Questions about heater and hairgrass and some other plants

[fishlooker]

I recently set up a new 10g aquarium and the heater is slightly oversized. It's a good heater and I got it on clearance so I'm keeping it, but I initially tried hiding it by laying it on the substrate, planting hairgrass in front of it and anacharis behind it. Most of the anacharis died so I moved it out and now I need to figure out a solution that will allow me to have the heater in the back as well as a wall of plants covering the back wall of the tank.

How can I hide my heater and also totally cover the rear wall of my tank with plants? I want a viney look like moneywort, anacharis or even java moss.

My other question is about hairgrass. How does this stuff work? I carefully separated it into small segments about 1/4" wide and staggered them. Will they produce runners and fill in the space? In each block there are at least a couple blades that have browned and died but the others seem fine.

Lastly, I find moneywort almost impossible to plant. It never stays in my substrate which is lightweight gravel. And what are the best conditions to have it grow in full and produce lots of sister plants. I notice that some of my plants are producing a new plant at almost every leaf node and some aren't at all.

 

[konmanos]

The hair grass has runners. The hair grass needs to be trimmed, every 3 weeks.. This is how you will see better growth.. Additionally, fertilising and good lighting will also assist, all plants..

 

[fishlooker]

trimmed it about two weeks after planting. will update in 3 weeks

 

[konmanos]

Just note, that the brown stuff, if you are still experiencing this on your grass, was for me, just brown algae.. I took a trimming and wiped it between my fingers and that was all.. Just algae, and it may look like the plant is dying but it wasn't.. Anyway as I trimmed - this was all initial - when first planted, it all came good, the algae in the tank is another issue, but the grass was doing fine.. It is just that people think the hair grass is dying, when in fact it could be just algae on the blades..

 

[anteatergoanna]

Your heater needs to be somewhere where there's water movement, so that it heats all the water and not just a small area. You could put a piece of driftwood in front of it, I have my heater under the flow bar, with driftwood standing up rather than lying down.
Good luck