Montecarlo help please

[Darren Carter]

Hi guys so I have set up my new shrimp tank it’s a Dennerle 10l it’s 20x20x25cm cube I’m running a terra fx200 filter and a chip on board fluval light I’m looking at carpeting it with montecarlo, I have never grown montecarlo before my substrate is fluval stratum im going to be using liquid co2 and aquascaper ferts, how close do I plant it together and how do I get it to carpet and how do I split the tropica pot thanks in advance

 

[Siege]

If fertiliser in pots are the liquid type, just tip away. Gel type need rinsing off.

Turn plant mass upside down and then tear in half and half again and continue. You want to end up with small piles of plants each c.1cm - 2cm large. Really depends on how patient you want to be in planting!

When planting start around the hardscape and work out.

Check out George farmers videos on you tube. He shows planting method quite well in pete’s iwagumi and Stevens aquascaper 600.

 

[Darren Carter]

OK thank you very much I will look in to these videos looking forward to starting it waiting for plants to arrive,
My drift wood has been soaking for over a week and it’s still floating

 

[Siege]

Might be a couple of weeks yet until the wood is sinking.

You could attach it to a piece of slate or egg crate. Bury the slate in the substrate. Use cable ties or liquid super glue and cigarette filters. This method is shown well on Nigel’s mountain scape journal.

The wood will look good with lots of moss on it. Gel super glue to fix, but given the shape fine fishing line may give you a better moss spread. Buce will also look good attached. Have a look at mini red. That is nice.

Good luck!

 

[alto]

You might consider a dry start - this will give the MC time to establish roots & lots of leaf growth
Without CO2, you can still expect leaf “melt” after flooding, but the plants should be better able to recover

If planting & flooding same day, I’d leave some small distance (maybe 1cm) between each “clump”

If you have established filter media, I’d add shrimp (2-3 days later) to clear away any leaf melt
Clithon diadema snails are also excellent (note they are more delicate than other nerites)


Try boiling the wood - pick up a cheap pot as some wood can release a dark tarry substance that’s virtually impossible to remove (without industrial grade solvents) - this will usually speed the sinking process
If wood remains stubbornly buoyant, then a slate base may be the best solution
If wood begins to sink, then a rock placed on top of wood in aquarium (until wood finally sinks) usually works ... I’d leave the rock in place for several weeks

 

[alto]

I’ve had MC carpet nicely in my non-tech window tanks
Tropica Aquarium Soil Powder
Filtered Sunlight (east window with blinds)
Eheim mini filter
Water change as per Tropica 90 day App (at least that was the attempted schedule )
Tropica Premium fertilizer as tap water is very soft, also dosed Tropica Specialised after few months

I didn’t use any liquid carbon, in a small tank, be careful of overdosing

(& handle with caution, especially with kids ... if possible place in a dark bottle with a “pump” so you don’t need to pour small amounts daily etc, avoid skin contact & inhalation.
While the aquarium marketed compound is “stabilized”, this term also applies to lab grade Glutaraldehyde, & as none of the aquarium companies are stating exactly how they stabilize their product differently, I prefer to err on the side of caution )

Karen Randall’s article is worth a read

 

[Siege]

Alto makes a good point re liquid carbon.

Personally I only use it nowadays for the first couple of months following tank start up. It’s a brilliant algaecide

It is rather viscious stuff and flares up eczema on my right forearm from doing maintenance.
So Bare that in mind if it is a tank that kids will put their arm into.

 

[sparkyweasel]

Wow, if it affects you at that dilution it really is nasty stuff.
You can get shoulder-length rubber gloves for tank maintenance. I don't see the point for most people, but they might be good for you.

 

[Darren Carter]

Hi guys sorry for late reply, my skins pretty tough to chemicals and heat I’m a chef but all my chemicals and fish stuff are locked away I have a toddler that likes to get in to things, so I was going to plant the montecarlo in the 10l tank but decided to put it in my 30l tank I couldn’t do the dry start method due to needing the tank up and cycling etc, so I watched a few videos and I gave it a go here’s a picture what do you guys think

 

[alto]

Maybe add some grass species around/between the rocks

- though you can also place some MC

I just like the rock/grass effect, Eleocharis mini or parvula re fine leaf

(I’d thin out a few clumps & use it as dry start in the 10, think of George’s one pot Iwagumi )

 

[Something Fishy]

Will be fine the way you’ve planted it.

What’s your flow is the key thing? Needs to be feeding it well and covering it all 10x aquarium vol per hour.

As others said without co2 it’s hard to get it working but possible. I personally had lots of melt without co2 and haven’t really managed to get it growing well until I added it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rebel]

MC will grow without CO2 but you need to be judicious with the amount of light at the beginning. Most go overboard and end up with algae.

You'd be surprised how it grows and even crawls with minimal light.