more of the tanks

Because it wasn't just about subwassertang! The thirty-eight kind of got a minor rescape.

I took out some of the smaller crypt wendtiis and about twenty vallisneria that were growing out-of-bounds or getting crowded in their corner. Sold the crypts but the vals weren't wanted, so I stuck them in a pot. It can help fill the background for the time being.

I moved crypt parva (not really positive about its identity but that's what I think it is) into the front spot the other wendtii came out of, (there's the much-diminished subwassertang pair in front- soon they will look like a shrub again. My kid calls it "the fluffy plant")

and on the other side of the tank shifted positions of c.parva and bacopa.

So now bacopa looks really short -got planted deeper- but already I like this placement better.

The elodea is growing more and more in that corner. I've once again cut tall stems and replanted. I guess at some point it will get thick enough I'll quit keeping the tops, or just take it out altogether...

Here's the new clumps of subwassertang on limb in the foreground. You can see behind it where I've moved java fern wendtii to be slightly behind the big crypt. I like it there.

Things are not all well in here, though. High nitrates this week, I'm guessing because I put in the root tabs last week. Then I did this bit of rescaping, most of it seemed harmless except when I pulled up the bacopa stems they had roots going straight through a root tab, so I inadvertently hauled that up too. Mess. So I thought probably there's enough stuff in the water column by accident, maybe I shouldn't dose ferts at all this week. But some apono leaves are looking bad.

And crypt wendtii is turning brown, and there's brown slimy algae on some other leaves as well. And then I saw something funny on a small stunted rotala plant- one I'd cut back that was trying to regrow. I pulled it out and it looked smothered in green slime! I looked closer- it was hairy algae. Ugh. I pulled up all the little old rotala stems, half of them looked nasty. Glad I caught that.

So now I don't know if skipping the ferts was a good or bad move. Usually in the past it's been a bad idea. Maybe if more plants are looking peaky tomorrow I should just go ahead and dose.