adjustments...

Tested the water this morning, a day after maintenance. Nitrates lower, around 40ppm. I'd rather have it at 20. Pretty sure now the distrubance I made caused this, caused the algae that's showing up. Maybe even caused Pinkie's injury- he has two or three torn scales on his side. He seems to be chasing the barbs more. Perhaps feeling territorial after I moved stuff around. Or being curious, exploring the changed space, ran himself up against the filter intake again.

Looks like I had a small ammonia spike, too. The plants look okay- most of my aponos even have new leaves coming up! And that one I brought out of the corner seems to be standing up straighter. Lots of rotala have hit the ceiling. I want to trim next end-of-week and replant the cuttings to fill it in, but now afraid to mess stuff up more. I will have to figure out how to remove the fishes, and do all the rest of my planned rescaping all at once. (A quick daylight shot here, so bad reflections)

So worked on my fish trap today- making holes in the sides so current can pass through and fish won't drown. It could work as a feeding station for the kuhlis, too. Most times enough food sinks (released underwater) they get some, but they've never gotten any bloodworms- those only float and the barbs gobble them up so fast.