Stargrass, a new entry as a foreground plant?

[YES]

hi all..
received an email recently asking me how to grow stargrass as a carpet floor plant. well, I told him that u must have a low-moderate light for ur stargrass. just to check is there anyone else also has try stargrass as a foreground plant using only low-moderate light?..

below are my stargrass carpet floor effect for more than 6 months liao.





close-up

[Mortadelo]

That beautiful!.

How many watts/gallon in that aquarium?. How do you prune it?, how often?.

I heard Dutch aquarists do something similar.

Greetings.

[spilopterus]

Yeah, it looks very nice! where do you get it from? Details, details, details..

[Goondoo]

Just wondering if this is the star grass you are refering to. It can grow up to 30cm, do you have to trim very often?

Star Grass

[joe]

Star grass grows quite tall. Is yours the one that Goondoo mention?

[lorba]

Very nice!

I've grown stargrass as carpet too, but under 3W/G. They get very thick quickly.
Now I move the bush to the side of the tank and they are more midground than foreground.

How I grow:
-----------
Cut a long stem into 2 - 3 pieces of 5cm+. Shove them into the gravel half way and space them out. With good condition and presummingly strong light (for my case), they grow sideway, thickly.

[joe]

Anyone grow Stargrass as background?

[Mortadelo]

Hmmmm, I think YES keeps it in medium to low light because high light would make keeping this fast growing plant short a pain in the a...
It grows too fast in optimun conditions.

[wynx]

Stargrass= Zosterfolia?

[cyberjoe]

Yes

can give the name of the lfs to buy this nice plant

[cyberjoe]

Yes

can give the name of the lfs to buy this nice plant

[joe]

Keong Seng have some but need to order. Bishan Blk 503 also has a few when I went there yesterday.

[anttz]

Saw some at a display tank at LFS @ hougang ST 21 but can't find any for sale. I think need to order if interested.

[juggler]

Chee Hean: Nice effect! When you first tried it, I thought it wouldn't succeed. Because in my experience, the plant grew too fast or upwards. Maybe my light is too strong at about 4.5W/g. Looks like your method works! Too bad I have since given up Star Grass (Heteranthera zosterifolia).



More discussion of Star Grass growing joy and pains at these threads:

pics of my Stargrass tank...
Star Grass not growing well

[anttz]

YES,

Can you provide details of your parameter. Many thanks.

[Allen_1971]

KF,

wahahaha now thats what I call a pile of stargrass....

[juggler]

...and with the Angels and Discus seemingly looking in wonder.

[chbak014]

i use star grass as my forground plant. i have a carpet of it going. in my tank i have about 2.75w/g. all i do is trim the grass every week. it is a fast grower. so, if you want carpet, prepare to trim like a mofo. but, in my case i get to trade my plants or auction them off. hehehe. but yes, good luck with the carpet. i think it is different and innovative. also, you gotta trim it low because if you let it grow to much, then the lower plants will rot and die due to lack of light.
-charley

[YES]

hi all.. thanks for ur comments.

well, Im using 90W of light for this 3ft tank (around 2W/G) considered low-medium light. Temp around 28deg. I have not try adding more light bcos I afraid it will grow very fast and upwards if it is in high light condition. Need to add liquid fertilzer everyweek if not the leaves will turn pale yellow. For the past 6months, I only trim it a few times bcos the 1-3 months it melts quite often and after the condition is stable it just grow sideway and thicker (see below pic for comparsion) and occasionally there always some melting leaves thus it does not require much trimming.

I got the stargrass from Ah Pek. if anyone of u want some to try, just pm me ur contact. thanks

[YES]

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On 2/27/2003 2:06:58 PM

i use star grass as my forground plant. i have a carpet of it going. in my tank i have about 2.75w/g. all i do is trim the grass every week. it is a fast grower. so, if you want carpet, prepare to trim like a mofo. but, in my case i get to trade my plants or auction them off. hehehe. but yes, good luck with the carpet. i think it is different and innovative. also, you gotta trim it low because if you let it grow to much, then the lower plants will rot and die due to lack of light.
-charley
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hi charley.. thanks for sharing.. will take note since the stargrass is more thicker now.. cheers