Best way to plant?

[KentCurtis]

Hey everybody - I was just wondering how you all plant your aquatic plants - I have just regular gravel, no eco-complete or anything special. Just wondering if pushing my plants down into my substrate is sufficient or if I should be doing something else to help them along. I just began using diy DIY co2 and flourish tabs with my dwarf hairgrass.... I have a 55watt bright kit from ahsupply and the co2 and flourish tabs as i mentioned but just wondering if I should be doing anything else to help it spread as a carpet....I also have some stem plants that I am hoping I have planted correctly. Thanks everyone

 

[elwaine]

Sounds good to me. As long as the plants stay put after planting, you're doing just fine. Of course, you can also do what the experts do after planting: they say a little prayer to the plant Gods wishing for the plants to grow.

All plants go through a period of adjustment to their new environment before they settle in and exhibit good growth. It only takes a week or so for that to happen with dwarf hairgrass.

The fert tabs and CO2 should be all you need other than light and circulation. The 55 W lamp is used with what size tank? If it's in the range of 10 to 20 gallons, that should be enough light for the HG.. at least it is in my 18 gal. tank.

Good luck!

 

[KentCurtis]

Thanks, it is a 2 gallon. Im hoping mine takes off here soon

 

[neilanh]

WIth dwarf hairgrass, I've found it's best to plant it deep, all the way until it's just barely sticking up above the substrate. This will help to ensure it stays put.

My experience with it, however, was that it took closer to a month to "settle" in, but once it did, it took off and covered my 125g, exactly what I wanted it to do.

 

[elwaine]

I'm not an expert, but 55 watts for a 2 gallon fresh water aquarium seems like a lot of light... which isn't necessarily bad... but high light can result in rapid growth of plants and algae. Once the plants have grown out you might not have to worry so much about algae... but until they do, you might want to keep a close watch on the tank.

Small tanks do not fit into the general rule of thumb for figuring lighting on a watts per gallon basis. I'm using 18 watts for my 3 gallon and I have very good plant growth and little algae. (But the algae I do have is the PIA hair algae.)

 

[KentCurtis]

Yea sorry about that I meant to type yes it is a 20 gallon, must have missed the zero! Is leaving some of the green "wool"ish type material on the hairgrass acceptable? Thanks for the input

 

[KentCurtis]

Anyone have a say on removing all of or leaving any of the wool that comes on the plants? I still have some on my plants and just wondering if thats a no go

 

[neilanh]

Remove as much of it as possible. It hinders the growth of the roots.

 

[FishCrazyBenBOMB]

Yeah, like neilanh said, trying getting rid of as much as you can, I know it's diffucult. Just removing most of it without damaging the plant aswell, and take little pieces off at a time so you don't totally tear up the rooting already started with the plants.

 

[czcz]

If it is a stem plant with emergent growth (typical for most plants at the LFS) and you are not in a rush, it can be beneficial to just leave them in the pot on top of substrate for a while until you have enough submerged growth from the top to trim off and plant properly, then ditch what you started with, including the pot. This will save you the time of removing the emergent growth/uprooting later.