How long can you maintain your Monte Carlo carpet?

[stream]

I have a currently a 2 inch thick MC carpet in my 2 ft tank(and that is after 2 big trim). I started in mid Jun 2015. I've noticed that the bottom layer of the carpet is starting to turn yellowish and there are signs of decay. The top layer is still very lush and dense.

Should I just leave it alone and let it act as fertilizers?
Is there a rule of thumb on how deep you should trim your carpet?
How thick can you grow your MC carpet? :-)

Thanks in Advance.

[happydanio123]

Wow! That is quite thick a carpet to begin with! Personally, I would advice against growing such tall carpets as the top leaves will almost usually block out light from the bottom leaves and cause them to die out, resulting in decay (as what you said). Why don't you remove the dead leaves and try to spead the monte carlo outwards so that it doesn't grow upwards but instead outwards. That way, you don't have to worrk about having to remove any more dead leaves from your tank. As for using dead leaves as fertilizer, I strongy urge you to refrain from doing that. From my experience, rotting leaves produce a lot of unwanted side effects such as oilly surface of your tank and maybe even increase in ammonia levels.

[Urban Aquaria]

Once the bottom section of a MC carpet starts to become yellow and rot, eventually they will melt away and may detach after some time and float up.

Not much you can do when that happens, except just trimming off the melted bottom layer and replanting the healthy top layer. As with most stem plants, they need to be replanted after some time to restart the growth.

[Ryan Peh]

When trimming off the bottom layer, the roots are trimmed off also right? Then the top layer can be replanted without roots?

[cheeboonyong]

Agree with UA. Same happened to me. When it's 2 inch thick, the bottom will eventually rot away and detach from the gravel. the entire carpet will eventually start to float upwards. I had to remove the ENTIRE carpet, then re-plant all over again.

Now, I just give my new carpet a good trim before it gets too thick. The roots will still be there and the leaves will regrow very fast.

[Ryan Peh]

Agree with UA. Same happened to me. When it's 2 inch thick, the bottom will eventually rot away and detach from the gravel. the entire carpet will eventually start to float upwards. I had to remove the ENTIRE carpet, then re-plant all over again.

Now, I just give my new carpet a good trim before it gets too thick. The roots will still be there and the leaves will regrow very fast.

Do you use a chiller? Cuz I was told that without chiller, MCs will wither off even with co2 and so does other plants

[cheeboonyong]

not true. mine has no chiller and they still grow well. Room temperature is good enough for MC. There may be some exotic plants that require chiller but the majority don't.

[Ryan Peh]

Do you dose fertilisers often?
If I use ADA Amazonia what else do I need to put in the substrate? Like power sand or smth

[Urban Aquaria]

When trimming off the bottom layer, the roots are trimmed off also right? Then the top layer can be replanted without roots?

Yeah, when you do a replant, just uproot all the plants and trim off the older/melting bottom sections and roots, then replant the newer healthier top sections. Its basically like replanting the carpet all over again.

[kermit13sg]

just to add on, I transported all my monte carlo to another tank with their rooted soil na dlay them on new soil, but somehow, they are not rooting properly and most are floating...might have to cut and replant