Dying Carpet

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cherokeeluvr

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
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My Monte Carlo carpet started dying a little over a month ago and still looks awful. The bottom part near the substrate is dead, and there is only a little amount of green on the top now. I can easily pull out chunks of the carpet and it travels s all the dead stuff around and under it. Nothing has changed with my routine, so I don't understand what is causing this. Is there something I can do to fix this, or do I just need to tear it out and start over?

Also, the roots on my AR and rotala Indica are going crazy. Also, the bottom of the stems and in the middle of the rotala bush is looking unhealthy. Are they maybe lacking in something? Do I need to pull them out and replant the tops and get a fresh start?

Here are some pictures:

https://ibb.co/kwToWk


https://ibb.co/gPa7P5


https://ibb.co/cqfwHQ


https://ibb.co/diz1j5


https://ibb.co/by7Mj5


https://ibb.co/fSUOxQ


Quick tank stats:

- fluval spec 5 gallon
- Finnex planted plus-runs 8 hours
- Co2(roughly 1BPS)-runs 8 hours (comes on 1 hour before lights and turns off 1 hour before lights)
- Fluorite sand substrate
- I dose iron, flourish, and metricide weekly with 50% water changes

I dose metricide when I do water changes. I noticed it has an expiration date. Does anybody know if that date would apply to aquarium use?


Part of me wants to just rescape it. I'm thinking maybe iwagumi. Does anybody have any new carpet suggestions, or just any plant suggestions in general?
 
Carpets too thick, I'd say your lacking in lighting to have the Carlo that thick. Light isn't getting to the Lower leafs so it's dying out and rotting away. Same for the rotala they do eventually need to be topped and replanted to keep them healthy [emoji106]

I'd do a rescape and just salvage what you can, iwagumi is always cool. Tall rocks to the left side with dwarf hair grass along the back and a mc or HC carpet in front with some ludwigia glandulosa around the base of the rocks would look good and maybe some nice bushy hygro pinnifida in the back left corner [emoji106]
 
Carpets too thick, I'd say your lacking in lighting to have the Carlo that thick. Light isn't getting to the Lower leafs so it's dying out and rotting away. Same for the rotala they do eventually need to be topped and replanted to keep them healthy [emoji106]

I'd do a rescape and just salvage what you can, iwagumi is always cool. Tall rocks to the left side with dwarf hair grass along the back and a mc or HC carpet in front with some ludwigia glandulosa around the base of the rocks would look good and maybe some nice bushy hygro pinnifida in the back left corner [emoji106]



Is there a different carpeting plant that won't get as thick, so the light can reach to the bottom? Or is it just a matter of keeping it trimmed low? And with the rotala, is there something I can do on a regular basis to keep it from getting so thick, or do I just need to start fresh every now and again when it gets too tick?



I like that idea! I love the look of the ludwigia glanduloso.
 
I had a similar issue with the DBT/HC Cuba carpet I was growing in my 20 long. Once it covered the substrate, unless it was periodically trimmed, it would grow over itself. The result was a lumpy carpet. The shading caused by the heavy growth may have contributed to the decay that was occurring in the undergrowth. At that point it started to lift away from the substrate. Trying to replant it as it was not going well so I pulled it all out and went with Staurogyne repens. While not a true carpet plant, it stays low and spreads laterally under the right conditions.
You may want to consider trying Glosso instead. It grow rapidly and requires regular trimming. Leaves are slightly larger than MC and DBT. It grew too fast in my tank.
I would remove the AR, trim off the top 2-3" and plant those. Same with the rotala. The adventitious roots draw the view away from the foliage.
I never noticed the EXP date on the metricide. I should check (bought mine in 2014 I think).
What color does the drop checker get during the day? I would shoot for lime green. How well is the flow circulating the CO2 mist? You might consider bumping it up to 2 BPS.
 
I had a similar issue with the DBT/HC Cuba carpet I was growing in my 20 long. Once it covered the substrate, unless it was periodically trimmed, it would grow over itself. The result was a lumpy carpet. The shading caused by the heavy growth may have contributed to the decay that was occurring in the undergrowth. At that point it started to lift away from the substrate. Trying to replant it as it was not going well so I pulled it all out and went with Staurogyne repens. While not a true carpet plant, it stays low and spreads laterally under the right conditions.
You may want to consider trying Glosso instead. It grow rapidly and requires regular trimming. Leaves are slightly larger than MC and DBT. It grew too fast in my tank.
I would remove the AR, trim off the top 2-3" and plant those. Same with the rotala. The adventitious roots draw the view away from the foliage.
I never noticed the EXP date on the metricide. I should check (bought mine in 2014 I think).
What color does the drop checker get during the day? I would shoot for lime green. How well is the flow circulating the CO2 mist? You might consider bumping it up to 2 BPS.



Ok, sounds like I need a fresh start. Will the glosso grow over itself like HC and MC? I'd like to be able to ignore the carpet for a few weeks and not have issues.

Mine says it expire April this year and I think I got it last year or the year before. But it sounds like it's not the problem, and not a problem in general since you're experiencing no issues.

I have a GLA diffuser right under the filter output. It gets pretty well diffused, but I probability need to clear up the plants a bit so it'll work better. The drop checker is usually light green, sometimes a tint of blue.
 
My experience with Glosso started with "Oh, it's so green" to "Look! Runners!" to "It grows fast" and then to "Its the aquatic version of Kudzu!" Maybe you can go 2 weeks before trimming. Just depends on how fast it is growing in YOUR tank.
I switched to staur repens because of the low maintenance. I recently planted it in May and just the other day I pulled it all out and replanted some of the trimmings (3 months). I like that pace. Leaf size may not be ideal for a 5g but it looks fine in a 20 long.
 
My experience with Glosso started with "Oh, it's so green" to "Look! Runners!" to "It grows fast" and then to "Its the aquatic version of Kudzu!" Maybe you can go 2 weeks before trimming. Just depends on how fast it is growing in YOUR tank.
I switched to staur repens because of the low maintenance. I recently planted it in May and just the other day I pulled it all out and replanted some of the trimmings (3 months). I like that pace. Leaf size may not be ideal for a 5g but it looks fine in a 20 long.



Haha that may grow a bit too fast for me then!!

I love the look of s repens. I think it may be too large as the main carpet, but it would look good as a little short bushy area!
 
It is. I've got folks here and on FB snatching it up so chime in.
It will do well in your setup. Just not sure if that is the look you are going for.



Im not going to have time to do a rescape or get the other plants I'm interested in for a while, so I don't think that'll work out this time. I'll keep my eyes open when I'm ready to get new plants, because I know you've got great plants :D
 
Does anybody know if dwarf baby tears would do ok in my setup? I think the small leaves would look a little better than Monte Carlo.
 
I've been looking into dwarf baby tears a bit more, and it seems to do best in the mid 70s for temperature. I keep my tank at 78, since I've got tropical fish. Does anybody have experience to know if it will still thrive at 78 degrees?
 
I forgot to update here...

The DBT are spreading along, slowly but surly. The growth isn’t compact, and looks really ugly right now; hopefully it’ll fill in soon!

The AR mini looks great and has good color.

The algae is growing like crazy in here and looks atrocious. There is hair algae everywhere-even growing on the surface film! Yuck!

The filter pump just died (again-just bought a new one like 6 months ago...).

I just ran out of co2, and no stores have functioning tanks to fill mine.

It’s been a rough the last week and right now the tank just looks like an ugly algae farm!

Hopefully it start looking up here pretty soon and I’ll be able to actually post a picture [emoji38]
 
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