# Hairgrass in a 10 gallon



## CrimsonBlush (Sep 8, 2008)

I'm interested in growing dwarf hairgrass in my 10 gallon aquarium. I have white playsand substrate. It's pretty fine not like regular playsand. I'm getting a new hood/light fixture soon so I can have enough wattage for this plant. Right now I just have a T8 15 watt bulb. I have a few questions.

1. How high should my lighting be?
2. Should I use Co2? (I did a DIY Co2 bottle thing, but I need some sort of diffuser)
3. Should I use fertilizers and if so, what ones?

Thanks so much!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi CrimsonBlush,

I grow hairgrass in a 30 gallon (16" tall) aquarium with 72 watts of compact fluorescent lighting, CO2, and I dose using the EI method.


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## CrimsonBlush (Sep 8, 2008)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi CrimsonBlush,
> 
> I grow hairgrass in a 30 gallon (16" tall) aquarium with 72 watts of compact fluorescent lighting, CO2, and I dose using the EI method.


Thanks for the info! What kind of wattage do you think mine should have? Since its a smaller tank, smaller wattage right?


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## rich815 (Jun 27, 2007)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi CrimsonBlush,
> 
> I grow hairgrass in a 30 gallon (16" tall) aquarium with 72 watts of compact fluorescent lighting, CO2, and I dose using the EI method.


I'm growing a very lush forest of dwarf hairgrass in my foreground and regular hairgrass in the background of my 60P (about 18 gal) using 1x36W PC light fixture. If you are T8 I think you'd need at least 30w for a 10 gal. If you switch to T5 or PC (aka CF) I think 20-30W would be enough. I also follow an EI fert dosing regime....


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## CrimsonBlush (Sep 8, 2008)

rich815 said:


> I'm growing a very lush forest of dwarf hairgrass in my foreground and regular hairgrass in the background of my 60P (about 18 gal) using 1x36W PC light fixture. If you are T8 I think you'd need at least 30w for a 10 gal. If you switch to T5 or PC (aka CF) I think 20-30W would be enough. I also follow an EI fert dosing regime....


Thanks so much for the info! I'm not quite sure what bulbs I would be using...I heard that to upgrad my lighting from a 15 watt T8 I would need an incandesant lighting fixture/hood. I was planning on getting this one. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2754548 What kind of light bulb would I use?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi CrimsonBlush,

Incandescent fixtures put out a lot of heat. Have you thought about updating your fixture or building your own. Possibly something like this? http://www.ahsupply.com/diy.htm

I would call and talk with Kim (guy) at AHS but possibly a 1 X 36 watt kit would do the job along with a 6700K bulb. http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm http://ahsupply.com/bulbs.htm


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## CrimsonBlush (Sep 8, 2008)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi CrimsonBlush,
> 
> Incandescent fixtures put out a lot of heat. Have you thought about updating your fixture or building your own. Possibly something like this? http://www.ahsupply.com/diy.htm
> 
> I would call and talk with Kimg (guy) at AHS but possibly a 1 X 36 watt kit would do the job along with a 6700K bulb. http://www.ahsupply.com/36-55w.htm http://ahsupply.com/bulbs.htm


Is there a simiplier option? I'm kinda warry of an DIY aquarium light! If possible, I'm looking for something cheaper too....


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi CrimsonBlush,

As for CO2, I did DIY CO2 for about the first 4 months before I was able to find a used CO2 tank and regulator on Criagslist. I didn't use a diffuser. I just fed it into the input strainer of my hang on back (HOB) filter. It worked great!


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## Darksome (Feb 15, 2009)

If you are planning on buying the incandescent hood, I would replace the bulbs with spiral compact fluorescents...if the hood has two sockets, even better...not sure how many sockets that one has...but with two CFL bulbs, you'll be able to grow a much wider variety of plants.


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## CrimsonBlush (Sep 8, 2008)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi CrimsonBlush,
> 
> As for CO2, I did DIY CO2 for about the first 4 months before I was able to find a used CO2 tank and regulator on Criagslist. I didn't use a diffuser. I just fed it into the input strainer of my hang on back (HOB) filter. It worked great!


I heard that it can sometimes cause the filter to run dry and not work...did you have any problems with that?



> If you are planning on buying the incandescent hood, I would replace the bulbs with spiral compact fluorescents...if the hood has two sockets, even better...not sure how many sockets that one has...but with two CFL bulbs, you'll be able to grow a much wider variety of plants.


That's exactly what I was hoping to do, but I wasn't certain if it would. Thanks!


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi CrimsonBlush,

I have not had any problem with feeding the CO2 into the HOB filter through the input siphon. I first did it with my DIY CO2, which generated less than 1 BPS (bubble per second). When I converted to pressurized CO2 my BPS increased to about 3 BPS and I have not loss the siphon. BTW I have an Aquaclear 50 that I am using.


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

Darksome said:


> If you are planning on buying the incandescent hood, I would replace the bulbs with spiral compact fluorescents...if the hood has two sockets, even better...not sure how many sockets that one has...but with two CFL bulbs, you'll be able to grow a much wider variety of plants.


ive heard using cfl's but do I measure my wpg, based on the actual wattage they draw, or for the wattage the package says they replace for an incandescent equivalent?

(ie. my 13w cfl says it replaces 60w incandescent)

im wanting to swap my daughters little 10gal plastic plant guppy/mollie tank to a planted setup.

mainly wanting to know so i dont over light and have to add co2 and massive amount of ferts. wanting to keep it low maint. .


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## bigboij (Jul 24, 2009)

Darksome said:


> If you are planning on buying the incandescent hood, I would replace the bulbs with spiral compact fluorescents...if the hood has two sockets, even better...not sure how many sockets that one has...but with two CFL bulbs, you'll be able to grow a much wider variety of plants.


ive heard using cfl's but do measure my wpg, based on the wattage they draw, or for the wattage the package says they replace for an incandescent equivalent?

im wanting to swap my daughters little 10gal plastic plant guppy/mollie tank to a planted setup.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi bigboij,

I do it based upon the wattage they draw.


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