Dwarf Hairgrass Lighting?

[XeroTolerance]

Hello,

I have a 10 gallon tank and I am currently trying to produces a thick carpet of dwarf hairgrass. I know the basis of growing aquatic plants are lighting, substrate, and co2. I have the co2 and the substrate (well... my substrate is gravel but I decided to use root tabs to hopefully cancel it out a bit). For the co2 I set up a DIY and I am also dosing liquid fertilizer.

I just need to figure out my lights! The only plants I have in the tank are dwarf hairgrass and one java fern. As I mentioned my goal is to achieve a carpet of dwarf hairgrass. Here are my questions.

1) What type of lights should I use? (I do not have a strip hood)

2) How many wpg? (I know that is just a guideline, not an exact rule)

3) Anything else I should know?

Thank you very much

 

[meejo]

I'd be interested in the optimum set up for growing dwarf hairgrass too, I have some coming soon and am hoping to acheive the same result on a bigger scale, sorry op not an answer, just a +1

 

[XeroTolerance]

No problem!

In fact I just bought two 10 watt compact florescent light bulbs that are 5,000k. They really brighten up the aquarium! What I was using before I have no idea how any plant could grow in that.

 

[Craig89]

From some research I have done hair grass like medium to high light if you were going to use the WPG as a guideline then 2wpg is classed as high tech

 

[XeroTolerance]

Thanks! Then in that case I bought high-tech lights.

I am pretty sure my 10 gallon can support it because in addition to the lights I also have DIY Co2 two different liquid supplements, and root tabs.

 

[Craig89]

Should be all good

 

[XeroTolerance]

Ok thanks for your help!

 

[buffmaxwell]

I might be able to help with this. Although I'm new to planted tanks. I'm also doing dhg carpet. I have a 10 gallon and I'm currently running 58 watts, co2, and seachem flourish. I've had my dhg in the tank about 2 to 3 weeks and it's already spreading and throwing out runners like crazy. Also you might wanna check into ei dosing.

There's a guy on YouTube who goes by kyfishguy who has a lot of helpful videos on hairgrass and ei dosing.

Hope this helps

 

[XeroTolerance]

I might be able to help with this. Although I'm new to planted tanks. I'm also doing dhg carpet. I have a 10 gallon and I'm currently running 58 watts, co2, and seachem flourish. I've had my dhg in the tank about 2 to 3 weeks and it's already spreading and throwing out runners like crazy. Also you might wanna check into ei dosing.

There's a guy on YouTube who goes by kyfishguy who has a lot of helpful videos on hairgrass and ei dosing.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the info! Are you using pressurized Co2? I was thinking about if it was worth it or not. Right now I am running 20 watts, diy co2, flourish tabs, liquid co22 booster, and liquid leaf thing. After I started doing this I saw some runners so maybe I will eventually get there!

 

[buffmaxwell]

i have diy co2 as well but for some reason mine puts out pretty decent pressure somehow. ive been experimenting with different diffusers right now. i think if you can afford to go the pressurized co2 route im sure its more effective but ive heard its also pretty expensive too.

 

[ian]

as with any other plant, it's not about how strong the light is...stronger light just means the plants will grow quicker, which in turn puts more pressure on the plant for C02, n and p etc etc.

It's also important to get flow right around the hairgrass to ensure its getting the nutrients it needs.

 

[DrRob]

and it tends to clog up with algae if the flow isn't good.

 

[SikkAquariums]

I was using a Tetra Flourish for my plants, havent done hairgrass yet, but will be experimenting with and moss in coming month. The right substrate helps and so does co2, i have heard a lot on diy, and i actually think im going to try these "diy" style ones online on amazon, that are predone, you mix em up, screw on the lid and their it goes. And I will be doing this on a larger scale as well as I have a 75gallon, half hardscape, half aquascape.