# Dwarf Hair-grass turning yellow



## jumpzakjump (Jun 15, 2015)

Dwarf hairgrass tends to lose all of its 'leaves' in the first few weeks after you plant it, and then new growth will come up from the roots. Were the plants in tissue culture before you planted them? Usually this happens when you switch from emerged growth to submerged. That lighting seems more than sufficient to grow a carpet. I wouldn't be too worried just yet. Keep your eye out for new growth coming up!


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## mvshabeer2 (Aug 28, 2016)

Hi
I have got a problem here

Tank - Uncycled
90*45*45 cm (3ft long)
Ada amazonia Soil
DIY CO2 (Citric Acid/BS)
Light 4 x 21w T5 (2 x 6500K and 2x 4000K)
Plants : Dwarf Hairgrass & Rotala Sp Nanjenshan 
Rotala was planted after 10 days

I setup the tank on Oct 1st 2016, I did daily 50% water changes 1st week and 50% every other day on second week, weekly 50% afterwards










Everything went fine until 17th oct 2016- 3rd week; I also installed new canister filter this week (Sunsun 302)










But when I took a picture on 23rd I noticed some of the hairgrass is slowly turning yellow- but still growing; Rotala was fine










I didnt add any fertilizers for 2 weeks; I read that amazonia is enough for first few months. I started dosing florish excel and on 3rd week started using Flourish(Comprehensive)
Before it was pearling a lot, Now I cannot see much pearling.
Also I am in the middle of cycle; I started to get nitrate readings end of 3rd week.
My current readings are 
0.25 ammonia, 1 ppm Nitrite and over 50 to 100 ppm nitrates. I did 70% wc few days ago and nitrates climbed back to 50 again today.

Why is my hairgrass has yellow hue. My possible assumptions


less water changes?
High nitrates?
Flourish/Flourish Excel?
Rotala taking all the nutrients?


What do you think? This is my first tank;


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

mvshabeer2 said:


> Hi
> I have got a problem here
> 
> Tank
> ...


depends on what kind of yellow. Is it a melting yellow? Does it go yellow and then fade to a ghostly yellow? do you have fish in your tank? if not, blast the co2 and see if it stops the spreading of yellow. But once a blade of grass started to melt, it will melt till it dissolves into the water. Maybe like 2-3 weeks for the full process. 

look at the color of your grass blades too. if the green seems dull, a lighter green then add some fertz. healthy blades look like a deep rainforest jungle green.


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

mvshabeer2 said:


> Hi
> I have got a problem here
> 
> Tank - Uncycled
> ...


[*]less water changes? - it wouldn't impact the grass
[*]High nitrates? - prob not at this early stage of your tank
[*]Flourish/Flourish Excel? - if anything, these products should be benifiting the plants
[*]Rotala taking all the nutrients? - theres plenty of nutrients to go around for everybody in the tank

my guess is the CO2 levels and your grass is melting. have you been fiddling with your co2 levels? since the grass just got planted into the tank, it takes about 2-3 weeks for it to adjust to the parameters in the tank. If it detects that the co2 levels are low, it will start melting and once it melts, it will melt all the way till it dies. you just want to make it so that the spread of melting stops. since you ahve no fish, i would say bump up the co2 levels.


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## mvshabeer2 (Aug 28, 2016)

Here are some close ups, I think old leaves are turning yellow
Another change I did on 3rd week is increasing light period from 6 to 8 hours
Do I need to add macro line flourish now (Iron/Pottasium)


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## IntotheWRX (May 13, 2016)

mvshabeer2 said:


> Here are some close ups, I think old leaves are turning yellow
> Another change I did on 3rd week is increasing light period from 6 to 8 hours
> Do I need to add macro line flourish now (Iron/Pottasium)


it is melting. it is the grass adjusting to your water. the yellow blades will continue with their melting till it dies all the way into clear see through noodles. i would put your eye on the co2 levels. make sure they have stable co2. when i say stable, i mean not changing your co2 for a week. find a good level and let it sit for 1-2 weeks. melting is normal in the beginning weeks. if your tank is good, you should start setting growth despite melting is going on at the same time.


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## mvshabeer2 (Aug 28, 2016)

Thanks for the reply; Hope it will get back to the track.
My main worry was it was doing great for 3 weeks and suddenly yellow showed up and stopped pearling. My Co2 level is around 2 bps
Do i need to add ferts at this stage?


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## lksdrinker (Feb 12, 2014)

IntotheWRX said:


> it is melting. it is the grass adjusting to your water. the yellow blades will continue with their melting till it dies all the way into clear see through noodles. i would put your eye on the co2 levels. make sure they have stable co2. when i say stable, i mean not changing your co2 for a week. find a good level and let it sit for 1-2 weeks. melting is normal in the beginning weeks. if your tank is good, you should start setting growth despite melting is going on at the same time.



Nope probably not. Melting is what happens to old growth when a plant gets moved and is typically seen in plants like crypts. The OP clearly has new growth there that is turning yellow so its likely a nutrient deficiency of some sort.....I'm just not sure what nutrient that might be.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

What are the co2 levels? That's a big tank to get consistent co2 from diy. Also I'm not sure about the light what kind of T5 and a 4000k bulb isn't the best.


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## mvshabeer2 (Aug 28, 2016)

houseofcards said:


> What are the co2 levels? That's a big tank to get consistent co2 from diy. Also I'm not sure about the light what kind of T5 and a 4000k bulb isn't the best.


I dont have co2 checker; Light is Total 84 watts - 2x 6500k and 2x 4000k OSRAM T5. (Some other members in this forums have proven it can grow plants)
I might get pressurized system if co2 is the reason; But I suspect
But I wonder why there are no signs in Rotala.


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

mvshabeer2 said:


> I dont have co2 checker; Light is Total 84 watts - 2x 6500k and 2x 4000k OSRAM T5. (Some other members in this forums have proven it can grow plants)
> I might get pressurized system if co2 is the reason; But I suspect
> But I wonder why there are no signs in Rotala.


I had a similar size tank and I ran 192 watts T5HO over it and grew extremely healthy DHG and HC. It was two 96watt bulbs. The 2nd set I only ran for 2 hrs. This gave the ground cover high light, but didn't have a huge effect on algae. 

There's growth and there's growth. If you lighting is marginal then very good co2 would help. You should really measure you co2 and see where you are. I would also dose K and Flourish/micros just to cover your bases.


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## mvshabeer2 (Aug 28, 2016)

Do I need only K and flourish micros


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