# How to grow drwarf hair grass



## Jsu (Dec 4, 2009)

I would like to know if you need CO2 to grow hair grass and can it be done without CO2 but with flurish excell? Light is 3 watt per gallon.

I was at big als yesterday and I brought 3 pots of dwarf hair grass and 2 pots of dwarf micro swords (not really sure if it is or something else) for 3.99 each. Its listed for 7.99 but since they ran out of the plant that was on special so they use this as a substitdue.


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## arinsi (Mar 14, 2010)

3 watts per gallon is very high lighting

you can use co2
and or ferts to speed it up

but it will grow either way


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

3 WPG is an arbitrary number. How large is your tank, what kind of lighting do you have, etc. For example, 3 WPG of T5HO lighting compared to 3 WPG of T12 lighting would be extremely different. In addition, 3 WPG over a 2.5 gallon tank is very different from 3 WPG in a 90 gallon tank.

Hair grass can grow without CO2 with just Flourish Excel, but you will likely need fertilization as well.


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

arinsi said:


> 3 watts per gallon is very high lighting
> 
> you can use co2
> and or ferts to speed it up
> ...


That's right. It will definitely grow in your tank.
The speed of growth can be different.

You might will see that all existing blades die in a week or two. Don't worry about them, roots are more important.
Do not allow algae grows on your grass, it would be hard to remove.


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## duckyser (Oct 4, 2009)

would shrimp be able to take care of algae on the blades of grass?


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## TBemba (Jan 11, 2010)

Do you need special substrate to grow this stuff?


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## Plaid (Nov 10, 2008)

It seems to be a fan of iron-rich substrate, like flourite, but I have seen it grow in the Hagen GeoSystem standard gravel. So, no, it's not too hard to grow.

And while I'm more of an experimenter than a blind follower, it's a rule of thumb that Darkblade is always right. 

IF you have high light, or even medium light, dwarf hairgrass shouldn't be too hard to grow. I've successfully had it form nicely on Excel, but I had an issue with algae getting in it.

Shrimp seem to enjoy climbing through it, and hopefully can manage algae for you. Excel seems to be a good algae fighter, somehow, though.

Best of luck with your green carpet,
Wes


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## igor.kanshyn (Jan 14, 2010)

duckyser said:


> would shrimp be able to take care of algae on the blades of grass?


Shrimps are not magicians. They are not cleaning algae for you. They just feed themselves. 
They will help, but don't rely on them to much.

GreenHair algae can be removed by hand. Cut all blades that are cover with other algae badly. It's not a problem for plants.
There are some well-know ways to fight with algae. It you see that it's coming, reduce lighting period, make sure that your filter is fine, add CO2, check your fertilization ...

BTW, my big amano shrimps dug hairgrass out from a sand substrate. Shrimps like to dig. Big shrimps dig big holes


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

duckyser said:


> would shrimp be able to take care of algae on the blades of grass?





igor.kanshyn said:


> Shrimps are not magicians. They are not cleaning algae for you. They just feed themselves.
> They will help, but don't relay on them to much.


+1. Shrimp will clean off algae, to a certain extent. Some shrimp (i.e. Amano shrimp) are better than others (i.e. RCS) at cleaning off algae. In addition, shrimp will only take care of certain kinds of algae (i.e. my RCS do not take care of the BBA at all).


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## Jsu (Dec 4, 2009)

Darkblade48 said:


> 3 WPG is an arbitrary number. How large is your tank, what kind of lighting do you have, etc. For example, 3 WPG of T5HO lighting compared to 3 WPG of T12 lighting would be extremely different. In addition, 3 WPG over a 2.5 gallon tank is very different from 3 WPG in a 90 gallon tank.
> 
> Hair grass can grow without CO2 with just Flourish Excel, but you will likely need fertilization as well.


Its a 10 gal tank for shrimps. the lights are T12 (18 watts) and CFL 23 watt. I am using silica sand as substrate with root taps (6 in the tank right now). I got huge windows in my room and theres a decent amount of sunlight that penetrate in. I have 2 filters running, AC 30 and AC 20 both at low flow rate.


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## mointhehouse128 (Feb 7, 2009)

Just wondering, I have a T5-HO Aquarium Light that has 48 watts (it has 2 bulbs) in a 25 gallon tank (24" L x 16" W x 18" H). How much wpg is that approximately?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

mointhehouse128 said:


> Just wondering, I have a T5-HO Aquarium Light that has 48 watts (it has 2 bulbs) in a 25 gallon tank (24" L x 16" W x 18" H). How much wpg is that approximately?


WPG can be calculated as watts divided by the volume of your tank.

48 watts / 25 gallons = 1.92 WPG.

However, this guideline is best avoided unless you are using specifically T12 bulbs. This is because any other type of bulb (such as the T5HO bulb that you have) are much more efficient than T12 bulbs, and as a result, emit a lot more light. This means that 1.92 WPG of T5HO lighting would not be the same as 1.92 WPG of T12 lighting.


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## Jsu (Dec 4, 2009)

Is there any acticles or threads on CFL bulbs? Im currently running a 23 watt daylight bulb with 6500k. also what is the best CFL bulb brand?


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## Darkblade48 (Jan 28, 2008)

Jsu said:


> Is there any acticles or threads on CFL bulbs? Im currently running a 23 watt daylight bulb with 6500k. also what is the best CFL bulb brand?


There is an excellent article that is stickied over at TPT.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/lighting/85667-par-data-spiral-power-saver-bulbs.html

I personally like the Phillips brand of CFL bulbs, as they have the 6500K bulbs that I look for.


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## Jsu (Dec 4, 2009)

Wow. that is one amazing thread. Everyone should read it!


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