[adrianng1996]

any of you guys have experience with hairgrass? can it grow in a low light with DIY co2 and flourish excel? i wanted to get some but i was afraid it might die...

 

[killacross]

you want avg-high lighting for hairgrass to grow...

with the light it will grow just fine with the DIY CO2...I dont use Excel but Im sure it wont hurt anything either...

 

[adrianng1996]

what about dwarf hairgrass? are the requirements the same?

 

[sewingalot]

You can definitely grow dwarf hairgrass in a low tech, low lighting setting: http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/

It just grows slower.

 

[adrianng1996]

but my low light is a very low light...as in 7 watts in a 5.5g...i think thats about 0.78WPG

 

[ItNeverEnteredMyMind]

errr you mean 1.27 WPG?

 

[Darkblade48]

What kind of light are you currently using? You may have more success growing Dwarf Hairgrass if you use a 13 watt CFL bulb instead...

 

[mgamer20o0]

i have some growing fast under a t8 dual fixutre over a 60 gallon tank 8 hours a day. i would bet it can grow with less light then that.

 

[adrianng1996]

hmmm...interesting....the reason i have such a weak lighting is because i keep CRS/CBS...and im in malaysia...so i need the water to be as cool as possible...

 

[lhscouchmonster]

You can definitely grow it using DIY CO2 and flourish excel, flourish, and other individual nutrients. I am getting a nice carpet using a 13w 6.4k desk lamp on a 5.5 gallon tank. I would suggest just buying a screw in light bulb or two and keeping them a little farther from the water if you are worried about heat.

The plant is not going to die from 1.27 wpg but it wont grow nearly as fast as it could.

 

[jreich]

excell never bothered my DHG

 

[mgamer20o0]

hmmm...interesting....the reason i have such a weak lighting is because i keep CRS/CBS...and im in malaysia...so i need the water to be as cool as possible...

the tank i keep mine in doesnt have a heater. i would believe the temps are 60 degrees or less this winter in that tank. more lighting shouldnt heat the tank up much at all. you could also put a fan over the light to move the heat away from the tank.

 

[bigboij]

i have dhg growing very good in my 20h with only 28w t5ho lighting if i keep it cut short it grows thick and puts out lots of runners.

 

[orion2001]

You can definitely grow dwarf hairgrass in a low tech, low lighting setting: http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/

It just grows slower.

Hi there,

I wrote that article for my website a while back and was pleasantly surprised to see it here and I thought I'd quip in with my own experience with DHG .

DHG grows wonderfully even with just Excel as a carbon source. I used Tom Barr's dry start method to grow out the DHG carpet before submersion but it should work either way. Without excel and only as a low-tech tank it started to die out as it was being out competed by other plants in the tank (at least that was my interpretation). I have confirmed this with another person who had a low-tech excel tank with DHG. He too mentioned that his DHG carpet started to die off once he backed off with the excel dosing.

All in all, if you're using Excel for Carbon supplementation, or adding CO2, then DHG will do very well in your tank and grow like a weed. The only challenge is keeping it looking neat and clean. Good luck!

 

[sewingalot]

^^Goes to show you never know who's on this forum. :biggrin: This was such a great article for low-tech that I actually wished you were on the forum to help us out on such tanks. You really show the beauty of lower light tanks. I actually have it bookmarked and refer to it often. Don't be such a stranger. :thumbsup:

 

[trailsnale]

Orion2001,

WOW!!! great article. Thanks for the effort!!!
I'm new to this hobby and you've certainly covered the bases. Much appreciated.

 

[orion2001]

^^Goes to show you never know who's on this forum. :biggrin: This was such a great article for low-tech that I actually wished you were on the forum to help us out on such tanks. You really show the beauty of lower light tanks. I actually have it bookmarked and refer to it often. Don't be such a stranger. :thumbsup:

Thanks a lot for the compliment sewingalot. I still consider myself a noob when it comes to planted tanks. It;s just that when I started, I found lots of info on the forums here and elsewhere but many a times, you are told you should do X Y and Z but it is hard to really understand why, and it becomes a bit of Voodoo where you do things because they are supposed to work but you don't understand why.

So I set out to understand things from the very basics and I spent a good 2-3 months reading up on forum posts and also getting a lot of info from Tom Barr's site and from picking his and other members brains with lots of questions. At the end I felt I had a decent grasp of it all and since I have a terrible memory I decided to write it up before I forgot everything . I think that it is hard to come by a concise yet clear listing of the basics of planted tanks and how various things affect the growth and health of plants and fish in tanks.

This article originally started as a Sticky post over at Ultimatebettas.com and since then I've added a bit more and I decided to post it up on my website to make it more visible to folks. I'm just glad that it is actually useful to people, I know that I'd have loved to get all this basic info in one place in one reading .

Anyways, I have to say I couldn't have done it without all the great info I found here on TPT. So thanks to all the great members , and this is I guess my way to repay my gratitude =). I'll try to pop in from time to time. Unfortunately my planted tank is no more at the moment due to a couple of moves I had to make. I'm waiting to move again and settle down in a place for a while before I start with a bigger75+ Gallon tank