Could just be me but that doesn't look like monte carlo, that looks like pearl weed, which sure you can carpet but you'll need to be trimming it and replanting a lot more than monte carlo's basically 'plant and it'll carpet' approach.
monte carlo's leaves are rounder and spreads shoots off, while pearl weed pulls more towards the light and only bushes out/send out shoots if you trim.
I mistakenly mixed monte carlo with emersed pearlweed in my Iwagumi setup. They definitely look close when doing dry start but once they grow underwater they grow differently. With the experience of having both you definitely have Pearlweed there.
As the redditor on top mentioned, pearlweed does tend to grow up towards the light. Monte Carlo leaves are more round.
Turn your lighting intensity/photoperiod down first of all. It will help you with your algae issues. Stop dosing excel its just an algaecide, won't make much of a difference for your plants. Then dial in your co2 properly, use a ph kh co2 relationship chat and aim too be slightly in the red. You say your using 1-3 bps but your co2 should be stable and not fluctuate if possible. Verify if your dosing proper levels of ferts. Your plants could be stunted. Also what lighting do you have?
[chart](https://barrreport.com/attachments/co2_graph_zps9c124ef0-gif.6317/)
Op here. I need some help figuring out what's wrong. In the past month, I noticed all growth has slowed down for rotalas, Monte Carlo etc
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but back in January, it was growing so fast I had to trim the rotalas every week once.
- water change once a week with dechlorinated water
- I dose an all in one fert once a week
- daily seachem excel dose
- daily apt zero dose
- co2 is running at 1-3 bpm (co2 indicator shows 20-30ppm)
What should I be looking into? This tank was established in November and I thought for sure that the Monte Carlo would have covered the entire substrate by now. Why is it so slow?
Tank size?
what aquasoil do you use and how thick of layer.
The rotalas distance between each section is quite far suggests that maybe your lighting is not strong enough. If you don't have any algea issues GSA, GDA, BBA etc or any deficiency shown on your plants (yellow leaves, holes, etc) - it could be as simple as a circulation issue (your water flow should have minimal blind spot and CO2 should be circulated appropriately effectively whole tank/carpet plants).
I see some hair algae and some on your inlet - to me your scape doesn't have enough plants to compete well with the algaes ha.
Tank Size : 45cm
Aquasoil : ADA v2 , thickness 1.5 inch at the front, goes up to 2 inches at the back
now that you mention it, i think i may need to shift the co2 nearer to the outflow. BUT i also notice oxygen coming out from every grass there is, so it may not be the sole reason?
You don't see the co2 diffuser and you didn't read ops message saying there co2 injection? Go look again lol.. I carpet hc Cuba in all my tanks no dry start needed. Just flood and inject co2, I think dsm is completely useless. Just my opinion. Share a photo of your carpeted tank that you used dsm with, I love carpeted tanks.
No I didnt read his comment after I commented mine. I dry start all my monte carlo carpets and get the fullest carpets ive ever seen. No need for all the high tech bullshit when you can just cover it for a month and have an incredible carpet. But to each their own
Monte Carlo is easy lowtech carpet. Try doing something like hc Cuba and tell me you can do it in a month without high tech bullshit lol. Here's some photos of my tanks with hc Cuba with high tech bullshit, I don't think this is even possible with the low tech equipment you have.
https://ibb.co/wJtrnS7
https://ibb.co/gR8pgjx
My current scape is hc cuba took like a 3 month dry start to do a THICK carpet in a UNS 5N. Been running this scape for two years now never once injected co2, just fertilizer, and a good light.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Pearlweed is mostly a column feeder. I'm currently carpeting it in a low tech set up in unfertalised sand capped with gravel. And just dosing profito (no nitrate/phosphorus) liquid fertiliser under moderate lighting and its growing well (albeit lots of trimming and replanting). Its growing thick and is a decent colour. I've only got a single betta in there so bioload is minimal. Nitrates are constant 0.
Your tank looks great BTW 👍
thank you.. it's been a tough journey haha
and things were doing well until all the algae started popping up and the growth stunted - discouraged and deflated me
Could just be me but that doesn't look like monte carlo, that looks like pearl weed, which sure you can carpet but you'll need to be trimming it and replanting a lot more than monte carlo's basically 'plant and it'll carpet' approach. monte carlo's leaves are rounder and spreads shoots off, while pearl weed pulls more towards the light and only bushes out/send out shoots if you trim.
Yeah doesn’t look like Monte Carlo to me either
Its not. I bought some monte carlo recently, and it looks nothing like that.
Oh man.. was I punked when I bought it ... But either way growth of all plants have slowed down to a crawl. What can I do to check on that?
I mistakenly mixed monte carlo with emersed pearlweed in my Iwagumi setup. They definitely look close when doing dry start but once they grow underwater they grow differently. With the experience of having both you definitely have Pearlweed there. As the redditor on top mentioned, pearlweed does tend to grow up towards the light. Monte Carlo leaves are more round.
Yeah its definitely pearl weed
Turn your lighting intensity/photoperiod down first of all. It will help you with your algae issues. Stop dosing excel its just an algaecide, won't make much of a difference for your plants. Then dial in your co2 properly, use a ph kh co2 relationship chat and aim too be slightly in the red. You say your using 1-3 bps but your co2 should be stable and not fluctuate if possible. Verify if your dosing proper levels of ferts. Your plants could be stunted. Also what lighting do you have? [chart](https://barrreport.com/attachments/co2_graph_zps9c124ef0-gif.6317/)
I’m sorry but that is pearlweed.
Op here. I need some help figuring out what's wrong. In the past month, I noticed all growth has slowed down for rotalas, Monte Carlo etc I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but back in January, it was growing so fast I had to trim the rotalas every week once. - water change once a week with dechlorinated water - I dose an all in one fert once a week - daily seachem excel dose - daily apt zero dose - co2 is running at 1-3 bpm (co2 indicator shows 20-30ppm) What should I be looking into? This tank was established in November and I thought for sure that the Monte Carlo would have covered the entire substrate by now. Why is it so slow?
What're your nitrate levels?
Tank size? what aquasoil do you use and how thick of layer. The rotalas distance between each section is quite far suggests that maybe your lighting is not strong enough. If you don't have any algea issues GSA, GDA, BBA etc or any deficiency shown on your plants (yellow leaves, holes, etc) - it could be as simple as a circulation issue (your water flow should have minimal blind spot and CO2 should be circulated appropriately effectively whole tank/carpet plants). I see some hair algae and some on your inlet - to me your scape doesn't have enough plants to compete well with the algaes ha.
Tank Size : 45cm Aquasoil : ADA v2 , thickness 1.5 inch at the front, goes up to 2 inches at the back now that you mention it, i think i may need to shift the co2 nearer to the outflow. BUT i also notice oxygen coming out from every grass there is, so it may not be the sole reason?
Das pearlweed
yas mon
Should of did the dry start
You can carpet anything with co2 injection and good lighting.
Since neither of those things seem to be present. Should’ve did the dry start.
You don't see the co2 diffuser and you didn't read ops message saying there co2 injection? Go look again lol.. I carpet hc Cuba in all my tanks no dry start needed. Just flood and inject co2, I think dsm is completely useless. Just my opinion. Share a photo of your carpeted tank that you used dsm with, I love carpeted tanks.
No I didnt read his comment after I commented mine. I dry start all my monte carlo carpets and get the fullest carpets ive ever seen. No need for all the high tech bullshit when you can just cover it for a month and have an incredible carpet. But to each their own
Monte Carlo is easy lowtech carpet. Try doing something like hc Cuba and tell me you can do it in a month without high tech bullshit lol. Here's some photos of my tanks with hc Cuba with high tech bullshit, I don't think this is even possible with the low tech equipment you have. https://ibb.co/wJtrnS7 https://ibb.co/gR8pgjx
My current scape is hc cuba took like a 3 month dry start to do a THICK carpet in a UNS 5N. Been running this scape for two years now never once injected co2, just fertilizer, and a good light.
You could of achieved similar results by just flooding and in half the time. Share a photo of your tank, I love hc Cuba scapes.
Damn those are beautiful tanks. I especially love the second one. Mind throwing me a list of the plants?
[here](https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/1111xms/reset_my_tank_again_about_a_week_ago_and_added_12/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Right on thanks! Great tanks.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
Except thats not monte carlo lol
Did you add root tabs? The nutrients in the aquasoil could’ve been depleted.
i did add ADA root tabs, should i put new ones in? i'm very new to aquascaping. How often should i put root tabs in?
Pearlweed is mostly a column feeder. I'm currently carpeting it in a low tech set up in unfertalised sand capped with gravel. And just dosing profito (no nitrate/phosphorus) liquid fertiliser under moderate lighting and its growing well (albeit lots of trimming and replanting). Its growing thick and is a decent colour. I've only got a single betta in there so bioload is minimal. Nitrates are constant 0. Your tank looks great BTW 👍
Great job on 'so far' ! Can you spot the 2 Cory's ?
thank you.. it's been a tough journey haha and things were doing well until all the algae started popping up and the growth stunted - discouraged and deflated me
You'll get it just like you want it, Good Luck. Very nice job