Thanks for the kind words!
Some excitement today, ALL my clown loaches went missing over the past week. I couldn't figure out where they went, paticularly as I vacced most of the tank yesterday.
The adventure kind of deserved its own post:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f12/clown-loaches-gave-me-a-scare-354960.html#post3412833
Anyway, After the 30-40% water change yesterday, PH is resting at 7.9. KH is at 12 degress hardness.
I just tested the GH. Its off the scale. somewhere around 40 degrees of hardness. I almost ran out of room in my vial for additional drops. My tap water is 9 degrees.
All I can think of is that my tank had more or less reached saturation of minerals (eegad!) and as I introduce "softer" water to it, these minerals are leaching back into the water, keeping it crazy high.
My only way to prove this hypothesis is to keep up very regular water changes. I think I'm being smart by only scraping away portions of buildup every water change. I don't want any crazy water parameter changes shocking the fish.
Finger is healing nicely. I think its "closed" now, however scabs don't like to get wet, I limit my "wet" time greatly. Today was an "emergency" due to the clown loaches. yesterday I used my left exclusively (I'm a righty) so scraping was tiring/awkward, and other than that, deep gravel vacced another 15% or so of the tank.
Next step is to go nuts on the BBA.
After that, I'll start thinning out the rediculous amounts of Crypts I have.
I don't know if I could bring myself to sell them, or even if anyone would WANT them, knowing I have the BBA in the tank (and MTS)
What would you guys do?
Oh: Pictures!
Layout of new driftwood/"modded" piece to avoid trapped loaches:
Full Tank shot:
Now, if anyone wants to see my finger 3 weeks and 1 day post operation,
click here. Not going to embed the image for the squeamish. Its no longer barf worthy like it was when it was infected. *shudder*