Looking for some grass

[blarney]

Heh, that got your attention didn't it? LOL! :19:

Actually I want to plant some grass in my tank. The only grass I have found so far is some grass that grows to about 4-6 inches. I was hoping for something that was about 2-4 inches tall but am not sure if that would be too short or if there is even such a plant. I want to creat some pathways on the bottom of my tank around the large rocks I have in it. I have sand on the bottom of it so I don't think planting it will be an issue.

I also am not sure what all I need to grow it in the tank.
I have a blue lobster and 2 JD's in the tank also and am looking at getting some other bigger fish.

Some suggestions on types of grass that would survive with the fish I have in the tank along with how I can pick up quite a bit of it would be great.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

First of all, what size is the tank and how much light do you have on it?

[blarney]

First of all, what size is the tank and how much light do you have on it?

150gallons
It has 4lights on it that are 25watts each. I alternate the lights now(after a suggestion yesterday on here) and do about 6hours of full light and 4hours of 1/4 light.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

That's not enough light to grow any of the grass like plants. Dwarf Hairgrass needs more light and a nutrient rich substrate.

[blarney]

Well damn, algae sure seems to grow easy enough.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Yeah my micro sword needed at least 3wpg to even attempt to grow. You've got less then 1... I don't think the lighting is the main cause of your algae...could be a nutrient imbalance or something.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The lighting is contributing to the algae. Any algae outbreak is always the result of a combination of Light and excess Nutrients. There are no plants to use the nutrients, so the only place they have to go is to the algae.

[blarney]

Wait, so you guys are saying I need at least 450watts of light in order to grow plants? Holy crap that would be like having the sun right here in my basement.

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

Not plants in general, just grass-like plants.

[OscarFan]

I have a micro sword and its doing good with just over 2 wats per gallon. And it is "grass like"

[blarney]

I have a micro sword and its doing good with just over 2 wats per gallon. And it is "grass like"


I have the bulbs to go to 300watts of light. That just seems like a lot, I wonder if my neighbors down the road will be able to read by the light of my tank after this. :c3:

[smaug]

I have a micro sword and its doing good with just over 2 wats per gallon. And it is "grass like"
how deep is your tank?

[blarney]

Not plants in general, just grass-like plants.


what else would be a good cover for the ground that won't require so much light.

I don't even see how you guys can sit in the same room with so much light.

[blarney]

how deep is your tank?

about 3foot

[PUNISHER VETTE]

the lights should be focused into the tank. While it might be a little brighter it shouldn't be that big a difference from your normal lighting i'm guessing.

I think most low level plants like grass and ground cover plants require a LOT of light. And since your tank is 3' deep it might even take more then you think to get the light to penetrate that deep.

You can look into metal halides.

[smaug]

not your tank blarney,oscars.

[blarney]

I have a buddy that has metal halide lights but I thought those were for saltwater tanks only.

[blarney]

not your tank blarney,oscars.


ooops. my apologies

[smaug]

ooops. my apologies
no problem.As for your issue with grass plants I have not had luck with them in my tanks.They just would not grow well for me and I don't know if it was inadequate light or lack of injected co2 or the excel I use.Ground cover plants are generally very light hungry.You could try java moss,that can be a very attractive covering if it can be fastened to something for a time till it fastens itself,it doesn't require much light at all.

[digital3]

Low growing plants (like grasses) require lots of light. And yes, you can use Metal Halides on planted tanks.

However, with all that light you also need to look into pressurized Co2 and a solid nutrient schedule or else you're going to start running into the same Algae dilemmas (if not worse) than you're dealing with now.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

Do you have any plants in there now? i wonder how they grow.

Plus you've got a sand substrate which would make it almost impossible for some of these grasses to root without coming up when you even look at them wrong.

[blarney]

No real plants just plastic.

I put in Sand thinking it would be good for growing plants.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

yeah...you probably should try any live plants unfortunately. Maybe some super low light plants but there aren't very many grass types among those.

[blarney]

yeah...you probably should try any live plants unfortunately. Maybe some super low light plants but there aren't very many grass types among those.

Well that is a bummer. When I was setting up the tank I looked at some of the pictures of peoples tanks and really liked the idea of creating areas of growth in the tank, like pathways of grass along the bottom with bare areas. I thought it would give it a nice natural setting for the fish. Oh well I will just buy plastic plants.

[PUNISHER VETTE]

yeah until you upgrade your lights there isn't much that will work other then plastic plants. Maybe you can find a plastic plant that looks good and modify it to become more of a short grass plant.

The sand would work for live plants but it isn't the most ideal substrate for them...no nutrients and little support for them to grab on to.

[blarney]

yeah until you upgrade your lights there isn't much that will work other then plastic plants. Maybe you can find a plastic plant that looks good and modify it to become more of a short grass plant.

The sand would work for live plants but it isn't the most ideal substrate for them...no nutrients and little support for them to grab on to.


Well I was looking at metal halide lights last night after it was suggested. I think I may have found some that I want and just have to take 1k out of the bank without the missus thinking it's for a mothersday gift or any kind of gift for her. She gets so excited about that kind of stuff. :)