8 entries · Page 1 of 1
Tank's looking pretty good lately, pinnatifida has filled in nice along the stone and the embers school up together most of the time now. Shrimp are out and about more than they used to be, seeing the blue bolts crawling the glass in the mornings. Happy with where it's at.
Swapped in the Fluval E200 heater today since I wasn't fully trusting the old readings anymore. Of course the suction cups wouldn't hold in the corner I wanted so I ended up rearranging half the hardscape just to get it tucked out of sight. Works fine now but that was more of a headache than it should've been.
Hair algae showing up on the sword leaves now, not thrilled about it.
Did a water change and trimmed back the hygrophila pinnatifida which had gotten leggy and was starting to shade the sword. Pulled a bit of detritus off the sand with the gravel vac too, nothing crazy just general upkeep. Tank looks a lot cleaner now that the pinnatifida isn't flopping everywhere.
Added the blue bolt shrimp today, small group of them. They scattered into the hardscape almost right away and it took a good hour before I saw one out in the open again. Tank feels different now, less like an empty box and more like something's actually going on in there even if it's just a shrimp poking around the moss.
Guy at the fish store told me not to bother testing for ammonia this early and just let the plants take off first, seemed like weird advice but tried it anyway. Nothing to look at really, just staring into an empty tank with the Kessil running on a low setting. Figured I'd trust the process for now.
Tank's full now, dosed some Seachem Prime and got the Delta 60 running. Water's hazy from the sand still settling, no fish or shrimp in yet still waiting on the cycle. Plants are in but they look pretty sparse right now, lots of bare substrate showing between the sword and the pinnatifida clumps.
Got the seiryu stacked and rinsed the sand about four times before the water finally ran clear, still had a fine cloud left over in the bucket. No water in the tank yet, just wanted the layout sorted before I flood it. Moved the tallest piece around more than I care to admit but landed on something I can live with.