Hairgrass is Dying... Please Help!

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U

ucng

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 21, 2009
257
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San Jose, CA
i have changed my lighting to 2 15 watt CFL spiral bulbs and they should be adequate for my 10 gallon tank. I started dosing with excel, flourish and will start to dose with iron from seachem. I have also placed root tabs for the hair grass, but it still seems to "yellow" and deteriorate. Sigh!:nilly::nilly: Anyone have any suggestions? My substrate is just pool filter sand because i did not put aquarium soil in at the beginning. Now that i have a shrimp colony in it, i would hate to have to take them out and take the chance of killing them all. Please help or leave me suggestions on what i should do.

Some members on this forum have said that their hairgrass was able to grow with just root tabs and sand as a substrate. I dont know what is going on with mine.

Here is a picture.

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How long has that hairgrass been planted? To me, the blades look like emersed growth rather than immersed. If it was planted recently you may just be experiencing a die off of the old growth, which should be replaced by new immersed growth soon.
 
Burto;4528629; said:
How long has that hairgrass been planted? To me, the blades look like emersed growth rather than immersed. If it was planted recently you may just be experiencing a die off of the old growth, which should be replaced by new immersed growth soon.
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I planted it 2 weeks ago, but i have just started to add flourish today. (excel for 2 weeks). Just added root tabs 3 days ago.
 
Pyramid_Party;4528682; said:
Give it more time. Your lighting is fine, and the ferts you are providing at fine too.
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Is it because of the substrate?
 
hairgrass takes it's nutrients in primarily through their roots, so a mineral rich substrate is a must. spiral cfl bulbs are inefficient compared to t5's and the longer/linear cfls. the spirals lose a lot of light due to restrike (the light being reflected back to the bulb itself) you could increase the wattage to 20w bulbs to remedy this or use a t5 power compact fixture. are you supplementing with co2 other than excel? burto is right about emersed growth. if they were grown emersed, the blades will die off as they transition to submersed growth.
 
Power compact would be over kill. The lighting is fine. YOU DON'T NEED LOTS OF LIGHT! Increasing the wattage of CFL is a bad idea too, cause that would throw things more out of balance. More light = more demand for nutrients and c02. Give the plants time to adjust that's all.
 
I don't think you have anything to worry about, give it time. I was just at my girlfriend's house and her recently planted (unfertilized, in fairly coarse gravel, under a single 18 watt T8) hairgrass is looking the same. The old emersed growth is browning and dying off while runners of new growth are sprouting. My hairgrass, which is far from a lush carpet, is growing okay in generic sand under a 26 watt screw in compact fluorescent.
 
Many plants you buy at a LFS come from big supplier who grow their plants emersed. That is why they look so nice and lush sitting in their tanks for a few days. But once you put them in your tank for a few days they start to die off as they transition to a submerged state. This is why I like buying plants from fellow hobbyists where I know the plants have been in water for a long time.
 
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