Dry start question

[Lem1winks]

Hey all! Glad to be a part of this great community!
I am starting a new tank out and so far 1 and a half weeks in and hope to create a carpet from Dwarf Hairgrass.
My question because of the way I have mybtank set up, how high should the water be to get the bets results from a dry start. Should I have the water just under the sand layer or put enough in so it's just below the surface of the soil (where the grass is)?

I will attach a picture of my tank with two lines to help with what I'm asking.

Thank you all!!

 

[Zeus.]

Hi and welcome to the forum 😀

Nice start

As long as the plants stay above water and the substrate around them doesn't dry out your fine as the plants are getting 400ppm CO2, the nice thing about your scape is you can spray the upper layers easy keeping them moist and easily remove the excess water from the tank its removing the excess water that can be tricky. I would keep the water level low spray plenty keeping the upper layers moist as they tend to dry out faster and remove the excess from the lower sandy area. Lots of light 12hrs a day. Watch out for mold and air tank as needed to control mold.

 

[Lem1winks]

Thank you!
Okay so pretty much what I'm doing so far, just wanted to make sure I'm doing everybting correctly!
I'll make a small hole in the sand so I can easily tell and drain the water if it starts to puddle a bit.
My humidity right now is stable at 80%, is that enough? I cant seem to get it any higher than that.

 

[Zeus.]

As long as substrate is moist you should be fine esp after a few weeks. I did a 12week DSM and toward the end I was airing the tank overnight and a few days at times but my DSM was a low carpet, as a rough guide as long as the condensation on the side of the glass is above the highest plant you should be fine.

 

[Lem1winks]

Okay that's great. I'll keep up with everything I'm doing then and will be sure to give an update in a week or so.
Thank you for all your help!