# how often should i prune my hc



## gangopadhyay (Aug 30, 2010)

recently my whole hc bed was uprooted during pruning....it was a thick bed.i had pruned it only once since the plantation,the first one..on about 3 months...after that most of the pruned portion began to darken and when the newly growing hc fully covered the dark,blackish stems,the bed was too thick...i tried to prune but eventually uprooted from the substrate.i have recovered some hc and replanted those and those r already growing and spreading within a week.
but this time,i dont want to end up with a hand full of hemianthus:
so how frequent should the pruning be?once a month?
its a nano 10inch cube with 36 watts pll,ada,presrsed co2,EI dosing,current plants include hc,hm,linderia sp.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Welcome to the reality of HC! 

You can't really keep the HC looking 100% great all the time. That's the nature of the plant.

The best bet is to adjust the light so it doesn't grow too fast. That will just give you more time until serious pruning (and ugly looking tank for some time).

Please understand that a perpetually beautiful HC mat is hard to achieve. It is a matter of careful constant pruning. And not 100% pretty all the time anyway.

I'd suggest you ask Jeff Senske in the ADG section of APC. He would be the one to give you the best advice on how to maintain such a high maintenance plant looking the best for a prolonged period of time.

--Nikolay


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## TAB (Feb 7, 2009)

I personally never cut mine, All I do is keep it contained.


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

The same thing happened to me in my 10 gal shrimp tank. It was a thick green and beautiful carpet of HC. It floated up but I was too busy to prune and so I made some stainless steel U pins and pinned it back down. Eventually the roots dissappeared and it all fell apart. Moss took over.


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## saint (Feb 17, 2010)

I also had a really nice HC carpet in my 2foot tank took me ages to grow it and looked great for 2 months until it got thick,
When i trimmed it it didnt uproot but died because i cut it back too much and all that was left was the roots 

If i do it again ill DSM again to get it to take root really well and trim a tiny bit every 2 weeks


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## gangopadhyay (Aug 30, 2010)

reality hurts
36 watts in a 10 inch cube...hc grows like crazy...i have replanted the plants have decided to go for pruning once a month...concerned about post pruning darkening of the plants.


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