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Monte Carlo not doing so great

13K views 29 replies 5 participants last post by  Ninja_green 
#1 ·
After battling cyano bacteria I seem to be on another minor problem, that I am not too sure about. My Monte Carlo grows, but seems to die off just as fast. I have attached some images to show what they look like.

I know some of my fish nibble at the Monte Carlo, but I don’t think that they are causing all of the Monte Carlo to have this issue. I hope..

I have tried dosing EI again at 3ml for micro and macro, but this seems to produce high amounts of diatoms. This is something I also need to look into.

I am using a Finnex 24/7 I keep it on for around 7 hours a day, at around 70%.
Temp - 24.5
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 5 PPM (When not dosing EI at the end of the week, before WC.)
GH - 3
KH - 4
PH - 7 (Before CO2) 6/6.2 (After CO2 is on)
Phosphate - 2

Any help would be greatly appreciated to help me getting these to grow for a carpet.

Thanks! :)


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#4 ·
How height is your tank? Running at 70% my guess is not enough light for it. Especially since it's all the way on the bottom. In my high tank at 22" from light to substrate is about 40 par. You might be on the low end even less depending on how deep your tank is running at 70%

Check the par data I did here for it. And especially since your doing co2 running it at 70% I'm guessing you are at 20-30 par which just isn't going to cut it. Remember light is what drives the plants.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...24-7-planted-par-lux-kelvin-pur-readings.html

You need to be at medium light to help the monte carlo

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#6 ·
How height is your tank? Running at 70% my guess is not enough light for it. Especially since it's all the way on the bottom. In my high tank at 22" from light to substrate is about 40 par. You might be on the low end even less depending on how deep your tank is running at 70%

Check the par data I did here for it. And especially since your doing co2 running it at 70% I'm guessing you are at 20-30 par which just isn't going to cut it. Remember light is what drives the plants.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/1...24-7-planted-par-lux-kelvin-pur-readings.html

You need to be at medium light to help the monte carlo

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The height of my tank is 14" running the 24" Finnex 24/7. I see, the reason the light was turned down a little was due to elimination of the algae, I just never turned it back up incase of this helping it grow again, but I will try upping the light to see if this helps the carlo. The co2 comes on 1 hour before lights on, and goes off 1 hour before lights off.

Below the LED fixture is a 3mm thick glass pannel, I'm not too sure if that will affect par by much though.

Keep in kind that directly applying glut or peroxide onto the plant may very well melt it
I was aware of that yeah, but these new pots of monte carlo were added nearly 1 month after the peroxide dosing, which is why I am unsure the cause of the poor health.
 
#9 ·
You do not need to up your lighting. The one-two punch is pretty likely melting your mc off. Up nitrates, i see your dosing ei, that is good for the foreground. Lighting is fine where it is at. Are you seeing pearling? rapid pearling? Forget about the diatoms for now and focus on growing the monte carlo. you can siphon with a airline tube the diatoms, but do not use the excel and glut. and h2o2 imo. Stop using those and wait for recovery.
 
#10 ·
What nitrate ppm should I aim for roughly? I am not seeing pearling from the monte carlo, but my rotala green has mild pearling, all my other plants don’t pearl. Will do! As I liquid dose, me upping the nitrate will also increase the sulphate & phosphate, is this ok? Or should I move to dry dosing for a more precise dosing?
 
#14 ·
After turning the co2 up today (still a green/lime green) I am still not seeing any pearling from the monte carlo, and the rotala green also doesn't seem to pearl much either really. I also have quite a high detris buildup on the rocks, even after removing it all during my WC on saturday.
 
#19 ·
Ok that's good to know! I am going to try with the MC, I just hope I can get a carpet growing from it, as it is one of the easier carpeting plants.

I have upped the light alittle, co2 is the same as yesterday. I am still dosing 3ml of both micros/macros, but will monitor my parameters and increase these. The only thing I'm abit worried about is high amounts of diatoms, and debris throughout the week, although you said ignore the diatoms.


Get a couple algae eaters like Otto cat or SAE and they will make quick work of the diatoms.


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I was looking at this a while back, I would opt for Otto cats, but how many would be recommended for a 20gal 2ft long tank? I already have 5 rummy and 3 cardinals. Don't want to over stock too much.
 
#20 ·
My MC seems to be doing well in the same tank/water conditions. I have a Finnex planted plus 24/7 over my Spec V tank (light's ~14" off substrate (ADA aqua soil)). I'm doing injected CO2 as well. I am running the lighting very low for the planted 24/7. Just 10% of the brightness. Select a memory slot on the remote and press the white LED up button once. Then add in as much color LED as you want (I bumped up the red to make my RCS pop out). Then save the color option. I run the light 8 hours a day, 4 in the morning, 4 hour break and 4 hours in the evening. CO2 comes on with the light.
I does flourish ferts irregularly, WC's: 40% ~every 10 days.

Idk what the PAR is at this setting. I don't get any pearling at this level of light. If I go 100% on the 24/7, the MC pearls but my GSA gets outta control.
 
#21 ·
I am currently running max on the finnex 24/7, at around the same depth as you to the substrate. I was previously running 70%, but have increased this as suggested. I run 7 hours straight, although splitting it up like you have would be better for my viewing. Luckily I don’t seem to get any GSA with my current light setting, thankfully!
I think mine is down to me dosing peroxide and excel though as other members have stated here. I will keep this thread updated to show if there has been any improvement :)
 
#22 ·
Hello all, just updating this thread with new pictures. I think there has been some new growth on the centre Monte Carlo, but the left side seems to still be struggling. (Left old & right new). I have sufficient flow in all areas of the tank, so I don’t think this is the cause.

Middle Section of the carpet:
Body of water Nature Vegetation Branch Wood

Left Side of the carpet:
Nature Vegetation Branch Organism Wood

Side view (Picture took today):
Plant community Soil Adaptation Terrestrial plant Groundcover


I have also added some otos and they have been doing a great job removing the diatoms, thanks for the recommendation clownplanted.
 
#23 ·
Hello all, just updating this thread with new pictures. I think there has been some new growth on the centre Monte Carlo, but the left side seems to still be struggling. (Left old & right new). I have sufficient flow in all areas of the tank, so I don’t think this is the cause.



Middle Section of the carpet:

View attachment 758138

Left Side of the carpet:

View attachment 758146

Side view (Picture took today):

View attachment 758154



I have also added some otos and they have been doing a great job removing the diatoms, thanks for the recommendation clownplanted.


Light could be struggling to get to that area? In my 60 gallon tank the areas in the corners the plants would struggle. I also have a Finnex 24/7. I added a second light beamswork dhl 6500k and it fixed the issue. Just a thought.


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#25 ·
Another quick update, I seem to have stable growth, and can start to see it filling in the middle slowly. Left and right sides are still growing a bit slower, I have changed the flow after today’s WC, so we will see if that helps, if not i will have to look into lighting as mentioned previously.

[Last Week/ New Picture]
Nature Vegetation Green Organism Leaf


Nature Vegetation Green Organism Leaf
 
#26 ·
Looking good. Many do not realize how important flow is and can be a cause of many issues. A good way to check for flow is move the drop checker in furthest point away and check ph levels all around tank for even ph. Looking good.


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#29 ·
how's going now? Mc is a fast plant
thickening up?
Growth has been steady, I think without taking pictures I wouldn't notice the changes as much. Both the right and left side are growing slower, not sure why exactly, but there is growth there. I have also noticed a bit of BGA growing under the soil, but nowhere else weirdly. All that aside progress on the carpet is moving in a positive direction I feel :)

[Last week's picture/ updated picture]
Left Side:
Nature Vegetation Green Organism Leaf

Center:
Nature Vegetation Organism Branch Green

Rightside:
Body of water Nature Vegetation Organism Branch
 
#30 ·
Quick update on the monte carlo. It has been growing great! Middle is spreading out to towards the sides aswell, looks like I do not have any growth issues like before. It took two failed attempts, but got it growing in the end, thanks for the help along the way! :)
 

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