Blackout results (many pics, maybe too many for dialup)

[7Enigma]

czcz, glad to see the daphnia worked for you. I swear I should cultivate some of this and keep it around in case I get another GW outbreak, however, my diatom filter made the water crystal clear, and it didn't come back.. I'm surprised with your many planted tanks you don't have/use a diatom. I find that as long as I correct the nutrient/light imbalance in the tank, a single use of the diatom gets rid of the GW, and it stays away until I mess up again.

Question for you: You say you do some "to the substrate" water changes that has me perplexed. In my experience I cannot do more than a 50% PWC or I risk damaging the stems of my plants. They will bend over and either break or be permenantely bent when the water is refilled. Do you remove the plants when you do this, or just drain and refill slowly?

I used to love a fish only tank since I could comfortably do an 80% PWC without to much stress/harm to the fish, but now I'm stuck doing 50% at max.

Great pics btw! As always, even in your GW tanks your plants look incredible. (well not after the blackout )

 

[Purrbox]

I've done 90% water changes in my planted tanks and had no problems with the plants. They do bend over as the water is drained, but once the water goes back in they stand right back up.

 

[czcz]

When I refill, I use the glass lid of a jar to spread the force of the water. As the water line rises I lift the lid a couple inches below the water line. This also helps keep the substrate intact -- this tank has a layered substrate, and refilling this way works great. I also do not experience stems breaking or anything when refilling this way. Refilling without breaking up the force of the return water does destroy layouts for me.

My flimiser plants, like most Rotalas, will lay flat then pile up as the water is drained. Stiffer stemmed plants like Tonina fluviatillis will just stand up out of the water. Often with big water changes I will trim or uproot while the siphon is draining to avoid the flimsy plants wrapping around each other.