Black support strut which I don't even think looks like its necessary and the wooden surrounding on the top I don't think it would fit well. It would make the tank completely open top as opposed to closed with the light bar.

The LED route seems a way of possibly preserving my current juwel lid design, though an expensive way.

 

[JoshuaA]

I take that back, my dwarf grass in my dull lit tank is starting to sprout, very slowly compared to my higher light one though.