Light: medium - very high

Growth: medium - fast

Demands: medium - difficult

Pruning: builds out runners. You need to pull out the whole carpet to get control again, once it got out of control.

Water hardness: doesn´t seem to matter

Specials: Different spieces of eleocharis are sold on the market. Some of them are larger, and some are shorter (eleocharis parvulus a dwarf hairgrass). They look alike and have nearly the same demands, but are different in height.

Propagation: Runners

Experiences: The plant is not too easy. It requires a good substrate, higher light and CO2 addition to really grow well.

Planting: It is best to plant every shoot separate. This is a lot of work, but if you have enough plants this is the easiest and fastest way to get a carpet. Plant as dense as you can. Once you have planted it and you are not sure where it is comming from, cut the leaves to a height of about 11/2 inch. Most of the plants you can buy are grown emers (above water) and the leaves that have been growing above water can´t adapt to growing under water and are deterriorating. Before that they usually get infested with algae. To avoid this it is best to prune before it happens.

I like to plant in small bunches spaced about one inch apart. In this tank I have Eco-Complete with 110w CF 9325K over a 36gal tank. I use pressure CO2 along with regular ferts schedule.

Here you see the first planting.

This is one month later. You can see how its starting to grow in.

This is the third month. I think it looks the best at this stage.

Here is the fourth month. You can see its in need of a hair cut and is over growing everything. When It get to this point its easier to take plugs and replant. Its to thick to just do a haircut.

I hope this helps show the different stages of growth and how fast hairgrass can grow under the ideal conditions.