• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Monte Carlo Mayhem

Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl

Member
Joined
12 Jul 2011
Messages
324
Location
South Cheshire
Hi guys.

My Monte Carlo is growing at an alarming rate and is in desperate need of some maintenance. Trouble is, I'm scared to death of doing a really heavy trim and have my system crash. Anybody have any tips for best practice after heavy maintenance that will help my Monte Carlo bounce back. As you can see in pic 3 to the left it didn't do to well last time.

Thanks.

1. February

3e22a98aec7371e0270f0480796a004b_zpsdyuenp9c.jpg


2. March

390b1d92c5743e2da202c029f6198fe0_zpsasyp8av1.jpg


3. April

ac2670a1e3a2a68ed790238da10bd07b_zps0snvrz2r.jpg


4.May

f97493de84ccbec947cf2c975eb965aa_zpsfcjt04kx.jpg


c1064c4f44fffd4ee05626e95ac24faf_zpsvveqafgt.jpg


0998e1cb4bfc6f2c748bfbd6ebfa73c0_zpsulgzteeq.jpg
 
I wouldnt worry too much, as the tank is 4 months old now the filter will be well populated and bacteria will be throughout the tank.
I have just done the same to mine, however do up the water changes to twice weekly while it establishes again though, mainly because i uprooted a lot of plants though.
I would guess that you may have a slow recovery though as when it gets this tall the base of the plants can be very weak and yellow due to lack of light and flow.
 
not sure what I'm looking at in pic 3? is that straight after a trim? If so, it just looks sad because the lower portions aren't getting any light. To prevent that you just have to trim more regularly.

Growth looks fantastic, don't think you have anything to worry about!
 
You could probably do two things. A massive trim on one side and let it start to recover then do the same on the other half.
The second option would be to get a credit card and simply cut through the plant mass into the substrate and take out a handful to sell or swap on the forum/ebay or bin it :D
 
Iain, I'm hoping I'll be alright at the root. All looks good, what's visible from the sides of the tank anyway. I currently have a spray bar at the rear and its pushing flow to the front and down through the MC mass towards the rear (hopefully). I guess we'll soon find out.

Rahms, It's difficult to see in the pic but to the left you can see the plant is in a sorry state. This was after I trimmed back a small section due to an outbreak of hair algae. The tank wasn't as healthy as it is currently though.

Ender, Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey may be the best way to go here. Trimming half first and waiting sounds like a plan. Cheers.
 
Iain and Rahms are right........never let a carpet get this tall.
Your lush growth says your plants thrive.....but too much of a good thing makes it bad, eventually
Trimming needs to be done more frequent and in less drastic way. The base of each plant should never be so "deep", that light and flow are blocked. When trimmed, they will then be healthy and strong enough to reproduce fast and dense. Besides the general balance of your tank will benefit from not being thrown off balance by the accasional, drastic trim.
This goes far all carpeting plants - and actually for most stems, too !!
The Monte Carlo really is a very strong plant, so don't ever be afraid of trimming it because of strong growtt. It will only benefit from it........
 
Thanks for your input Mick. I appreciate what you say. This is my first experience using MC, I've always gone with Cuba in the past. The plant growth looks lush now but this has not always been the case in this tank. I had a battle with hair algae for some months but after swapping my lily to a spray bar, reducing surface agitation and increasing CO2 things got much better. I'm a victim of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' syndrome. The fear of another failed tank has prevented me from trimming when I knew it needed to be done. I'll stop being such a pu**y now and cut it back.:thumbup:
 
Quetzalcoatl said:
Thanks for your input Mick. I appreciate what you say. This is my first experience using MC, I've always gone with Cuba in the past. The plant growth looks lush now but this has not always been the case in this tank. I had a battle with hair algae for some months but after swapping my lily to a spray bar, reducing surface agitation and increasing CO2 things got much better. I'm a victim of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' syndrome. The fear of another failed tank has prevented me from trimming when I knew it needed to be done. I'll stop being such a pu**y now and cut it back.
Click to expand...
Hello there. Nice tank!

Do you have a journel or some specs about the tank please?

Thanks
 
Hi Jaap.

I've been away from the site for a while and sadly I didn't create a journal which is unfortunate as I've learnt alot from this tank and others possibly could of too.

The tank is a TMC Sig600 along with stand. I use a G6 for filtration and a Hydor ETH300 inline for temp (26c). Substrate is ADA Amazonia. CO2 is via a ceramic Gush diffuser and BOC Cylinder. I dose EI (standard KNO3, KH2PO4, MgSO4 + trace). I'm currently adding 5ml of Excel too. Lighting is a TMC 1500ND tile with controller which runs around 6 hours a day @ 70%.

Flora - Micranthemum 'Monte-Carlo' Staurogene Repens, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis and Hydrocotyle tripartita.

Fauna - (15 Gold Tetra) (4 Ottos with fry.) (10 Amano's) (10 RCS)

Cheers.
 
just skim read but from my experiences of M.Mc it's a very hard plant to kill. I've been running a tank with mostly this (top link in sig) and at several times let it get way too overgrown. Hacking it back i'd been left with yellow dead roots mm's from the substrate just to have it come back again in a week or so. unlike HC the deeper root system made it much more forgiving to the deeper growth and harder trim, from my experience.
 
but if your worried about too much plant mass leaving at once, like suggested above. do half one week, then half the week after.
 
Hi Liam,
I have MC in my tank which grows almost to well, this means i have to trim it every water change. I trim one area one week and then another area the following, some times i have to do more. Great plant for a easy carpet.
Jim
 
:)

i'd go even further next time, right back to the substrate. higher where you want slopes.
 
I have to second John, here.
Let the Monte Carlo regrow a bit after this trim - and then cut even more back next time. Don't wait very long, to do this. Maybe not literally "back to the substrate", but back to a cm. or a few cm.s - then wait till thickness of carpet is 3 or 4 cm, and repeat. This continues. Trust me, the general health of your carpet will benefit from tbis technique.
 
Thats a gorgeous tank. And I would third John.
You can check out Tom Barr's video on trimming Monte Carlo. He trims it to the bare roots and they grow out fine. That's what I do too. Though mine is tied on branches of wood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top