Question about Hairgrass

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

Someone sent me a private message and he wrote:

Hello Loh,

Saw the pics you posted, you have a beautiful tank!

Would like to ask you something. How long did it take for your hairgrass to grow? I planted my hairgrass 2 weeks ago and growth is very slow, I can only see one or two new strands.

Have 144W of light for my 3ft and CO2 is @ 28ppm.

While I am very appreciative of his kind comments about my tank, I'm puzzled why he chose to ask the question through private message. I find many forum users don't seem to understand that the private message function, as its name implies, should be used for private messages only. If you have a general question about planted tanks or killifish, you should ask it on the forum. This is because your question will be of interest to other forum users too.

The whole idea of having a forum is to share information. Other forum users who see your question may have better answers than the one whom you are asking. If everyone ask questions through private messages, the forum would eventually become a "ghost town".

Anyway, it took about 2 months for my Hairgrass to spread to every corner of my tank. I think the trick is in the planting. It's important to separate the plant into individual stalks before planting them. You have to have a tweezer to plant Hairgrass. I keep about a finger spacing between stalks. Quite often, Black Brush Algae will grow on the tips of the Hairgrass before they become well-established. Just prune them away and let them grow again. I've heard that it's better to cut to the quick. In other words, prune them close to the substrate.

As for the question about lights, I think Freddy Chng should be able to answer it better.

Loh K L

[checkerboard]

I have a lawn of hairgrass as well. Hairgrass needs patience initially. Let the plant establish its root network and after that it will spread really quickly. It is very difficult to isolate them into individual rosettes. Pinch a few and insert about finger spacing apart.

Yes, regular aggressive trimmings help growth tremendously, but do not do it right from the start, only after the plant has establish itself, if not, it would actually cause more algae and stunt growth by my experience.

Spreading depends on area and density of initial planting. Approximately 2 months should do it if conditions are good. As for lighting, once hairgrass is established, it is very very hardy, it can creep under overhanging driftwood or plants (ie. in very shaded areas) and yet still thrive. In fact, mine is growing in a tank with only 1.5Watts/Gallon initially!

Hope this helps!

[FC]

I have same opinions as Checkerboard in growing hair grass.

Like in all submerged planting, we need to give time for them to establish. Hair Grass is one of those that need more time than others. Try to be patient, the reward is great. Pay attention to root growth, good root = healthy plant. ADA substrate seems to do this job well as it is acidic in nature. If you do not intend to use ADA, inject peat extract (use 5 ml syringe) about 2 inch below the substrate. For your tank size, use about 50 ml of peat extract (black water) and mix with 150 ml water, inject evenly in the substrate but avoid edges near the glass wall.

As for light, like most plants, hair grass can adapt to various light conditions. Your 144 watts for your 3 ft is more than 0.5 watts per litre and should be good enough for most plants, inluding hair grass. Keep the lighting period between 7 to 8.5 hrs, keep the CO2 betwen 25 to 35 ppm. These will reduce algae attack.

For hair grass, it is important to use SAE (get the youngest you can find) to control algae. If you use shrimp, select only small size like malayan shrimp. I find Yamato shrimp eating away my hair grass. Before hair grass fully cover the ground you intended, do not introducing gravel digging fishes like cory, they will remove them.

[PohSan]

Hi Freddy,

Your method of injecting peat extract is really new to me. I am considered as a beginner to planted tank and is still at the stage of monitoring light, inject co2 and so on. Yesterday, I read a post from Simon of AQ on pruning stem plant : "un-root stem plant ,cut away bottom portion and replant" and it really amazed me and put me to shame. I believe there will be more I can learn from you and Simon in the future.

By the way, do you have any recommended book or site on planted tank for beginner likes me. Thank

[FC]

Pohsan,

There are alot of ways to submerge planting, it depends on the level you wish to attain vs the budget you allocated for it. As for books, there many many good ones but none is perfect. Good books are Dennerle, Aquarium Plants Manual by Scheurmann, Oreintal's plant bible, etc. For free but good brouchers, get the Dennerle's handouts. Website, go for www.thekrib.com, www.aquabotanic.com, AQ, http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/plant/lotech.html, http://www.naturacquario.net/amano/, tropica, dennerle, etc.

Stem plant pruning method is subjective to what effect you wish to create. The reasons for "un-root stem plant ,cut away bottom portion and replant" are 1) to improve the plant's overall quality 2) to thin them.

For some, like me, I wish to have a dense bush of it. Naturally, I opt for cutting and descard the top and keep the bottom. For this option, the challenge is to keep the bottom (old stem) leafs intact. See below picture, this bunch was top pruned every 2~3 weeks for the past about 5 months. The bottom leafs and side shoots are still there but in herbinate stage due to insufficient light reaching there.

[whoppie]

Hello, thank you for yr replies and I was the one who sent timebomb the PM.

My CO2 is @ 28ppm and the lights are on 12hrs daily. There is some BBA growing on the hairgrass but my 3 SAE are doing their job. I planted the hairgrass 2 weeks ago and I can see some new shoots growing. Progress is slow though.

You mean trimming the hairgrass will help accelerate its growth? How much should I trim? I'm afraid that I will kill the plant if I trim too much.


Thanks

[timebomb]

Hello, thank you for yr replies and I was the one who sent timebomb the PM.

You don't have to feel embarrassed, Lincoln. I'm glad you owned up and that you didn't take what I wrote badly.

As far as I know, the professionals cut to the quick. In other words, they prune the Hairgrass close to the substrate. I don't think it will kill the plant but as Yew Kiat said, it won't be a good idea to do this until the Hairgrass is well-established.

To tell the truth, I haven't pruned mine yet.

Loh K L

[caseSENSITIVE]

I would like to elaborate on what "well established" means.

When you first transplant, most of the plant's food reserve is stored within its leaves. As such, it is unwise to trim the leaves immediately following transplantation as the plant needs the food reserve in order to form roots, acclimating itself to the new environment. Growth will generally stop until roots have formed. Therefore, new growth is indicative that roots have formed. It is now acceptable to trim back the old leaves as the plants may obtain its nutrients from the roots. It is however unwise to trim them back to the substrate surface since the roots are so young and they may not be able to support regrowth. Therefore, trim back only 2/3 of the plant. Once the second wave of new growth is observed, you may trim them right at the substrate level and the plant will recover, even stronger than before. Remember, strong roots equal strong plant.

In summary, "well established" means a strong root system. In my humble opinion, you won't get this until after the second wave of new growth. And since you've planted it only two weeks ago, you risk killing the plants if you trim them right at the substrate level now. At this point, trim to w/i one inch. Subsequent trimmings can be done right at the substrate level w/o harm to the plants. In fact, it's encouraged that future trimmings be done as close to the substrate level as possible. Otherwise, you'll get this unattractive layering effect as pictured here.

p-lvp

[timebomb]

Thanks very much for the information about trimming Hairgrass, p-lvp. I'm about to give mine a haircut and the information you posted is going to be useful.

You know, I was really slow. It took me this long to realise who you are. Initially, I thought you were Tom Barr. I sent my plants to so many people I can't remember who and when I sent them to. Did the plants arrive safely?

Please let me know.

Loh K L