# Monte Carlo melting during dry start



## Jeremy550 (Dec 13, 2013)

*Melting Monte Carlo dry start*

Hey guys I've done some searching and done quite a bit of reading regarding the dry start method. This is my second time attempting it as I thought that maybe I over watered/misted on my first attempt. That being said I cut down on misting to about once every 3-4 days. The tanks humidity seemed good as the glass was covered in condensation. I also had the lights on for 9 hours a day. The substrate used was ada. Any info would be appreciated as I can't get this plant to go.. maybe I'll try another carpeting plant 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeremy550 (Dec 13, 2013)

Jeremy550 said:


> Hey guys I've done some searching and done quite a bit of reading regarding the dry start method. This is my second time attempting it as I thought that maybe I over watered/misted on my first attempt. That being said I cut down on misting to about once every 3-4 days. The tanks humidity seemed good as the glass was covered in condensation. I also had the lights on for 9 hours a day. The substrate used was ada. Any info would be appreciated as I can't get this plant to go.. maybe I'll try another carpeting plant
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




































Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeremy550 (Dec 13, 2013)

Jeremy550 said:


> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk




Sorry also I'm using the current satelite pros 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Bleuwater (Aug 5, 2017)

I would try to break up those big mats, it would spread a lot faster if you broke up those mats to around 20 pieces each.  Otherwise it would take a long time to cover. I just dsm with monte carlo for 8 months I had some melt but wasn't a lot. At the end I was misting about once every 3-4 days. Also had brazillian pennywort in there which ended up taking over the whole tank. As to why it's melting I'm not sure. I had my lights on for 12 hours a day and had a small 1x2 inch hole to let fresh air in on the top.


----------



## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

How new is the soil?

Bump: It'll bounce back after initial melt, i've done it emmersed before, but finding out the reason for melting would help


----------



## Nigel95 (Mar 5, 2017)

Oh god those clumps are big!! You can plant monte carlo even with individual stems this way it spreads fast and is way better for your wallet. Maybe your monte carlo isn't very well in the soil because you planted those thick mats. Where did you buy the monte carlo? Maybe it was submerged growth and now it has to adapt to emersed growth.


----------



## Jeremy550 (Dec 13, 2013)

The soil has been in the tank about 3 months. My first attempt was about two months ago with the mats and they all died. 

Ya I tried to separate the mats the first time in order to spread the stems but they didn't take that way. The shop had said to leave them whole so I figured that maybe separating them had killed them. Maybe if these don't come back I'll stick to the small pots 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## DennisSingh (Nov 8, 2004)

Water change, good husbandry, proper maintenance, good co2 levels(never underestimate the importance of co2 burning you), trimming, etc. bad co2, bad filtration etc.. not so much

hehe if anyone gets that



serious i think the soil even though its 3 months old is leeching and the plants are affect by ammonia burn

i don't have a suggestion

maybe plant other plants in as trials they'll suck some that stuff up and your monte carlo should take off
disturbing it is the worst you can do in this situation. humidity is just fine...believe me humidity is fine, hindsight 
is there anything left currently, cause in overhead pictures there are some good green leaves looking to take off. takes a bit of patience


----------



## Jeremy550 (Dec 13, 2013)

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I started looking into my substrate more and forgot that I had initially done a small sand cap over the hybrid dirt mix I made up and then covered with ada. I think that in pushing the mats into the dirt i hit sand thus causing the melt. I'm going to add more soil or ada, buy some small Monte Carlo so I can separate it out and then re try. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Jeremy550 (Dec 13, 2013)

I️m new to planted tanks and was being impatient in buying the Monte Carlo mats. I took your guys suggestions and instead bought the small pots and spread them out. Wanted to post an updated pic for any other newbies out there that stumble upon this when researching the mats. Don’t do it and get the pots instead! Thanks again!

















Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Raith (Jun 27, 2014)

Hope the second time around works out for you!


----------



## ILikeRice (Jul 9, 2017)

Honestly you could still spread them out more  Happy, the pots are working for you :]


----------

