[nickp87]

As per title.

I have a carpet of monte carlo in my tank, it grows fine and has covered the tank nicely, the problem I am now having is transparent leaves appearing, seems to be from the edge as the centres are still green.

Tank is 25ltr
24W of LED lighting
Eden external filter 1000LPH
External filter 500LPH
Pressurised CO2 at 2-3bps, lime green drop checker
Tropica soil
EI dosing
Excel daily
Weekly 50 water changes
2 Ottos and around 6-7 Amanos and various nerite snails

Some pics below, any help or advice appreciated.

 

[Plinkploop]

It looks like iron deficiency, but I don't know if there's parameter issues so I'm hesitant to guess. Do you have a parameter reading?

 

[nickp87]

It looks like iron deficiency, but I don't know if there's parameter issues so I'm hesitant to guess. Do you have a parameter reading?

Thanks, Plinkploop

I don't actually test my water, most tests are fairly inaccurate so seems a little pointless.

I came up with iron from my googling, but I am dosing at EI levels so a little unsure. It also only appears to be affecting the MC

Thanks

 

[Plinkploop]

From what I can gather it's usually excess ammonia/ nitrite, not enough light or inadequate co2 (I just asked a couple people I know that have mc carpets).... Nobody seems to have a definitive answer and all I did was start an argument 😬 the only thing they agreed on was water changes would help if it was, in fact, ammonia or nitrite. It would be helpful to have some parameters because without them it is virtually impossible to tell what is wrong and you'll wind up like me (I don't have access to more advanced testing supplies) using the trial and error (read- kill half your plants) testing each individual macro and micro fert at a slightly higher level and waiting for a positive or negative reaction and then starting all over again with them next. Even then it doesn't always work and you get to play the cure the algae game for a while. I'd suggest testing your water if you want to get to the bottom of this issue quickly before it gets too bad.