# glosso carpet



## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

ok, ive got a nice carpet of glosso, but the older it gets the more shabby it starts to look, how do i manetain it looking like a carpet? its a 20long i use 100% flourite and flourish product line i have a PH of about 7 and a GH of about 5 an eheim 2213 diy CO2 and about 4wpg cf lighting


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## timdz (Mar 31, 2005)

I am curious about what is making it look 'shabby',

If it is growing taller and sending out side roots you should be able to plant those down to reinforce the carpet effect. Make sure your bulbs are not over 9 months old and that you don't have any faster growing bunch plants eating up nutrients in the water colum before the glosso can... otherwise increased fertilization could be necessary.. get a low range nitrate test kit and see where you are at there, also test your carbonate hardness so you can measure the inconsisstency of the DIY CO2 ;-) . 

Tim


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## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

by 'shabby' i mean, yes it is growing taller in spots but as it grows the older parts of the pants are dying off, i figuerd that was normal but the guys at the lfs said thasts not, the nitrates are at zero i am not sure about the KH ill have to test that, i use a small amount of flourish daily, i guess i my main guestion should be how do i trim my glosso back without uprooting it, its hard (almost imposable) to plant the new shoots without uprooting it, oh ya, the blubs are only 6 months old


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

This is not really an aquascaping question so I will move it to the General DIscussion Forum. You will get a little more traffic there too.

As for making it carpet....lighting is not your problem, PC bulbs are good until they don't work any more. If your nitrates are at 0 then much of the shabbyness of the plants is probbaly lack of NO3. Glosso is very fond of NO3. You should maintain a level of atleast 5ppm in your tank al all times and with 4wpg you will probably have to dose atleast 20ppm a week, or more. CO2 is just as important with this plant, check your kH/pH relationship and make double sure your CO2 levels are 30ppm+. Trim any tall plants, with sharp scissors, down tot he first leaf node. Pull up and replant any real bad or thick areas, it will fill back in in no time. IF you have lots of dead mater under the carpet, you will probably want ot pull it all up, trim out the best stuff and replant the whole thing.


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## fishdude1984 (Feb 17, 2005)

thanks for the advise, that helps me out alot, im going to try to replant it, ill let you all know how it gose


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