3 Weeks - Great Growth, Now Maintenance?

[Smithyithy]

Hi all,

My nano tank is 3 weeks old now, and overall I'm very happy with the plant growth, comparison of Day 1 vs. today (Day 20?):





I'm genuinely surprised by the growth rate, so, my question is...



I took some close-ups of the plants:

Monte Carlo:





Staurogyne Repens and Reineckii Mini:



Rotala Bonsai (midground); Rotala Green mixed with Vietnam H'Ra (background):





At this stage, should I begin pruning to control the growth of the different plants?

Some of the background Rotala has already reached the top of the water which is crazy! I'd like to achieve that solid rear wall effect, but as you can see, the Bonsai needs to grow a little more to fill that midground, ideally as high as the tallest rock.

So I'm just looking for some pointers really, as to where to begin maintenance, and also, once the desired growth has been acheived, can this be retained by, for example, lowering the CO2 / light intensity / fertiliser quantity? Or would that be detrimental to the plants?

Any advice more than welcome, I don't want to go all out like this....



...without seeking advice on here first 😆

 

[Jayefc1]

I would trim now plants react well to pruning and it will help them thicken and you will achieve your desired effect i wouldn't lower lights ferts or co2 looks like you have a good balance

 

[Zeus.]

Great start IMO

As 'Jay' says

Rotala is sometimes best pulled out of substrate trim bottom off then replant, or can just cut off longest ones replants then or just squeeze them in between the other rotala stems until it holds by its self - doesnt need to be in substrate to thrive and will soon have new roots. You do tend to have the best rotala near the top, just cutting tops off leaves you with the worse bit of plant and lower stems can suffer from loss of leaves when rotala thickens out and lower stems get less CO2. Cutting off at substrate level leaves plant which will recover most of time - however with all the other rotala getting the kings share off the light and CO2 growth of these tends to be poor, so IMO it is best to lift all the stems out, pick the best trim all to same level then replant, throw the scrappy looking stems

 

[Smithyithy]

Thanks for the replies guys! Gives me a bit more confidence haha, I'll have a go at trimming at least some of the Rotala to balance out the growth 😎

 

[rebel]

Amazing start!

I would increase CO2 by 20% in the next couple of weeks as the plant mass increases.