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hoppycalif · 04-12-2008, 08:09 PM

The Plant Finder says Java Fern grows emersed, so that should work fine. It may take some time to convert to emersed foliage, and again to convert to submersed foliage when you flood the tank. I'm not at all sure about that.

I think the substrate is a little too wet. It will dry some in a day or so, so I would not add back enough water to see any on the surface. The problem with even slight amounts of water on the surface is that the light can cause BGA to grow along the substrate/glass boundary, where you won't notice it until you flood the tank.

Given how easy it is to plant on nearly dry substrate I suggest spreading out the hairgrass to as near to single plants as you can. It takes an hour or so per pot to do that, but it is worth the effort. At least they can't float out like they do with submersed plantings. With my glosso, I could have "planted" them by just dropping them on the surface of the substrate. That might also work with hairgrass.

04-12-2008, 08:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
hoppycalif Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Sacramento, CA, USA Posts: 5,208 iTrader Ratings: 20 iTrader Positive Rating: 100% Plant Points: 227345	Re: Experiment with Emersed Dwarf Hairgrass The Plant Finder says Java Fern grows emersed, so that should work fine. It may take some time to convert to emersed foliage, and again to convert to submersed foliage when you flood the tank. I'm not at all sure about that. I think the substrate is a little too wet. It will dry some in a day or so, so I would not add back enough water to see any on the surface. The problem with even slight amounts of water on the surface is that the light can cause BGA to grow along the substrate/glass boundary, where you won't notice it until you flood the tank. Given how easy it is to plant on nearly dry substrate I suggest spreading out the hairgrass to as near to single plants as you can. It takes an hour or so per pot to do that, but it is worth the effort. At least they can't float out like they do with submersed plantings. With my glosso, I could have "planted" them by just dropping them on the surface of the substrate. That might also work with hairgrass.