WOW, 30 days since my last update! It's been a busy month. Work, freelance, holiday shenanigans...
So some things have been happing.
For one... GROWTH!
It's really starting to fill out. Yesterday I actually trimmed a few things.
Something not so good that has happened since my last post was blue/green cyano. It popped up all in the moss, and two small patches on the wood. I tested and realized my nitrates had dropped to zero. I was able to halt its growth by dosing potassium nitrate and sucking out what I could daily with a turkey baster, and then after a week of that and seeing it wasn't spreading anymore, I got my hands on some UltraLife Blue-Green Stain Remover and the cyano was completely gone in about 3 days.
Something else not so good is I lost two of my Boesemani Bows within about a week of each other. One jumped. I found him about 20 ft from the tank. Must have been a cat toy for a bit. The other body was never recovered. So I'm down to 6 bows total. Maybe I can pick up some more over Xmas break.
Once the cyano disappeared, I finally started increasing my light intensity! I've had it coming on early in the morning but at a super low intensity, with a spike late in the afternoon. So I've just been upping the intensity overall for the entire photo period.
I've also been decreasing my Co2 a bit. My only guide is the glass c02 drop checker. I was originally trying to get a 1 degree drop in pH but anything close turns the drop checker liquid to a more yellowy green. I've now got it to a dark green. my Ph current runs between 7.3-6.7
The only thing I've been adding the tank occasionally is a little potassium and some Flourish micros.
So some questions based on some observations.... mainly being growth related.
1) My Monte Carlo still isn't taking off. I'm assuming this is due to the lower light levels?
2) My stem plants grow tall and thin/wispy. Lots of space between sets of leaves, and even the leaves will change shape from almost round to long/skinny. Again, I'm assuming it's a light intensity issue?
3) When trimming stem plants, what happens at the point of the cut? Will it sprout new branches there or just continue growing straight up?
4) How do I need to know if I need additional flow in the tank? All I have right now are the two Oase 600 filters and their outputs are at the surface. The good thing is the sand bed has stayed clean other than fish poo! No problems with soil mixing in or anything like that. lol
Thanks! Here's the pics!
