So, planting almost done, except for where the grey rock is (looking forward to be able to move that. There might be a few changes if something goes bad or melts, hopefully not.
Added a few root tabs along the back, have added small amounts of micros but most have gone down the drain I suspect. 50-60 % wc everyday.
I'm going to give the remaining staghorn a knockout 1-2 punch tomorrow followed by a 90+% waterchange.
The tank is on the 3rd filter. After ditching the Oase/Niagara emulator, I got an Eheim Pro 4+ 350T. All those numbers are there to disguise the fact that this is another overengineered piece of expletive. It leaked around the pump head almost from first clean, and was impossible to prime. Made a fair amount of noise too, since it really liked to trap air like the Oase.
Enter a Classic. Eheim 600 or 2217. It's a bucket with a pump. Works. Just as good as the 100-150 % more expensive Rube Goldberg contraptions that I could design better in the sunset hours of a one week beer binge. Maybe with more flow than its predecessors. Yeah, I need to add a heater to the tank, small loss. Not gonna waste more time on crap designed by engineering school dropouts /rant over
The Twinstar light tried to burn the house down, doomed project since there was 100 liters of water above the ignition point. That explained the erratic lightning schedule it ran towards the end, that was true new age psychedelics.
Seems I have crap luck in aquarium technology, or maybe a lot of it really just is expensive garbage.
So for the listicularily inclined:
Aquascaper 600 (doh)
Chihiros WRGB II
Eheim 2217
Qanvee atomizer
Tunze dual reg
Eheim skim 350 (on a timer)
Aquael 100w heater
Glass pipe for sucky, Eheim-green Eheim spraybar for blowy (eeww)
And inside, apart from water:
Dragonstone
Redmoor wood
crushed lava
ADA Powersand
Tropica soils
ADA Colorado sand
Plants:
Anubias nana
Aponogeton crispus
Barclaya longifolia
Bolbitis heudelotii
Bucephelandra sp.
Bukit Kelam/sintang
Lamandau purple
Theia
Braun-Rot /serimbu
Alamanda v3 Dark
Velvet Leaf Entikong
Alamanda v1 Blue
Melawi Fine Edge
Kedagang
Pheww (not a buce)
C. albida (again-again, this one I've not gotten brilliant results with prior)
C. wendtii
C. willisii (nevillii?)
C. beckettii, (don't melt! don't melt! don't melt! don't melt!)
Lilaeopsis brasiliensis (Official Carpet Death Match winner of the World 2020-2021)
Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
Phyllanthus fluitans (temporary)
Riccardia sp. 'chamedrypholia'
Still needs more Microsorum, and am going to add more Riccardia too. I bought more plants than I could use, and seriously, I've got 7 or so Apo's in the back so will probably need to remove a few when they get going. I have Ceratopteris, Ludwigia lacustris, 3 pots of C. willisii 'Lucens' and Vallis nana in the holding tank + more Apo's and Bolbitis, some wendtii and one Barclaya went into the 45P. And a bucket of Xmas moss + one H. tenellus. Enough for a tank more.
Ridiculous.
Since I'm using old established filtermedia I expect to send in the vanguard Clean Team very, very soon.
Amanos, don't think I've ever had those while they were known as amanos.