8 entries · Page 1 of 1
Tank's looking pretty full these days, moss has finally filled out and the vallisneria is doing its tall grassy thing across the back. If I could go back I'd probably plant the hygrophila a bit thicker from the start since it took forever to bulk up. Still happy with how the dragon stone layout turned out even after all that fussing early on.
Installed the inkbird temperature controller today and it turned into a bigger ordeal than it had any right to be, cords everywhere, probing around behind the tank trying not to knock anything loose. Finally got it wired in and set, so now at least the heater has some supervision instead of just doing its own thing.
Noticed a good bit of algae creeping onto the rocks and some leaves lately, not thrilled about it. Been reading up on cleanup crew options for planted tanks and I think I'm leaning toward adding some more amano shrimp or nerites at some point, right now it's just me and a toothbrush having words with the dragon stone.
Did a water change and a trim today and somehow ended up with more water on the floor than seems physically possible from one bucket. Plants are still pretty short and patchy, lots of bare substrate showing, but the trim helped tidy things up a bit. Fish look a little small still but they're getting braver about coming out.
Added the celestial pearl danios today, first fish in the tank, and now I'm apparently the kind of person who names fish. Haven't landed on anything great yet, mostly just pointing and going "that one" while they dart around checking out their new place. Small fish, big personalities already.
Two weeks in, no fish, just numbers on a test strip and a lot of waiting.
Got the water in and flipped the filter on, and it's a bit hazy right now, not the clear tank of my dreams but I hear that's normal. Plants are in but they look tiny and sad scattered around all that bare substrate, moss barely visible. No fish yet, just me watching cloudy water and pretending I know what I'm doing.
Spent way more time than planned stacking dragon stone with no water in the tank yet, trying to get some kind of mountain look going without it toppling over the second I add water. Kept stepping back and squinting at it like that would reveal a design flaw. Landed on a layout with a taller stack on one side and figured that's good enough, my back can't handle another hour of rearranging rocks.