how to control plant growth

[gravereaper0]

Looking around the forums and can't seem to find an answer.
How do you control let's say dwarf hair grass. From what I'm reading if you let it go wild it'll take over your whole tank. Do you just have to keep pulling it out where you don't want it?
Or what if you built a frame out of some acrylic and bury it in the substrate, would it at least help?

 

[Rivercats]

Like most plants that spread you remove it where you don't want it to grow. I have several plants including crypts that routinely have to be cut back or divided because they are outgrowing their boundries. If you keep up on grooming it, it's not that big of a deal. I have a 220g heavily planted and by just doing alittle daily grooming as needed, which only takes a few minutes, I never have to spend alot of time on it. It's just part of owning a planted tank.

As for the frame... I'm not really sure it would work. Plants that send out runners always seem to find a way over or under confinement frames.

 

[gravereaper0]

Yea that's the thing. I'm an otr driver so I'm rarely home and the wife isn't as excited about the new tank as I am so the less she has to do the better.
So far every post I've put up and every article I've read about fish keeping has been done with my phone. (Bet that makes you feel safe next time you're going down the highway )

 

[Rivercats]

But you didn't say you were driving down the road while doing all that

Anyway it sounds like you need to get some lower maintenance plants. How long are your runs or do they vary as to how many days a week your gone?

 

[gravereaper0]

Oh I do all 48 states and stay out 2-4 weeks at a time, come home for 3-4 days and do it all over again.
(Doing a load of Xmas trees right now destined for Colorado)
Is there maybe a slower growing substitute for the dwarf grass?

 

[Rivercats]

So you want something to make a carpet? What type of light do you have and what type of bulb? An easy one that wouldn't need maintenance is Dwarf Baby Tears but it needs higher light and either liquid carbon daily or CO2. IMO that is too much for you. I have some Crypt Parva which needs no tending and grows slowly. I started with three small plants but they have grown into one and are very slowly spreading. Here is a picture from my tank and if you look at the plant on the bottom left that is my group of Crypt Parva.... Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community - Rivercats's Album: 220g dirted tank - Picture. I have high light so mine grows more horizontally but in a lower light tank it grow more verticle. It only gets about 2" tall also.

 

[gravereaper0]

Alright here's the deal. I'm getting a 150 gallon tank in a couple of weeks and right now am deciding what to put in it and how to run it.
Here's what I know so far. It'll be a 72" x 18" x 30" tank with factory manufactured stand (so I get the life time warranty) no top canopy just the glass top. A fluval fx5 for filtration and as i mentioned before the output of it will run through a jbj arctica 1/4hp chiller. Still researching the lights but I know it'll involve grobeam ultra 1000 led model with T5s. For co2 under research as well but seems like it'll be a pressurized system with a ph controller.

So right now nothing is set in stone, I'm getting a 150g tank and want everything to be done right and as automated as possible.