It’s been a bit of a tricky month as work stress went up and maintenance slipped - that said, 40% WC’s each week are still happening but dosing dropped to almost zero. This tank deteriorates considerably if maintenance is not carried out.
Current state of affairs:
Rotala isn’t a beautiful plant in this tank, at times some stems are beautiful and look how I think they should but that doesn’t spread across the tank. If anything, for me Rotala just looks a bit dirty. I don’t doubt this is my fault. That said, I soldier on with it, I mean, it
is growing.
Apart from Rotala, everything else is looking
good. Lagenandra keralensis has definitely rooted in, with one plant putting out a new leaf. Cryptocoryne x purpurea looks really nice too, sending out a runner yesterday. I took a few leaves off of c.usteriana as it got too covered in BBA, I only seem to get it by the inlet. One plant of c.albida brown has sent out a runner, which is the first time I’ve seen his plant do that. c.costata finished melting, put out new leaves. c.lutea is still in there, but seems a bit smaller than I expected. Cryptocoryne spiralis var. caudigera is growing. I wish more of these plans would send out some runners though.
A quick labelling of the 'highlights':
Diatoms are still ever present, but I’m not trying to remove them as much now, just a simple wipe of glass when it gets too much. BGA is still present in the smallest doses, so I worry for the moss. I have to remove the filter once a month for a proper scrub, it just seems to be the perfect surface for algae.
The puffers are very settled now. Still only two, but confirmed m/f. Hence, my need for more moss. Their characters are certainly showing too. Neither bother the shrimp. which is good. They eat the babies though.
I will be stopping the syphoning of detritus from the tank now, and adding an air pump (though dissolved oxygen should still be very high by using a HOB filter) to create more food for the planned babies. The female (named Sharon) has plumped right up.
Still, I will be looking to dose 1ml of easy carbo and 1ml of tnc complete daily, as soon as I iron out a bug with a little diy project I’ve been threatening.
Tank isn't looking terrible, it'll get there. As lockdown has lifted here (Cambridge) we've had guests over and they've all been very interested with it, one person asking me if I had heard of "
you should check out this Japanese guy,I forget his name, Amano something, yeah looks like his stuff - you'd like it" - that was a compliment, I don't think I let that show though.