# "Grass" for my 10 Gallon



## Galvatron898 (Feb 27, 2011)

So I recently ventured into planted Aquariums. I set up a 10 Gallon for the Night stand in my bedroom and I wanted to focus on making it a planted type tank. I have seen alot of pics of planted tanks and alot have a pretty "grass" looking bottom. Is that some type of moss or should look for a specific type of plant?
I have: 
Sera Floredepot as my substrate with a layer of Gravel on top of it. 
Ghost Shrimp
Guppies
2 15w 6500k Daylight CFL Bulbs
DIY Co2
If it is a type of moss, what is the best way to anchor it to the bottom?
As I plan to have it cover most of the bottom should I remove the gravel?
Thanks
Matt


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## Donald Hansen (Jan 21, 2011)

Try doing a Google on these:

Dwarf Hairgrass

Blyxa Japonica

Micro Sword

Add a "for sale" to the end of each name before you Google it. All of these can grow in moderate light. I have the Blyxa Japonica and really like it. It doesn't spread by runners so, depending on how fast it grows, you would have to divide a plant every so often and then plant the 2 smaller plants you now have.

DLH


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

Blyxa wont do well w/ diy co2, at least it didnt in my case. Try dwarf hair grass, chain sword, dwarf sag, micro swords....those should do good in what you have


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## Galvatron898 (Feb 27, 2011)

Thanks im gonna check them out


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## Galvatron898 (Feb 27, 2011)

Btw, 
Any suggestions on my substrate? Should I leave it? remove the gravel? if so what should I replace with? I read somewhere about leaving the Floredepot on the bottom and putting petemoss over it. do you think the Dwarf hairgrass will grow as is?
Thanks 
Matt


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## Chip Jackson (Mar 7, 2012)

I would remove the gravel (for ease of planting if nothing else) The dwarf hairgrass is nice and plamnted correctly wil spread for you nicely. Personally I would try for baby Tears which I wish I had done. Both need good light to grow of which you have 2.5 to 3 watts of light. They will need some ferts to get going. Don't no if and how you are dosing ferts so can't make any suggestions but a root pill will help them a bunch also. So me personally would do baby dwarf tears without gravel, but you may want to add more substrate to get at least 3/4 -1 inch in there. Good luck and let us know how your doing. Be careful planting anything that will shade these as with-out light you could have some gaps. Here's a lik that will show you different foreground plants with descriptions.

Aquarium Plants | Green Leaf Aquariums


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## whitetiger61 (Aug 2, 2011)

dwarf baby tears are a very nice plant..i have found it doesnt do to well for me with diy co2 but that just my experience with it. i have seen alot of people grow it sucessfully with diy co2..i think it just depends on your mixture..i grow it in a pressureized system with LED lighting but my favorite is dwarf hair grass.

Rick


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## Chip Jackson (Mar 7, 2012)

whitetiger61 said:


> dwarf baby tears are a very nice plant..i have found it doesnt do to well for me with diy co2 but that just my experience with it. i have seen alot of people grow it sucessfully with diy co2..i think it just depends on your mixture..i grow it in a pressureized system with LED lighting but my favorite is dwarf hair grass.
> 
> Rick


Dwarf gras is nice. Don't make the mistake I made when I planted it in my 125. Break it up, in other words just take a few strands from each basket and plant them an inch or so apart. I broke mine up, but not enough and it looks loike clumps although it is now starting to spread. Make sure you carefully remove as much rock wool as you can. I had to replant some of mine because I didn't get the rock rule off on those pieces. I also trimmed mine twice (to 1/2 inch) and they would spread a little faster. Some of my H/G got to 4 inches tall.


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## whitetiger61 (Aug 2, 2011)

Chip Jackson said:


> Dwarf gras is nice. Don't make the mistake I made when I planted it in my 125. Break it up, in other words just take a few strands from each basket and plant them an inch or so apart. I broke mine up, but not enough and it looks loike clumps although it is now starting to spread. Make sure you carefully remove as much rock wool as you can. I had to replant some of mine because I didn't get the rock rule off on those pieces. I also trimmed mine twice (to 1/2 inch) and they would spread a little faster. Some of my H/G got to 4 inches tall.


i do the same thing to mine..just forgot to post that..cutting it seems to make it grow faster..and yes when planting it dont plant as a group..use finer strands of it..takes forever to plant but it will grow in more lush and full that way.

Rick


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## Kehy (Apr 19, 2011)

Depending on if you want the crabgrass look, you could also try dwarf sag, lol. With that, the less light you give it, the taller it grows. like 2 watts per gallon should keep it manageable. Maybe mixing dwarf hairgrass and dwarf sag to get a rougher, more natural look?

As far as I can tell, d. sag can survive almost anything, I had it in a tank with no ferts and crappy lighting for months. Not that it actually grew under those conditions, but it didn't die either. 

Speaking of which, I happen to have some of both for sale right now, if you're interested  (self promoting? what's that? lol)


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