The Great Hairgrass Race

[Lowells Fish Lab]

I'm starting a fun experiment today and thought I'd share. I'm setting up six pods of dwarf hairgrass using three common plant substrates either with or without root tabs. All of the pods will share the same column-fertilized water, the same (hopefully even) lighting, and I will be infusing CO2.  At intervals I will rotate the outer pods to the inside to try to remove disparate lighting as a variable.

My goals are to find out how much DHG benefits from root fertilization, which of these substrates it grows best in, and also how quickly a carpet can fill out when given optimal conditions. I'm excited to see how this goes.

[Cory]

I'm interested as well. Love watching these types of experiments.

[Lowells Fish Lab]

Two week update:

Currently the UNS substrate with a root tab appears to have the most new growth but really, they've all done well. 

 

[Mike_M]

This is awesome. Thanks for posting!

[Lowells Fish Lab]

One Month Update:

There's been continued growth for all but UNS w/ tab still seems to be in the lead followed shortly by Amazonia w/ tab.

 

There have been some interesting differences in root development also. Maybe stretching deeper looking for nutrients that aren't there? This was most pronounced in the Eco Complete.

 

The pods look pretty filled out but when viewed from above it's more obvious that there's plenty of room to grow. Below shows no tab on the left and tab on the right.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Lowells Fish Lab

[Mike_M]

Interesting! In one of my tanks with eco complete I have noticed that it is sort of really densely packed, and my dwarf sag has grown large root structures, but not sent out as many runners, like they have trouble getting through the eco. Hasn't happened in other tanks I've used it in though.

[Lowells Fish Lab]

Alright after about 7 weeks I think the results are clear enough. I'll start with Amazonia:

Quite a bit more growth in the root tab pod.

Now the UNS Controsoil. The difference in this case was a bit more pronounced and again favored the root tab.

Now for the ecocomplete which was a bit of an anomaly:

 

There might be a tad bit more growth on the root tab pod but the difference is almost imperceptible. There was not quite as much growth in the ecocomplete as either of the nutrient rich substrates but it still produced a dense and healthy carpet. As for the lack of obvious benefit from root fertilization, I can only guess at why. I think it benefitted from ecocomplete's ability to absorb and hold nutrients from the water column but was also limited by its weight and coarseness. It's possible that the comparatively open structure of the substrate allowed more of the dissolved root tab to wash away into the water column instead of staying locked near the roots. If you have any other explanations for what happened here, let me know.

Overall here are my personal conclusions.

1. Root tabs appear to substantially improve the growth rate of dwarf hairgrass.
2. Given high light, ample nutrients and co2 infusion, small plugs of DHG spaced about an inch apart can grow into a dense carpet in 6-8 weeks.
3. UNS controsoil produced the best growth from beginning to end.

This experiment had its limits but if for some reason I had to grow a DHG carpet quickly, I would opt for UNS controsoil with root tabs.

 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Lowells Fish Lab

[Patrick_G]

It looks like the cheapest option, Eco without tabs, produced a good dense carpet when viewed from above. Does it appear that way in person? 

[Lowells Fish Lab]

On 6/28/2021 at 8:46 PM, Patrick_G said:

It looks like the cheapest option, Eco without tabs, produced a good dense carpet when viewed from above. Does it appear that way in person? 

It looks great in person. Other than this experiment I've only done one hairgrass carpet and used ecocomplete with fair success. It just took some months to grow in.

 

[ARMYVET]

This was a great read.  Awesome job done and I think very well thought out and performed.  The Nerm hive minds at work!! 

 

Thank you for this @Lowells Fish Lab

[ARMYVET]

Ps...

 

Now do it all over again except this time do not inject CO2.....🤣

[Lowells Fish Lab]

On 6/29/2021 at 5:05 AM, ARMYVET said:

Now do it all over again except this time do not inject CO2.....

I just might! I would like to repeat the experiment with montecarlo and dwarf baby tears. 

[Patrick_G]

@Lowells Fish Lab, your Eco complete scape does indeed look great! I’m beginning to think that substrate choice matters less than the skill and experience of the Aquascaper. 😀

[Crabby]

Wow, super cool experiment! I didn’t realise tabs could make such a difference when using soil. I might have to use some with my DHG, it’s growing awfully slowly. 

[Streetwise]

This is cool. @Lowells Fish Lab, what are those containers? Do you have an Amazon link if they are not local purchases?

[Lowells Fish Lab]

On 8/17/2021 at 5:09 AM, Streetwise said:

This is cool. @Lowells Fish Lab, what are those containers? Do you have an Amazon link if they are not local purchases?

The containers were actually just plastic organizers of some sort.. I found them on the sales floor of a tap plastic. I think an Amazon search for something similar would be square plastic drawer organizers.

[CalmedByFish]

Interesting and helpful! Thanks for doing this, and thanks for sharing it.

[eatyourpeas]

On 8/17/2021 at 5:09 AM, Streetwise said:

This is cool. @Lowells Fish Lab, what are those containers? Do you have an Amazon link if they are not local purchases?

You could also use freezer jam containers.

https://www.amazon.com/Arrow-Reusable-Plastic-Storage-Container/dp/B075SLPS7C/ref=asc_df_B075SLPS7C/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=229200252920&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1825473110122621976&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033314&hvtargid=pla-378246421193&psc=1

[Patrick_G]

Since we’ve been discussing substrates on a different thread I think it’s time to bump this one.