Unhealthy Hairgrass

[alechim]

Roger. Will continue to monitor and see how. Thanks!

[KeIgO86]

I notice you have ADA charcoal in your filter. Perhaps it is absorbing your nitrates?

[alechim]

not so sure though. Will monitor

[torque6]

Jervis has a close up on his A&A tank, his using larger grains and have a good close shot of the runners. Can check it out.

[bubberls™]

is your lighting regime still 12 hrs?

cut back on lighting... i know it might sound like "What ?? less light??? "

Create a siesta period... plants do need to rest like us...

Had some browning on my HC lawn... not sure if you see it as the same problem but i cut back my lighting by an hour and increased the siesta period.

After a week there is a visible difference.

read in some sites " There is never too much light " .... i don't agree in that...
most prob HG are getting a sunburn........

[torque6]

I usually leave my light regime no more than 8hrs daily, though im not sure how bad alechim HGs are, but mine = slow growth and i have been trying for a HG lawn since nov last year

[KeIgO86]

Just to share, my lighting is 12 hours straight, and my jap HG is growing fine. 55w over 2x1x1. HG are pearling, though its not thick enough to be considerred a lawn yet.

[uklau]

sigh, so problems lies with both of us.. So sad lol.

You guys are not alone. This is my 2nd attempt with Japanese HG on Seachem Onyx. 1st attempt was in a medium light tank & this round is in a high light tank. Still not growing well.
So, it could be substrate issue for my case.

[alechim]

update since last Fri, signs are my HG are doing better after the change of fert regime. The brownings disappeared and old leaves are turning fresher green.

[alechim]

Alas the HG not doing well. My pair of German Ram just spawned over the weekend

[blue33]

If i'm not wrong ADA brighty K is potassium also, every alternate day you got to add potassium(plant need it to create photosynthesis), depending on the need of your plants, plant calculator can only give you guidance but each plant consume nutrients differently. For me i will based on the plants to tell me what they lack off before i add more. You need additional 24W light, but cut short the hr to 8-9hrs of photoperiod. HG needs strong light although low light still can grow, also you can trim slightly more, than trimming the tips only to get them grow wild. If you have alot of fauna, or if you have feed more fish food, then you dont really need to supply nitrate and phosphate, as those will provide enough. What you need to supply is potassium and micro nutrients. Alot of us have feed too much nutrients or ferts to the plant causing algae bloom and death to fauna/plant or so, including me. Hope it helps!

[Verminator]

Havnt been following this thread 100% but i've read enough to comfortably suggest something.

Regardless of dosing of ferts i'd suggest a routine for lights. I do 5 hours on, 2 hours off and another 5 hours on. My lights are on 10am 3pm, from 5pm till 4pm siesta, 5pm till 10pm i have my lights on again. I've certainly noticed a big difference in how my plants are growing. Certainly using T5 high lights i noticed with 10 hours straight there was browning on my leaves, after a week of this new regime its clearing up. Hope this helps.

[alechim]

Thanks for the many suggestions.

Blue33 - Brighty K is potassium but I had since stopped dosing ADA ferts and went back to Lushgro. So far so good I will say. But still not as well.

Verminator - I will try out your suggestion as well. Thanks

[torque6]

Lushgro is actually a good choice, however determining the dose is more discerning than that of seachem line of ferts. I have tried deriving a target of 20ppm of KNO3 with lushgro, but seems to overdose on other trace elements.

[Shadow]

yeah that is always the problem with all in one ferteliser. So sad that KNO3 become control item.

[alechim]

Lushgro is actually a good choice, however determining the dose is more discerning than that of seachem line of ferts. I have tried deriving a target of 20ppm of KNO3 with lushgro, but seems to overdose on other trace elements.

Yup I notice that too. So I strike a balance and do a 50% wc to reduce the ferts in the water column once a week to "reset" the tank. So far notice the new leaves are growing fine except for the old leaves which are still brown or dark green.

Well fingers crossed. Else if nothing does turns out well, I am sure after all these trials and errors I will be able to do a better job next time

[blue33]

yeah that is always the problem with all in one ferteliser. So sand that KNO3 become control item.

Hi! If you have high fish load like me, you dont really need to dose KNO3, fish poo is more than enough. And i get mass plant growth, though slight dose of KNO3 makes plant grow WILD...

[alechim]

I am getting 20ppm after I dose the fert. So it should be okie unless I try to maintain 30ppm..

[k3nlim]

The HG seems to grow quite abit (although not spreading like wildfire yet) for my newly started tank (no fishes). No fert regime and lights are 2X24W T5HO and magicsoil.

[StanChung]

I think add more light. 48W for a 2ft tank is just adequate. I have 230W on my 3ft 4x30W, 2X55W-8hours and they are growing well-pearling!

My fert routine. Twice weekly K and Step 2 as per manufacturer's recommendation and ECA squirts in between together with Green Gain. Soil is Amazonia.

As I understand it, the old leaves/needles are browning. This is natural, just trim it. Hope this helps.

Cropped from one of my full tank pics.


Just to add that this was achieved in 2 months.