Trimming your carpet......!

[Fisher2007]

So my 50cm cube has been running about 10 weeks now and having never had a carpet before I wanted to know what were the do's and don't's re maintaining it and trimming please. Any tips or tricks.

The foreground is monte carlo and rear is cuba

Cheers

 

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

The main thing with HC Cuba is not to let it get too thick, because then the bottom layer dies due to lack of light and/or CO₂ and the whole lot detaches from the substrate. Other than that, just snip away with your scissors!

 

[Fisher2007]

The main thing with HC Cuba is not to let it get too thick, because then the bottom layer dies and the whole lot detaches from the substrate. Other than that, just snip away with your scissors!

How thick is optimal for cuba?

And also monte carlo if you know?

 

[Tim Harrison]

I find HC a bit of a pita, MC not so much. But both grow very quickly, so I tend to trim back as much as possible to around 10mm thick, which is usually okay. Saves trimming more than once every 6 weeks.

But it depends on the look you're after. Both will lift if neglected HC probably before MC.

HC carpet lifting at around 30-40mm thick

 

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

How thick is optimal for cuba?

And also monte carlo if you know?

For HC Cuba, no more than about half to three-quarters of an inch. I think with MC you can go much thicker, although I’ve never grown it myself.

By the way, for 10 weeks your tank is looking stunning - congratulations!

What is the pinky-purple stem plant? It looks like Rotala walichii, except it seems to have broad leaves in addition to the needles.

And the green stem is Pogostemon erectus?

I also love that plant with the green disc-shaped leaves. What is it?

WCMMs really are under-rated little gems, aren’t they?

 

[Fisher2007]

For HC Cuba, no more than about half to three-quarters of an inch. I think with MC you can go much thicker, although I’ve never grown it myself.

By the way, for 10 weeks your tank is looking stunning - congratulations!

What is the pinky-purple stem plant? It looks like Rotala walichii, except it seems to have broad leaves in addition to the needles.

And the green stem is Pogostemon erectus?

I also love that plant with the green disc-shaped leaves. What is it?

WCMMs really are under-rated little gems, aren’t they?

Thanks

There's rotala walichi and hra in there. And yeah, pogostemon too

Disc plant is hydrocotyle verticulata

 

[Fisher2007]

And yeah, WCMM are awesome! Active, good colours, display to each other, easy to keep and so far have ignore the shrimp I've added

These are the long fin versions. Normally I'm true to wild style with fish but these guys look really impressive showing to each other in the long fin version