# Dwarf Hair grass not running/growing



## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

I bought some DHG about a month or more ago. And i dont see any progress with it. No runners, no growth, some died but some stayed green. Its in a 10 gallon tank with an aqueon floramax 15 watt t8 light strip & an extra CFL 23 watt 6700k Daylight reflecting bulb on top of that. I also use a DIY yeast/sugar/water CO2 generator, changed recently so output is at full capacity. I am still new to this hobby so im not an expert with fertilizers as I use a DIY gel cap i bought from some people here and some flourish root tabs i bought at petsmart. I also use Aquarium plant food from Aqueon - the liquid one. I put some about 2x a week. Currently my biggest lead to the reason is the hood. Its a black hood.. i plan to buy a glass top so light can reach efficiently. but other than that, the light is directly on the plants. especially the cfl one. its like the plants havent grown at all! i even added more root tabs(diy) under them... why arent they growing?


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

How is it planted? Arguably it sounds like you are doing way more than one generally needs to for DHG.

i have a take out container and DHG sprinkled throughout and a layer of water in a sealed bag over 1 23w 6500k cfl and its been growing like mad. to get that great looking downward curl and redirect the energies into propagation, the hairgrass was cut down 30% at two different stages. runners were abound within days.


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## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

Its planted into gravel.... just normal gravel.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

It just takes time. It will grow in a 10g with just the 23w cf.


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## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

its been 2 months.


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## concepts88 (Oct 4, 2012)

Are you messing with it and moving it? If so. Just leave it alone. 2 month is an awful long time.


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## HybridHerp (May 24, 2012)

has it really been two months?

as I said before, as long as it is still green and not dying it should spread eventually. Idk if the fact that it is belem will make a difference or not, but mine is growing a tad on the slow side as well in my 5.5 under the rayII I have and all...but I know that it IS growing for sure.

You said your substrate is just gravel? Perhaps use more root tabs...I've only ever grown it in dirt myself.

Can you show us a pic of the belem and the substrate? That might help.


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## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

nope. havent touched it. my shrimp do sit on it. snails too.


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## BruceF (Aug 5, 2011)

2 months is not a long time.


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## somewhatshocked (Aug 8, 2011)

Did you separate the plantlets into smaller bunches? Like 3-4 blades per bunch? If you do that - rather than planting it in large clumps - it will be able to spread more quickly.

Beyond that - it won't be able to spread as easily in plain gravel, as it's heavy and not nutrient-rich. But it will definitely grow and spread - just more slowly than it would in something like Aquasoil.


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## DrakeScree (Jan 30, 2013)

I planted some dwarf chain swords maybe 5 months ago. They grow the same way as DHG.

After 2 or 3 months, there was no growth, and my MTS uprooted a lot of it over and over again. On about the end of the 3rd month I noticed tiny blades underneath my gravel. There was a ton of it growing, but it wasnt breaching the surface. It took about 4 months to begin to breach.
I don't use Co2.

So.. maybe you have some subsurface runners.


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## Xiaozhuang (Feb 15, 2012)

DHG isn't that picky; your conditions seem more than adequate. Perhaps if you could provide us with other variables (N,P,K levels ? Temperature, flow) or photos we could do more analysis


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## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

HybridHerp said:


> has it really been two months?
> 
> as I said before, as long as it is still green and not dying it should spread eventually. Idk if the fact that it is belem will make a difference or not, but mine is growing a tad on the slow side as well in my 5.5 under the rayII I have and all...but I know that it IS growing for sure.
> 
> ...


Chris, from looking at the packaging which i still have sitting in my room lol.. Its 4 days short of 2 months. even so I would think that it would grow after a month. As i carefully look at it now.. the tips are turning yellow. and some may have partially died off. Like my crypts are growing faster than the DHG... I do add "ferts" to the gravel. i just put in root tabs yesterday.. but looking at the corner of a flourish root tab its still there.. meaning its not depleted... not to mention the exteme amount of snail and shrimp poop in the gravel... That large amount of fecal matter should provide enough nitrogen. Though now i am carefully examining the tank.. alot of plants started to brown a but... while others flourished. Ludwigia and Wisteria and Valls all growing at extreme rate.. maybe an inch+ a day for the valls. i just trimmed them yesterday to free up some light and space... As for those Dwarf sags i got from you.. i think like maybe 3 out of the 5 you gave me are doing well. and still no sign of the Madagascar lace.

To those who asked for my temperature... it is set at 76. i will get a thermometer sooner or later... Like im more amazed that my amazon swords are growing faster than my dhg... wtf


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## Qwedfg (Mar 7, 2012)

If you have just plain gravel I think that may be your problem. I found that DHG is a heavy root feeder and doesnt do as well if you dont have some sort of enriched substrate or root tabs at minimum. I had DHG in a high tech tank with seachem root tabs and Eco complete and I got poor growth. I switched to eco complete with MGO underneath and the growth was legendary. I would invest in some good root tabs and I think you will see epic growth.

edit

As I said seachem root tabs are pretty much crap. I used them and never saw any great effects from it. I would go with something a little more heavy duty. Depending on the size of your tank I have seen people having good success freezing MGO and using them like root tabs...people sell capsules on SNS that might be easier to work with but more expensive.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

try something fun. take a pinch of dwg and place it in a cup of water, only submerging the roots. put a pinch of dirt from the garden and watch ... if the hair strands are longer than an inch, cut down 1/3.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

try giving it a haircut. I planted DHG about 2 weeks ago in my 29 gallon tank. I let it root and gave it a haircut, it's spreading like crazy now.


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## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

hm... i might just do that.


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

It's worked in two tanks so far. Makes sense if you think about it. Its living, put it at risk by cutting it and it will spread to stay alive.


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## jesseliu13 (Jun 3, 2013)

i trimmed some... now they are turning yellow


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## Italionstallion888 (Jun 29, 2013)

they will, I trimmed mine 2 weeks after I planted, they turned yellow and started to fall over. After a few days new grass was growing in place, and inbetween the clumps I had planted 6 inches apart. I've have no yellow now.


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