# Dwarf Hairgrass Growth



## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

My guess is you need to fertilize, and that's probably why you have an algae issue. A photo period of four hours a day seems really low to me...


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## fishykid1 (Apr 5, 2010)

no ferts??? in a high tech setup, algae problem waiting to happen IMO.


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## ambchang (Mar 15, 2010)

Sorry, I meant 6 hours, I cut the lights down by 4 hours.

What kind of ferts should I use then?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 4, 2008)

Yes, you will definitely need to fertilize in a tank like this.

Please take a look at the planted tank primer that I have linked to in my signature. In it, I go over the different fertilizers that are available, and my preferred method of dosing fertilizers (using the bulk, dry chemicals). In addition, more links are also available so that you can do more reading on the subject matter.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

Darkblade48 said:


> Please take a look at teh planted tank primer that I have linked to in my signature. In it, I go over the different fertilizers that are available, and my preferred method of dosing fertilizers (using the bulk, dry chemicals). In addition, more links are also available so that you can do more reading on the subject matter.


Darkblade writes very informative articles! roud:


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## TheVisionary78 (Mar 6, 2010)

Are there two different species of this dwarf hairgrass? The reason I ask is I ordered dwarf hairgrass form www.liveaquaria.com and it was a slow grower. In fact I would say this plant never grew. PERIOD. About a month later I ordered it again but from a different company www.aquabotanic.com and this stuff grew so fast that it carpeted my tank to the point were I actually need to remove some and chuck it.


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## jay52 (Apr 19, 2010)

One bubble of CO2 every 2 seconds isn't going to get it done, and will explain your BBA.


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## rhdedert (Aug 11, 2009)

If you want to really fill it in fast, throw the fish in another tank and grow it emmersed for a bit.


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## Hyzer (Mar 9, 2010)

I ordered my dwarf hairgrass from liveaquaria.com. It was shipped from Illinois to California.

When I first planted it, I trimmed it considerably because I was told the existing blades would not grow in the new environment. Sure enough, it all died. I suggest trimming it more than I did (see picture). I tried to leave one clump at original length without success. However, within a few days some new blades started shooting up between the old. Now it is doing well and spreading quickly.

Once it comes time to trim, be careful. When I trimmed too many blades at once, they all died and I started the process again.

I am using diy co2, small amounts of micro/macro ferts, and moderate-high light intensity.

3-17-10








5-24-10


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## MiSo (Oct 26, 2005)

you need to start big to get a full carpet. 

i bought maybe 10 pots and planted as sparingly as i could. it still wasn't enough to get great coverage.
i used ferts and pc lighting and it still took atleast a year and a half before it covered the whole tank.

oh... and i tried the trimming thing and for me, it seemed to stunt growth.


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## ambchang (Mar 15, 2010)

Thanks guys. I have put in a new batch of yeast, added some liquid ferts, and the DHG is growing well. New blades shooting up, greener colours, but the speed of growth is still nowhere close to what I thought it would be.

I am going to do another DIY and link the two together, giving the tank more CO2.

Algae is dying down as well, so I am guessing the amount of light is about right. With more ferts and CO2, I am looking to have better growth.


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## Captivate05 (Feb 23, 2010)

I bought one pot and didn't trim it at all. It's filling in beautifully, and has good cover. You just have to give it some time, light, co2, and ferts. Either that, or I just got lucky.


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## tigerbarbs (Dec 12, 2010)

*live aquaria rocks*

Ok, I am on the same mission... I want a carpet like...last month... but I need to wait... so do you! ... unless you buy 40 plants... 

I have a 33 gallon tank 51 critters living in it, good nitrates nitrites ph hardness alk ect... co2 reactor 280 watts light for a 9.333 watt per gallon ratio and I have great growth, I bought 15 DHairGrass from liveaquaria AND the std plant pack for a 100 gal. tank 186$ us total... all are in my 33 gallon planted in 1.5 inch deep fluorite black sand substrate. my plants are growing sooo fast that steady streams of Oxygen pour off the plants.... THEY ARE HAPPY!!! I do not use ferts, and my lights/co2 are on 12 hours a day. algae cleanup with weekly water changes ... easy ...

I have lots of runner groth on my DHG and still I see its gonna take a while... good progress but Im guessing after 1 month of growth its gonna take 6-10 months for a real TRUE CARPET trust me, I have spent thousands on my tank and it is truely amazing... you just have to wait a while...!!! or buy more!!! thats easy easy ebay !!!!

I love my fish, and I need to buy 20 more DHG to fill up my 30 gal faster... then again Im a gold miner, so 3000 on fish is not really a big deal... even in this economy.... lol!!! get gold, not gold fish!:icon_excl


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

DHG grows pretty fast once it gets a couple runners going. My guess is that CO2 and ferts are lacking somewhat.

I think 1-2 bps sounds low for a 30 gallon tank. How are you diffusing?

In addition to good water column dosing, it seems to spread faster with some substrate ferts. Once the carpet gets thick, it's a pain to sink root tabs into it, as you can't really easily see if they're under the substrate. I always put a few root tabs near it when I plant it, then don't worry about substrate ferts once it fills in.

I was able to carpet my 65 gallon in a little over 3 months initially from 3 pots. The more it spreads, the faster it spreads,(Did I write that in a way that makes sense?) so once it starts filling in, it really takes off.

If you were to raise your lights up to a point where they were 24 inches or a little more over the substrate, you could probably run them 8-9 hours without algae problems. This seems to be the best tradeoff between plant growth and algae stimulation from my experience. I run the same lighting over my 65 gallon which is 24" tall. You really have alot of light for a tank that size, so good CO2 and ferts are a must if you want good plant growth, and don't want to be scraping the glass or fighting BBA all the time. Fish poop is not sufficient in high light tanks, and often you'll end up lacking some nutrients even in a lower light tank as some minerals etc. are present in limited amounts in fish food (what is there ends up being part of a fish).

When you buy DHG from a supplier it usually comes with emersed growth, which will brown off in the first few weeks, but new blades will quickly replace the old. (Emersed blades have little buds at the end). Breaking up the clumps when you plant will help it spread faster and good water flow at the tank bottom will help keep garbage from accumulating in it as the carpet gets thicker. You can break DHG into really small pieces and it will grow just fine. Sometimes you'll get runners growing out into the water column after planting. Just cut them off and stick them in the ground somewhere to start filling in from that spot also.


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## bcosta08is (Sep 14, 2010)

I also ordered mine from liveaquaria.com. 12 pots of it! It took 2 nights to seperate it all into 5-10 strand clumps and I cut a good inch inch/half off the top and also trimmed the roots a little. Planted them all about a couple CM apart. I tried doing them emersed but after a week I started getting a white mold type substance on them so I flooded the tank. Within a week I had runners and now I am about a month down the line I have to trim it every week or two b/c it grows 3-4 inches high a week and has been spreading quicker than I would like it to  I have a 55 gallon tank, Aquasoil Amazonia 2, pressurized CO2, 2X 55 watt T5HO bulbs on for 8 hours, and I dose the EI method with a little less KNO3 (1/4 instead of 1/2 tsp).


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