Today comes the FTS, as required by the Karmic Law of Null, section 5, paragraph 2a.
The plants look pretty good for what they have been through.
Although, they have not been positioned like this for 5 months. This is after I did some tidying up in preparation for selling everything.
When the ferts ran out, the plants went into survival mode, and the hungriest plants took it hard.
Some species melted at the bottom, in what I am fairly convinced was a deliberate action by the plants to try to get to an area with better conditions.
I ended up with a large flotilla of plants in the middle of the tank, based around the thick stems of Nesaea crassicaulis and bound together with copious amounts of thread algae, the algae growing from the suffering plants.
Limnophila sessiliflora, Hygrophila polysperma Green, Ceratopteris thalictroides and the Blyxa japonica all melted at the bottom and ended up in the flotilla.
Ceratopteris thalictroides had some major real estate in the flotilla for a while, no doubt enjoying the proximity to the light and being able to float on the surface.
But after the Cera was banished back down to the sand, it did much poorer and the Nesaea claimed its place as the top dog.
I found this impressive and amusing, I would have guessed it would be outcompeted by the other species of plants which are categorised as much easier to grow.
The Nesaea is in horrible condition to be sure, stunted and hideous, absorbing its older leaves from the "everything deficiency".
But in comparison to it, the other species are barely present at all any more.
All the rhizome plants have done well, especially the Bolbitis. Hard times are no problem for this plant.
It is the most indestructible plant I have come across, and also my all time favorite ❤️
The java ferns have put on some decent mass, although they are now finally starting to show black spots and some general unhappiness.
Most of the rare plants have survived the ordeal, which I am very grateful for.
The Cryptocoryne striolata 'Tiger' has even put out some more leaves despite the conditions. They are not exactly big leaves but they are leaves. Baby steps
Unfortunately one of the Buces, the Tontang, got knocked into a spot that was too dark by an upset fishstick. By the time I saw the remains of the plant, it was too late.
But the Bucephalandra Black Venti and Brownie Blue have grown pretty well all things considering.
Another FTS, this one after I did a little rearranging and added two roots. It looks somewhat contrived at the moment, but this not a finalized layout.
I wanted to get a bit closer to the idea I have in my head, and to see a little bit what I had to work with and what plants would fit where.
Im attempting to take it slowly, just a bit at a time. Trying to nurse that tiny flame of fishkeeping joy back to life without triggering any burnout.
The tank has had two 30% water changes a few days apart, so the water quality should be in a better place now.
Next on my to-do list is to mix up some ferts to feed these hungry plants, but first I need to figure out what I was dosing before.
Since running on -nothing- went surprisingly ok, I want to try to keep the tank going quite lean.
Adding enough to keep away from the major plant issues but allowing the water change frequency to be stretched out a bit from the standard weekly.
Not 5 months for sure, but 2-3 months might be doable, provided the water quality stays nice.
I dont want to do wrong by my fish, but hitting the wall so hard you can barely look at the tank for 5 months isnt good fishkeeping either.
So its not an attempt to shirk my responsibilities, but maybe to make it a bit more feasible.
Ack, it all sounds like excuses in my head
