Dwarf hairgrass and low tech (iwagumi)?

[Cosabuena]

So I bought a couple plants, Eco complete and sand to rescape my bare bottom tank again. ISo my plan is to make a low tech tank. I have 4 t5 ho lights. So I'm getting around 3 watts per gallon in my 75 gallon. I'm not putting no co2 tank though. Duh. Anyway, so i separated my hair grass since it came in a 2x3 mat. Which took me forever. Feel like I damaged a lot of it trying to separate. I'm scaping everything tonight after class. So my question is if anyone here has had success with dhg without co2 injection..... ???

I also have 6 bunches of Each:
water wisteria, jungle val, some red stem plant(idk the name) and anacharis. My mom wants a planted tank or I have to get rid of it. lol.
I'll post pictures of everything that I do tonight.
So for now here is what I have for setup

About 40lbs of sand. 60lbs of Eco complete. 20 pounds of stones or rocks. Whatever. And the plants.

I'm aiming for a iwagumi style scape.

Any feedback would b nice.

83623
On the right it's the material the grass came on. Feels like straws


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[Larry Bugg]

You have too much light for low tech. Without injecting Co2 it is going to be a algae factory.

[Cosabuena]

I can always remove bulbs. Is two bulbs better. To be at 1.5 wpg?
Doesn't dhg require more light than that?


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[Cosabuena]

What about adding excel, liquid co2?


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[Crooks]

I think 2 6500k bulbs should be okay as long as you don't have them on all the time.

[Cosabuena]

That's still only 1.5 wpg.



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[rickztahone]

I can always remove bulbs. Is two bulbs better. To be at 1.5 wpg?
Doesn't dhg require more light than that?


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It may require more light than that, but the fact is that you will not be injecting co2 which HAS to limit your light output.


What about adding excel, liquid co2?


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This can help a little, but in the long run it is very expensive, especially on a 75g. So much so, that I would recommend getting a co2 system up front and saving in the long run. The key component in the co2 setup should be the needle valve, do not skimp on that if you go that route.


I think 2 6500k bulbs should be okay as long as you don't have them on all the time.
Correct, and even this may creat a lot of algae if OP leaves the light on too long.


That's still only 1.5 wpg.



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You have to realize that started a low tech tank really limits the type of plants you can get, and also everything grows a whole lot slower in a low tech planted tank, which isn't always a bad thing. I use to grow out plants so fast I couldn't GIVE them away fast enough. Your red based plants will more than likely not turn red in your tank. Red is typical in a co2 injected tank. Sticking to ferns, anubias and swords would probably be a good bet. Additionally, I'm not sure if this is going to eventually be a discus tank, but the mentioned plants tend to fair better with the discus temps than other plants.

[Cosabuena]

The person I purchased the red plants from was growing them with out co2. I'll have to find out the name.

I had the plants 3 days floating and the red plants still look good. No sign of dying.

Im planting tonight. I'll give the tank about 2 weeks to see how everything is working. I'm actually looking for slow growth. But If my dhg don't grow at all I'll eventually buy a co2 tank. I don't trust those DIY ones.

But best believe I'll keep u guys updated. Hopefully everything turns out like I plan


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[rickztahone]

One key piece of advice I can give you that I know works without a doubt when started a new planted tank is to buy as many plants as you can afford (hopefully cheaper ones) and loading the tank up. In this manner, you overload the tank with so many plants that they out-compete the algae which I believe you may have to fight because of your lighting. Your photo period will also play a part here. Do you know how long you will leave the lighting on for?

I am not sure what your aversion to DIY co2 is, (maybe the time?) but it is almost impossible to overdose so it makes it very safe. Injected co2 on the other hand is something you DO have to worry about if you do not know what you are doing.

Get some fertz and root tabs and you have a chance of keeping the reds semi-red, but they will never be the fully red as if you had injected co2.

[Cosabuena]

One key piece of advice I can give you that I know works without a doubt when started a new planted tank is to buy as many plants as you can afford (hopefully cheaper ones) and loading the tank up. In this manner, you overload the tank with so many plants that they out-compete the algae which I believe you may have to fight because of your lighting. Your photo period will also play a part here. Do you know how long you will leave the lighting on for?

I am not sure what your aversion to DIY co2 is, (maybe the time?) but it is almost impossible to overdose so it makes it very safe. Injected co2 on the other hand is something you DO have to worry about if you do not know what you are doing.

Get some fertz and root tabs and you have a chance of keeping the reds semi-red, but they will never be the fully red as if you had injected co2.


Hey.
That's what I did man. I bought as many plants as I could. Actually, what I could afford. Lol. I really have a lot of wisteri anacharis and the red plant which is called alternanthera reineckii.
But yea. I have seachem root tabs from when I use to keep sword on plain sand. 8362683626
83627
There it is, what I purchased. I didn't think it was going to be as much plants as I have now. But yea. I haven't really looked into the diy co2 thing as much. It looked complicated to me. Lol

I'm planning to light 6-8 hours a day. Depending what works best. I know for a fact that with the amount of plants that I have I won't get much algae (cross fingers)
I'm keeping my tank at 82 degrees I think the plants should be ok.

I'll look into the co2 diy again to see if I understand it better.
N yes, I'm scaping and adding my discus


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[rickztahone]

check out scape.org to help you further with planted tanks. Also plantedtank.net is a good resource. I've had reineckii in the past and it does hold some red coloring without co2, I must admit, but when I switched over to injected, the red was on a whole other level. If you join scape, go to their tradewinds area. Most of the time, those guys just give a way (RAOK) plants on the regular. I was one of them. I would ask members to stop by my house with a 5g bucket every couple of weeks to clear out my 55g tank, lol.

Here is a shot of my old 55g fully injected tank right after a small trim:
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b284/rickztahone/Planted%20tanks/P3300456.jpg (http://s21.photobucket.com/user/rickztahone/media/Planted%20tanks/P3300456.jpg.html)
If you notice on the right side, the red plants you see are the reineckii right after they were transferred from my 10g grow out tanks with no co2. As you can see they are not that red. I don't believe I have an after shot when they were settled in.

This tank just housed plants, otos and about 100 chili rasboras.

[Cosabuena]

Your tank looks crazy man. I like it. I'm trying to keep more open space though. My main problem is what type of layout I want. I have like 5 layouts and don't know what to choose. I need 5 more tanks. Lol.

I just added the scape club to my tapatalk. Was checking the scapes there. Is crazy, the art is real.

Did u ever make a iwagumi style tank?

I wished I lived in Cali to scoop those plants. Lol.


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[rickztahone]

Your tank looks crazy man. I like it. I'm trying to keep more open space though. My main problem is what type of layout I want. I have like 5 layouts and don't know what to choose. I need 5 more tanks. Lol.

I just added the scape club to my tapatalk. Was checking the scapes there. Is crazy, the art is real.

Did u ever make a iwagumi style tank?

I wished I lived in Cali to scoop those plants. Lol.


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I actually did buy like $80 worth of seiryu stones with an iwagumi layout in mind, but alas, the tank I wanted to do it in was too small (a derimmed 10g CRS tank).

If you would like some inspiration, google 'iwagumi takashi amano'. He simply creates gorgeous scapes.

[BillyinNYC]

Is this a discus tank? Just an FYI, hair grass likes cooler temperatures...not sure if someone already mentioned that in previous posts. Good luck though! A planted aquarium is always more beautiful.

[NH Murph]

I have had a tough time growing Dwarf Hairgrass in a deep tank. It likes a lot of light, and even with 4 t5 lights in a 24" deep tank, with cO2 and PPS Pro ferts, I am not getting the carpeting I was hoping for. I am actually thinking of removing the Dwarf Hairgrass from my tank and trying something different in the foreground. All the rest of the plants are thriving, but the Dwarf Hairgrass is just not filling in.

[rickztahone]

try babytears. I did a carpet of Tropica 049. It likes to go vertical but I would cut it so low that it actually started shooting sideways on me and it looked really good.