Coming up on five months running now, and the difference from those early cloudy-water days is night and day. The moss has filled out across the spiderwood, the pinnatifida keeps pushing new leaves, and the bucephalandra finally settled after a rough start. Cardinals and rasboras hold in the current together while the cories work the sand and shrimp pick through the moss. Work's kept me from tinkering with it much lately, which honestly suits it fine at this stage.
Swapped the heater out for a new fluval e200 since the old one started acting up with temp swings. Install itself was more annoying than expected, had to drain down further than planned to get the old bracket off without disturbing the sand. Tank's cloudy again from the disturbance but should clear by tomorrow. Been a long week at work so this took longer than it should have.
Moss has filled in a lot and the hygrophila pinnatifida is finally pushing new leaves, but the bucephalandra is not happy - a couple rhizomes are melting and I can't tell if it's flow related or just adjusting still. Everything else is filling gaps nicely, carpet's mostly closed up now. Keeping an eye on the buce before I move it to a different spot.
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Chloe MurphyQuestionDoes the spiderwood keep the shrimp busy grazing on it? Curious how much bioload that many corys add before you notice water quality dipping between changes.
They pick at it here and there but I wouldn't call it grazing exactly, more just exploring. Bioload's been fine so far, water tests clean between changes but I'm only running a light group of cories so can't say how it'd hold up with more.
Alexis HarrisQuestionHow long has the blackwater tank been running? That spiderwood tint looks really established
Not too long honestly, just a few months in. The tannins built up fast once the spiderwood got going, didn't take much time at all to get that tint.
Reese PowellQuestionStarted as a shrimp tank and got out of hand, story of my life. Corys must be having a field day with all that moss cover.
The bronze corys plus a shrimp colony that got out of hand is such a relatable setup lol. How are the cherries holding up with corys rooting around in there, any casualties?
No casualties that I've noticed. The cories mostly stick to the sand and the shrimp just scatter into the moss when they root around. Colony's actually grown a bit if anything.
Noah White