So, a bit of a change up.
The Limnophila aquatica wasn't working at that spot, besides the lower parts was very infested with algae, so out it went. I've got a few stems of it in my lowtech, though. Likewise, the C. albida has been ailing for so long it is not even funny no more; out and into the lowtech with that. In place of these I've put in:
- A few small rocks to act as a border between the HC and the rotala.
- A bunch of Hygrophila 'Araguaia'
- A bunch of Limnophila hippuridoides
The Rotala H'ra is doing good, I intend to keep it low and bushy; rapidly approaching first trim, so I need to think about how to handle that business. Some of them have been moved forward to where the L. aquatica was, in order to make room for the hippuridoides. That one seems to take off fast.
For some reason I've never had Pogo erectus working well for me, this one seems slow on the uptake too, so we'll see. Riccardia doing well. Same for C. crispatula and the hairgrass, the HC seems to start carpeting after I have replanted every one at least 500 times (cats and shrimp and snails seem to "uproot" these regularily during establishing).
Have taken a zero tolerance to staghorn popping up on (older) leaves. Cut them off on sight. In combination with other efforts this seems to have some effect. Took a heavy toll on Aponogetons and C. wendtii though, but new leaves look good so far. Still a few remnants here and there. Fingers crossed.
The other efforts?
Well, first order: Get some actual numbers on CO2. This means giving up the expensive, but not working pH-meter. Chinese industry comes to the rescue with a cheapo, calibrated with a screwdriver. Short story: No wonder my fish looked a bit stressed; regularily hitting 1.1-1.2+ drop. So I've backed up a bit, and is fine tuning at the moment.
Secondly; all the lowish light, ½ dose EI was not helping any plants, but algae LOVED it. I've grown tired of ailing deficient plants, furried up with staghorn.
New order: light @ 100% for about 3 hours in mid period, MASSIVELY overdosing EI (125 percent APF EI mix, plus Tropica ferts + extra iron). Getting a bit of green algae on glass, much to the pleasure of Otos and snails). Been running this way for 2 weeks, so far so good. Am actually pleased to see that algae can be green, not blackish grey
Starting to see some actual growth.
As for layout, LOL, will not be winning any contests with this though. I am ok with that, just want to grow some plants at this point. Frankly it is a mess. The wendtii might go, I'm not too sure. Same with the chainswords, not sure they are right here.
Bunch of crappy phone pics and a short video: