20 December 2016

tank doings

I don't really feel like taking pictures- there's not much different to show . . . . .

Hygro pinnatifida is starting to melt in both tanks- no sign of new leaves growing so I have no idea how it's going to do. Ambulia is falling apart at the base. A few new roots growing on the bottom of the stems, but they come loose. The very tops are greener, I'm thinking I should cut those and plant up to the green healthy-looking growth, to give them a chance.

Not sure about what I did with flame moss. Kuhlis like to wind over and under the strips when they're excitedly following food smells, and I worry they will scratch themselves on the edges that stick out off the grid.

In the thirty-eight there's a symptom I haven't seen since my old 20L was first planted- roots reaching up out of the substrate. It's occurring at the base of my crypt balansae. I'm going to give that one root tabs this week.

My green unnamed crypts and the crypt wendtii are producing baby plants! And both crypt petchii have doubled their number of leaves- they come up red and then become laterally striped, very interesting.

I think I erred in putting some Mg in this tank- or did just a bit too much of it. Top foliage on some of the bacopa caroliniana is looking a bit warped now.

I have been looking closer at the plants in the tenner, and at some charts that show symptoms of nutrient deficiencies in freshwater plants. My java ferns and windelovs have brown spots on their leaves, it looks like it might be a zinc, iron or phosphate deficiency? so perhaps I cut back too severely on the micros, or need to look more carefully at how much KH2P04 I'm dosing. . . . it's an ongoing puzzle.

But there is definitely no lack of calcium- I finally found the water report for our county's water source and read through the charts. Plenty of Ca and Mg. What surprised me was to see that the pH varied widely during the different months that tested was done- from 7.6 to 8.5 ! Not sure what to make of that.

1 comment:

Jeane said...

Oh, and the shrimps are gone. I have not seen a single one since I put them in the tank, but the kuhlis sure were hyper that day. I assume the cherry barbs ate them and the kuhlis got some scraps. My ten-year-old said "well, what did you expect. Shrimp are food!