10 Gallon - Hairgrass and Cherries

[Bazurk]

Hey Everybody!

This is a tank that I started about 4 months ago. 3 months between planting (2nd pic) and 5th pic. It's pretty low budget for an Iwagumi style tank, but it's my first attempt at it and I wanted to see how it would go. So far so good.

It has Tahitian Moon black sand, Zebra rock, Dwarf Hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis?), Zoo Med 501 canister filter, paintball tank CO2 setup with a glass diffuser, Cherry Shrimp, 1 Amano Shrimp, and 1 Mandarin shrimp.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

[Lee04]

Amazing plant growth, and very vibrant green!
How many bps are you running? Any ferts/excel/etc.?
I'm currently trying to grow hairgrass like this in my own ten gallon.

[crimsonbull57]

Looks great! Do you know how long it took from when you first planted to your last picture? Nice work!

[shrimp pliskin]

Great setup. Need bigger rocks!

[Bazurk]

Originally Posted by Lee04

Amazing plant growth, and very vibrant green!
How many bps are you running? Any ferts/excel/etc.?
I'm currently trying to grow hairgrass like this in my own ten gallon.

Thanks Lee04!
I usually run about 1 bps, that's all it really needs to get pearling for my set up. I also dose it with a cap full of excel after every 30% water change, which I do once a week. Other than that, I don't add much. At one point I was dosing Seachem flourish every few days but it was giving me algae growth, so I stopped that and its been clean ever since. I dosed with Iron one time and that added to my algae problems too lol, so I figure from now on I'll go by the plant color. If it starts yellowing, then I'll start dosing again.

Are you going to do a full carpet in your tank as well?

[acitydweller]

simply beautiful. that could be my new windows background

[Bazurk]

Originally Posted by crimsonbull57

Looks great! Do you know how long it took from when you first planted to your last picture? Nice work!

Thanks crimsonbull57! Ya, it took about 3 months from the second pic to the last. The second pic is where I first planted. I took the last pic just a few days ago, so I'll probably update this journal with another pic in about a month. I'm actually planning on trimming it pretty soon so that it grows in fuller for next time, and hopefully adding some bigger rocks as well. I'm glad you like it, Thanks for checking it out.

[Bazurk]

Originally Posted by shrimp pliskin

Great setup. Need bigger rocks!

Thanks shrimp pliskin! I'm planning on adding Seiryu stones in the future. I just need to find a hookup somewhere over here in the so-cal area

[Lee04]

Originally Posted by Bazurk

Are you going to do a full carpet in your tank as well?

Yep, that's the plan! Thank you for the co2 and dosing info.

I'm seeing some success in my carpet after getting past a brown algae issue.
Here is a picture of the grass in my ten gallon.
I was working on it the day I took the picture, so it's a bit cloudy.

[radioman]

Very nice. Bigger rocks would look good but the smaller rocks also look great and help with the simple feeling of this tank. Good job.

[GMYukonon24s]

Nice grass.

[jamesyu]

considering there's no ferts in the sand, i'm amazed at the growth this has gotten in 3 months -- especially with Tahiti moon sand, isn't that sand inert?

[Bazurk]

Originally Posted by Lee04

Yep, that's the plan! Thank you for the co2 and dosing info.

I'm seeing some success in my carpet after getting past a brown algae issue.
Here is a picture of the grass in my ten gallon.
I was working on it the day I took the picture, so it's a bit cloudy.

Attachment 44769

Awesome! No problem.. Your tank looks good!
You know, what I found to be the secret to growing hairgrass is the trimming. The closer you cut it to the substrate, the better.

[Bazurk]

Originally Posted by radioman

Very nice. Bigger rocks would look good but the smaller rocks also look great and help with the simple feeling of this tank. Good job.

Thank you
I actually moved some of the rocks closer together to give it a more natural looking feel, I'll upload the pic of it in a few minutes.

[Bazurk]

Originally Posted by jamesyu

considering there's no ferts in the sand, i'm amazed at the growth this has gotten in 3 months -- especially with Tahiti moon sand, isn't that sand inert?

It is inert. To be honest, I'm just as surprised as you are that its managing to grow. I'm guessing that what made it possible for the grass to get rooted and soak up nutrients with such a substrate is that there is a lot of Malaysian trumpet snails in the tank as well, burrowing and aerating the substrate, and leaving fertilizer behind for the grass to soak up. But that's just my guess on it..