Just an update (with an abundance of smileys b/c it's friday
):
Livestock:
With the addition of an
SAE and
three black mollies, my algea eating crew now consists of
three plecos (one of em is a full grown
clown who has been leaving the DW alot more lately for some reason),
two otos,
a red tail shark, and the SAE and mollies. I really want some Malaysian Trumpet Snails. Do these multiply, b/c I'd love to buy some off of an AA member who has more than they want and be able to cultivate my own. I know they'd have plenty to eat which brings me to the next topic...
ALGAE:
The BBA is really the only stuff that bothers me, b/c the green spot isn't that bad. I keep cutting off the leaves of where it is getting bad. On my java fern windelov, I dipped it's leaves in hydrogen peroxide so I think that BBA is dieing. It seems to have stopped spreading. Maybe it was the 50% water change or the addition of ferts (EI method) but it looks like it isn't coming back too fast, if at all.
PLANTS:
I finally got the plant I ordered w/ my drop checker, it is called
fissidens splachiodora or something very close to that. It looks like a moss, is about the size of two post-it-notes side by side, and arrived alive (from singapore!). Last night I noticed bubbles in it and am not sure if they were just getting trapped
or if it was pearling.
That is not until I noticed what seemed to be remniscent (sp?) of shooting stars thoughout my tank. ONly instead of going down they were going up. It seemed random at first, like gouramis were just "purging" their labrythinths or something until I watched closely and saw it was coming from my plants.
THats right!
PEARLING! Sweet! I know it's not that thrilling but its the first I've seen and it means I must be doing something right. Right? Tiny little bubbles would form and then slowly grow bigger and bigger, mostly under the leaves of my Amazons, but then I noticed also on my ludwigia, and on TOP of my java fern, until they just couldn't take it anymore and they'd bolt for higher pastures. Also I saw some in the fissidens as mentioned earlier.
At the moment the plants don't seem to be growing extremely fast, but I do see new shoots, roots, and leaves. It may not be any faster than I'm cutting the larger leaves off due to algae though, so right now I'd say it's tied.
I plan on getting riccia or glosso or HC or
something to be able to completely cover my back wall. I want a solid, opaque and live green background to replace the painted blue and
hope to use plants stapled in between crochet nets to accomplish it. I thought this was a great idea when I saw it.
They don't need to be in the soil do they? Can't they get what they need from the water column? ON that note, are there any aquatic plant "vines" that will root in the substrate but grow/wrap around driftwood? I'd love to have a vine plant.
Technology:
I've been running my photoperiod from 3:30pm to 11:30pm, so it's on when I'm home. It's only at 108w now, but maybe two or three weeks into EI I can bump it up, and run all 216
for the three or four hours of "mid-day"? I'm asking?
My drop checker is showing a nice greenish-yellow and has been for a few days now. I put some filter-floss in the output of my spraybar to break up the co2 bubbles that weren't getting diffused and were just surfacing and popping. It has reduced the flow somewhat but the bubbles are a much finer mist now. I still have to run my CO2 insanely fast, more bps than I could even hope to count. At this rate I'm having a tough time getting 100% diffusion which annoys me
. I was considering adding a loop so for at least for a foot or two, the bubbles would actually be attempting to rise against a downflow. As it is now they rise with the current and get misted into the tank.
Any Ideas or suggestions? I guess b/c it is 65 gal and b/c I have a sump, skimmer, etc. it is really tough to maintain a high ppm. At $10-15 for a refill, I'm not extremely concerned about the economic loss of inefficient co2 diffusion, however is it bad for the environment, or health?
DRIFTWOOD:
I ordered the "small package" from
Manzanita Burlworks - The Source for Quality Handcrafted Manzanita Products and as of a few days ago, they still had not shipped it, which is kind of disappointing
since I think I ordered it on 3/27.
WHen it arrives I'll soak it for a few days, but really don't mind if it leaches some tannins b/c I like the look, and with the 50% PWC's that EI necessitates, I imagine it won't have an opportunity to really affect things drastically. I hope I can get it to sink. ANy thoughts or advice on this, or things to be wary of due to the affects of the tannic acid?
I'm waiting to launch my full on assault against algea (either with triple dosing Seachem Excel, or with an out of tank peroxide dip of the algae-ridden plants), scrape the glass, and rescape the tank, until my driftwood gets here and is ready to go in.
Pics will follow this weekend.