Need HG growth accleration

[robin]

Hi,

Need some help.
Have planted 5 pots of HG in my 3 feet, but after 1 week, most of the HG almost botak. Quite sure that the HG and all other plants are growing well, just thought that it is not fast enough. I have about 50 yamatoes in the tank and they have been grazing on my HG. it seems that the rate of consumption is greater than the rate at which the HG can grow.

Any suggestions besides planting more?

Robin

[Sleepy_lancs]

HG = hairgrass? If so, then did you cut the hairgrass after planting? If not the shrimps are doing you a favour. Fear not. It will soon regrow if your tank's condition is correct.

[robin]

Yeah sorry did not specify HG=hairgrass.
Anyone wants to elaborate on "right" conditions.
Also, how long do I expect to wait before it starts spreading out?

Before kena whack, have to tell the old birds that I really tried doing a search but did not come up with something really useful.
Maybe my search not good enough.

Going to do more seraching now.

Robin

[Nicky]

I am not 'old bird' but has grow Hairgrass before.
My short experience with HG tells me that to make them grow fast you need strong lights. Essentials such as good base fert and ample CO2 are, essential.

When my HG was growing out of control, I was having 12 BIG yamatos and more than 200 malayan and so I do not think shrimps posed a problem once the HG takes off.

It takes about 4 weeks before my HG showed some progress. After that there was no turning back.

Some folks here experienced hair-algae with HG. For some unknown reasons I did not suffer from that but those areas of the glass totally pressed against by HG developed BGA.

I remember Choy mentioned that Teo's HG are fed with steroids.
You may want to get some alleged-steriod-fed-HG to try out.

[robin]

Okay, for my 120 litres i have 2x55W of PL.
Is that strong enough? Also, CO2 is pretty good at 20ppm.

All except my HG is not yet 4 weeks old, more like 2.7 weeks.

Hope it takes off later.
Any other suggestions except steriods?

Thanks
Robin

[robin]

Another question is how fast do I expect the HG to grow after it takes off?

Will it be months before it spreads into a thick lush carpet?

Robin

[Nicky]

I was applying more than 4W per Gallon (288W on 68G tank) when I was growing HG. I think many people get their HG to grow with less than this light intensity.

The HG were planted very very sparsely and in 4 months they have totally covered the gravel such that baby shrimps starts to appear in among the thick growth with lots of fishes swimming above them.

[robin]

Any one has any idea if my 3.8W per gallon with good co2 is good enough to grow HG fast?

robin

[robin]

Any other suggestions or comments on this issue?
it still does not seem to be growing.

Robin

[bclee]

Robin,

How do you plant your HG? Did you bunch them together?

Plant them in tiny groups of 5-6 leaves. Spread them well apart. You will see them spread in about 2-3 weeks.

BC

[robin]

Yeah BClee,

some of them i pinch together but later just give up because back too pain. Started planting them in bunches of about 3.

Will wait 3 - 4 weeks for spreading.
Do i dose fert as usual during this period?


Thanks a lot

Robin

[neon]

[quote:0b481c76fb="robin"]Yeah BClee,

some of them i pinch together but later just give up because back too pain. Started planting them in bunches of about 3.

Will wait 3 - 4 weeks for spreading.
Do i dose fert as usual during this period?


Thanks a lot

Robin[/quote:0b481c76fb]
Hi,

Pulled out all my hairglass from my 6' tank already. Ran wild !! Initially planted them on the gravel, lots of bba. Subsequently slotted 2 small bunch under my normal moss on a driftwood. Wow ! They really spreaded wild. No base fert needed for HG at all as proven from this. Absolutely no bba or any algae at all on them while planting on the moss.

See my HG on the moss and driftwood.

[dts_spawn]

wow... nice! have some questions, how you anchor the HG to the wood? and won't the HG prevent the light from reaching the moss?

[neon]

[quote:5ca50bb8c8="dts_spawn"]wow... nice! have some questions, how you anchor the HG to the wood? and won't the HG prevent the light from reaching the moss?[/quote:5ca50bb8c8]
No problem with MH 150w lighting. Blast all the way thru ! The HG root crypt thru my moss and uproot my moss together while removing them. Small portion become botak . The moss shall cover the portion back fairly quickly.

[robin]

my HG getting shorter and shorter everyday.
Hope dont botak soon

Robin

[robin]

Just another curious question.
I have not been adding KH to my tank for months already.
It managed to stay at 2.
Does this low KH affect my HG growth? do i need to raise KH?
Is it too low --> contribute to BBA?

Regards
Robin