Hair grass melting

[ah tong]

Hi guys,

I've just finished setting up a 4ft two weekends ago. Currently all other plants are doing well, except my Hairgrass. They are melting.
I positioned them at the same location as E.Tenellus which are growing fine.

Here are my tank parameters:

lights:216W PL (from NA) for 6hrs per day
Base fert: Sera brand 3 tubs
gravel: Forgot brand (22kgx2bags) Also from NA
ph 6.5
kh 3
Temp: 28-29C
Filter: External cannister Atman 3338
CO2 at 3bps
Liquid fert: Holding off till this weekend.

Does the way i plant affect ?
I use twizzers and shoved them HG 5-6 strands in a bunch way down into the substrate.

Thanks in advance

[chua]

I heard that hairgrass are sensitive to the lack of PO4.

Since our tape water do not contain PO4 (very little if have) and you are not dosing any of it, it may be the reason.

[hwchoy]

you didn't say how big your tank is. 216W is a lot of light, good. but 2 bags of lonestar is way too much, how thick is your gravel? especially considering you only have 3 tubs of Sera! Nevertheless your HG should be able to grow with good lights and good CO2.

you planting method is OK, they should grow. what about bioload?

[bclee]

It might just be the initial die off when it tries to adapt to submersed growth. Give it some time a see what happen.

BTW is there any new shoots emerging?

BC

[Fei Miao]

For hairgrass inital die off after planting is quite normal

I experienced inital die off after trimming also, wondering if anyone have this as well?.

.nowadays I don't trim them at all!

[ah tong]

Hi guys!

Thanks for the response.

will look into the PO4 top up.

Sorry choy, forgot to add my tank size 4ftx1.5ftx2ft(ht)
My gravel plus substrates are about 3 inches thick at the front and 5 inches thick at the back.
Current bioload: minimal, only 2 oto, one yamato and one cherry shrimp, all surviving well. Going to top up 50 cardinals this weekend from Gans

So far there aren't any new sprouts coming out, however the tenellus are doing just fine so are the Blyxa Japonicas.

[bclee]

I really don't think PO4 is the cause of the problem... NO3 maybe...

It took my HG 3 weeks to 1 month before it shows any sign of growth. Be a little more patient.

BC

[hwchoy]

[quote:f06ae1624f="ah tong"]Hi guys!

Thanks for the response.

will look into the PO4 top up.

Sorry choy, forgot to add my tank size 4ftx1.5ftx2ft(ht)
My gravel plus substrates are about 3 inches thick at the front and 5 inches thick at the back.
Current bioload: minimal, only 2 oto, one yamato and one cherry shrimp, all surviving well. Going to top up 50 cardinals this weekend from Gans

So far there aren't any new sprouts coming out, however the tenellus are doing just fine so are the Blyxa Japonicas.[/quote:f06ae1624f]

light is not considered high you only have 216W over 85 gallons. gravel is rather too thick averaging 7cm. You mentioned 2 packs of lonestar which is about 40litres. Gravel of 1-inch thickness would suffice. Base fert should be thicker around 2-inches. If you shove your grass ALL the way into such a thick substrate it'll probably take them a while to find their way out, if they survive that long.

[ah tong]

choy, bclee,

Thanks guys! some of them are having little new sprouts coming out.
Will be heading for Teos again this weekend to plant more HG and Gans to introduce 50 cardinals.