Hair grass

[squall99e]

Hi i recently grow hair grass as a foreground plant for my 4ft tank. BBA started to grow on the hair grass, however i notice that the plant is bubbling when i cut away the BBA parts. I am sure that the hairgrass is growing at a slow rate.
Qsn1
Asking those who have grow hair grass before, how long does the hair grass adjust to the water condition. Heard that most hairgrass sold are emergent.
Qsn2
Is BBA normal on the initial growth? The hair grass are 3weeks planted?
[]

[hwchoy]

these algae are dark green and fluffy right? don't think it is BBA, should be hair algae. where they grow in bright lights they are pale to rich green. Yamatoes love to stuff their greedy little face with these (at least those that I got from Biotope behave so).

[juggler]

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On 3/3/2003 10:11:54 PM

Hi i recently grow hair grass as a foreground plant for my 4ft tank. BBA started to grow on the hair grass, however i notice that the plant is bubbling when i cut away the BBA parts. I am sure that the hairgrass is growing at a slow rate.
Qsn1
Asking those who have grow hair grass before, how long does the hair grass adjust to the water condition. Heard that most hairgrass sold are emergent.
Qsn2
Is BBA normal on the initial growth? The hair grass are 3weeks planted?
[]

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I posted a pic of the algae that was growing on my HG. I think it is Brush algae but HWChoy says it is Hair algae. See this thread. Anyway, let's move on to tackle the algae.

Yes. HG is slow growing. And needs more light.
For my case, the emersed plant I bought from Teo's Farm grew well for about half year. No algae.
After that I failed to take care of it and somehow this algae started appearing. I snip and remove infected parts but that did not help at all. It could be due to bloodworms I had been feeding my fish and infrequent water change/ fertilisation. The malayan shrimps in there were not eating the algae. At that point, I decided to fight against this algae rather than tearing down the tank or removing the HG.
This was what I did:
1) weekly water change 50%, sometimes twice a week.
2) weekly dosing of 20ppm K using K2SO4.
3) daily dosing of trace elements.
4) Before this I noticed some deformities in my Hornwort and so I used some coral chips in the filter compartment. That solved the problem. It's also a source of Ca and Mg since I don't dosed this.
OK. After one month of this regime and I noticed improved growth in the HG. They are growing longer and spreading more. The algae took a backseat. Good. I also trimmed away some of the stubborn algae that had grown on the Bacopa. But I never touch the HG.
Then one day I decided to siphon nearer the substrate and [wow!] many of the algae had actually came loose and I could suck them away. Now the tank is so much cleaner. Still have traces of the algae but not no more as bad as before.

Lesson learnt: if the plants are healthy and happy, the algae will go away slowly.

[PEPSI]

I just planted my whole 4ft tank with hair grass 3-4 weeks ago, but i realise my hair gass has been shorten then when i fist planted it. It seemed to be like is had been sniped off by anti-algae crew. Is it possible ? Cos only my anti-algae crew hanged on the bottom, such as yamato, malayan and SAE. Or anyone noe the reason ? Thankz

[hwchoy]

juggler, my rule for algae, if it is greenish (even though very dark green) and fluffy (like furball) I consider hair algae, and I notice SAE and yamatoes like to eat them. I can actually see the yamatoes grabbing bundles of fur and shoving them into their mouths.

those BLACK wire-like or stubble-like (guys look at your chin in the morning) I call them BBA [:] never seen anything eat those.

and HG slow growing!! 1-inch high in 2 days and 4 weeks to cover the entire 3ft tank! perhaps should really pump in the CO2 and light, see how.

[FC]

Just to share my fond for this plant.

It is the only foreground plant that I know allows rough handling during vacuuming. During vacuuming, I would press the python flatly on them and all the dirt under them would just be sucked without disturbing the gravel at all! It is also a low manitenance plant that require minimum attention (pruning).

[juggler]

Right. I have never uproot any HG for a year already.

[hwchoy]

my hg grew so think even shrimps have problem getting down to the gravel, siphoning also will not suck up anything! []

[FC]

hychoy,

I have the same dense that you described. Try using python (not plain hose) and press it with some pressure on the plant, you would be amazed[:0], no kidding .

[SleepyAries]

hi guys..

just an info i've learnt from curing hair algae....

i've had hair algae growing out from my moss some weeks back. I ask some well known LFS n they gave mi this advise,"not enough iron...put more iron fert or drop some iron tablets into the tank..."
i tried n gald to say...it worked for mi. hair algae reduces n my moss is growing again....hope this helps in some way or another..

thanks...

J.J

[hwchoy]

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On 3/4/2003 3:31:05 PM

hychoy,

I have the same dense that you described. Try using python (not plain hose) and press it with some pressure on the plant, you would be amazed[:0], no kidding .
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I AM amazed! what is a PYTHON!!

[tawauboy]

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what is a PYTHON!!
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water changing device.
popular in the states.

[Plantbrain]

You folks might want to comb your hair......grass.
A larger toothed comb is very effective tool for cleaning detritus and algae from the grass.

Hair grass is my favorite since I don't need to prune it much. I do cut pieces of sod out every few months and let the remaining parts grow and fill back in.

It does well in cooler temps, lots of light and CO2/O2.

It's done best in low bio loads and leaner tanks but I've done well with lots of shrimps etc also.

Pipe cleaners are also good for removal of hair algae, generally Cladophora(you'll see branching).

Regards,
Tom Barr

[hwchoy]

tried combing, too thick, I mean even shrimps and SAE had to struggle to get to the gravel. Now I actually couldn't see any gravel, couldn't insert fert sticks, and there is no way to plant anything else (substrate is chock full of HG roots and runners!)

[FC]

Thanks for further information.

hychoy,

try the vacuum tube (python) but reduce the flow, it will remove those debris hide under them real good. fertilizer? just jeb liquid fert under them using syringe with long needle.

[zmzfam]

anyway in SG we can get this python?

[hwchoy]

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On 3/5/2003 9:22:51 AM
fertilizer? just jeb liquid fert under them using syringe with long needle.
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mmm… interesting idea, I know this guy who's good at Botox

[Ong]

Hi hwchoy, may I know how you manage to grow the HG well and thick? Mine is short and grow very slow. How you manage to achieve that result?
Thanks.

[hwchoy]

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On 3/5/2003 11:40:24 PM

Hi hwchoy, may I know how you manage to grow the HG well and thick? Mine is short and grow very slow. How you manage to achieve that result?
Thanks.
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don't know, perhaps the high light (108W for 23 gallons) and the aggressive CO2 injection? perhaps the genes of the HG, bought from Teo.