Dwarf hairgrass questions and advice

[Tobykourtney]

Just bought 5 large dwarf hairgrass plants split them up and planted them across the front portion of my tank. I have a 75 gallon with an aquaticlife dual t5ho and a coralife t5no dual fixture. I run pressurized co2 and have 60 lbs of ecocomplete mixed with cichlid substrate. I dose pps pro and use florish root tabs. Would anyone who has grown this plant before like to throw some input in I would appreciate it I'm trying to get it carpet.


Here's a picture to give you an idea of what I got going on.

 

[maxwellag]

I used to grow it in my smaller tank. My main advice is to keep up the fert dosing. The lighting you have should be sufficient with pressurized co2.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I used to grow it in my smaller tank. My main advice is to keep up the fert dosing. The lighting you have should be sufficient with pressurized co2.

What ferts did you use?

 

[maxwellag]

What ferts did you use?

KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4 and Plantex csm+b

 

[Tobykourtney]

KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4 and Plantex csm+b

Alright pretty much the same thing as pps pro. I was watching them today and they already started pearling.

 

[aqua_chem]

Your lighting might be your limiting factor here. Eleocharis can be pretty light demanding, and a single T5HOx2 might leave you wanting more in the end. I'm not sure of the quality of that particular fixture, but I would not be surprised if you were only in the medium light range.

 

[Tobykourtney]

Your lighting might be your limiting factor here. Eleocharis can be pretty light demanding, and a single T5HOx2 might leave you wanting more in the end. I'm not sure of the quality of that particular fixture, but I would not be surprised if you were only in the medium light range.

The fixture is pretty good I was looking up the par values from the saltwater forums an I was pretty impressed the 4 bulb fixture was putting a par value of 180 at 20" deep so would I be correct to say that 2 bulbs would equal half of that plus my little corallife fixture is putting down 10 par at 20 inches lol.

 

[aqua_chem]

Do you have a link for that?

 

[Tobykourtney]

Do you have a link for that?

Right here http://reefcentral.com/forums//showthread.php?t=2055244

 

[aqua_chem]

Hmm, I'm dubious. Hoppy's thread at Planted Tank has a 36" fixture getting only about 110 at the same depth, and that one's using FW bulbs (your source is using SW ATIs, so he'll be getting more apples to your oranges). Grim Reefer was also getting ~120 at about the same height in another thread, which matches up with Hoppy's. Also, that's not your fixture. It's not always a good metric to take the 4x version and divide it to get the appropriate light. On pricepoint alone, the 48" 3x the price. It doesn't add up in terms of bulbs alone, which tells me that the $100+ extra that separates 2 2xT5HO and a 4xT5HO is going somewhere, eg, better reflectors, better ballast, whistles, bells, etc.

But more than that, there is an objective reason that you can't compare the two. The 4xT5HO Aquaticlife fixture has two active cooling fans mounted in it. That makes a HUGE difference in par output, 30% by some estimates. It's one of the things that separate top tier lights (eg ATI) from mid-level (Tek, etc).

 

[Tobykourtney]

Hmm, I'm dubious. Hoppy's thread at Planted Tank has a 36" fixture getting only about 110 at the same depth, and that one's using FW bulbs (your source is using SW ATIs, so he'll be getting more apples to your oranges). Grim Reefer was also getting ~120 at about the same height in another thread, which matches up with Hoppy's. Also, that's not your fixture. It's not always a good metric to take the 4x version and divide it to get the appropriate light. On pricepoint alone, the 48" 3x the price. It doesn't add up in terms of bulbs alone, which tells me that the $100+ extra that separates 2 2xT5HO and a 4xT5HO is going somewhere, eg, better reflectors, better ballast, whistles, bells, etc.

But more than that, there is an objective reason that you can't compare the two. The 4xT5HO Aquaticlife fixture has two active cooling fans mounted in it. That makes a HUGE difference in par output, 30% by some estimates. It's one of the things that separate top tier lights (eg ATI) from mid-level (Tek, etc).

I'm not saying its an exact measurement and I was guessing the 4x was more expensive because of the integrated timer and lunar lights didn't realize it had a fan. But I do no that the reflectors are the same so I guess that counts for something lol I just ordered geissman midday and aquaflora bulbs so hopefully that'll help out too

 

[aqua_chem]

I guess my point in all of this is that if you do find that it isn't going as well as you would like, light would be the first thing to look at upgrading (assuming it's not a algae issue or something of that sort).

 

[Tobykourtney]

I guess my point in all of this is that if you do find that it isn't going as well as you would like, light would be the first thing to look at upgrading (assuming it's not a algae issue or something of that sort).

I was thinking a nice led to supplement the t5 lighting do you have any experience with them because they seem to be a lot less bulky and I won't have to worry about replacing bulbs

 

[Tobykourtney]

I guess my point in all of this is that if you do find that it isn't going as well as you would like, light would be the first thing to look at upgrading (assuming it's not a algae issue or something of that sort).

Would the geissman bulbs give a noticeable increase in par over the 2x10k coralife bulbs I have in the fixture now. (When I bought the fixture it was setup for saltwater and was saving for decent bulbs)

 

[aqua_chem]

I don't think that we have good data to answer that question. It would probably be very similar though. Bulb choice in freshwater should be mostly driven by aesthetics in most circumstances.

 

[Tobykourtney]

I don't think that we have good data to answer that question. It would probably be very similar though. Bulb choice in freshwater should be mostly driven by aesthetics in most circumstances.

Before with the 2 10k and after with the midday and aquaflora flora. I think the bulbs were worth it. The 10k made my tank look green which doesn't make any sense to me. And another question I'm sure by now your probably getting tired of answering them but I couldn't find anything about it online. Does the original grass normally die off and grow new grass. I've never had it happen with any of my other plants.



Sorry 1st pic is the midday and aquaflora second is the 10k's and third is 10k with a dual t5no