[dariwalus]

Hey guys,

Just joined the forum. New to aquarium world let alone the planted aquarium. Have a 55 gallon tank with a rocky gravel substrate. No CO2 and rather not get into that right now.I wanted to see if i can grow DHG belem carpet on that substrate. Is that possible? where would be best place to buy some to start with? Appreciate the help.

Thx

 

[Seattle_Aquarist]

Hi dariwalus,

Welcome to TPT! You won't typically find DHG 'Belem' at the LFS; checking the For Sale / Trade or ROAK sub-forums here at TPT would be your better bet. If you want you could post a 'WTB' (want to buy) post and folks with it will contact you.

 

[dariwalus]

Thanks !!!

 

[hunterlook]

Depending on the size of your gravel, the DHG may not hold. Although, I have the same stuff as my substrate and my grasses usually hold just fine and grow a quite extensive root system in a matter of days. If you have issues, check out plant anchors, those should help quite a bit!

 

[In.a.Box]

try petsmart

 

[Couesfanatic]

Petsmart carries regular dwarf hairgrass. Never seen Belem there.

 

[Couesfanatic]

Well it looks like I am eating my words here. I went to Petsmart tonight and they had the regular dwarf hairgrass packaging, but i'm pretty sure its actually belem in there. It was only an inch or two long.

 

[chevyguy8893]

Well it looks like I am eating my words here. I went to Petsmart tonight and they had the regular dwarf hairgrass packaging, but i'm pretty sure its actually belem in there. It was only an inch or two long.

I'm pretty sure the petsmart tissue culture hairgrass is eleocharis parvula. I have some of it from those packages growing emersed at 3-4" tall.

 

[Couesfanatic]

did it start out really short? I have seen belem that grows 3 to 4 inches emersed.

look at this thread: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=194472

Heres the one at Petsmart tonight:

 

[mythin]

i have belem growing emersed in low light and its still only 2 inches max length and still grows curly downwards towards the substrate. i also have belem in a low light shrimp tank and its still alive, it grows really slow in there, but still stays shorts and spreads, just slowly.

petsmarts is just regula dwarf hairgrass, just short because its still growing, it will reach the length that dwarf hairgrass reaches (1-2" more than belem).

 

[Axelrodi202]

My emersed Belem usually never even reaches 2 inches.

 

[mythin]

yeah exactly my point, mine is probably 1.5 inches at its longest if that, but I gave it up to 2 max lol. dhg gets a lot longer.

 

[Couesfanatic]

I've been growing the stuff for years. It does get over two inches at times. The only time I see it is when it is really thick. It grows longer when it gets thick to get more light. You guys probably are not letting it get thick enough.

Seems Tom agrees with me as well:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?p=2707282&highlight=#post2707282