twenty's plants

I had to do a quick emergency filter rinse on tuesday. Walked past the aquarium, noticed there was no trickling noise, took a look and the filter wheel wasn't turning. Gave it a jiggle- no response. Pulled half the filter media out and rinsed- it was very dirty, more than during the usual once-a-month rinsing. I figure it happened because last friday I rinsed the prefilter sponge, which now unclogged allowed more fine debris to pass through and reach the filter media. Just need to remember that each week I rinse out one part of the entire filter system- prefilter sponge, half the filter media, small sponge filter, other half filter media, repeat...

Also today cleaned inside the front glass, which I don't always do. After cleaning off the cover glass and trimming out dying watersprite bits (most of it is floating now, the rooted plants in corners aren't doing as well- I think they don't get as much light there but I don't care so much, it's no longer my favorite plant) I stand back and am surprised how much brighter, cleaner the tank looks overall.

I rubbed some algae off the crypt and apono leaves, this is kind of tricky to do. When the water is lowest during change, put one finger below the leaf and rub across the top with folded paper towel, from stem to tip. Even dipping the paper towel under the water for part of this it still pulls most of the algae off without releasing back into water column. The brown stuff is slowly slowing down, so whatever made it appear again I hope is resolved.

Apono leaves spread out after cleaning:

I get annoyed at myself when I accidentally break off a leaf that is otherwise quite nice.

Very happy the apono is still doing well -it just put out a new baby leaf-

not growing terribly fast and overall bulk remains constant because as fast as new leaves grow I'm taking out older ones that get thin, anemic looking or algae coated. So far this is okay as I don't want it to overtake the tank either

The smaller ones are springing back too, in their center spot. I cut off more of their leaves that were getting peaky looking or collecting algae, this seems to prompt the plant to put out more new growth that is clean.

The crypts are all doing great, as usual. Even the few I have moved around never melted like I see other aquarists report. Mine have doubled in size since their planting- they now reach up half the height of the tank!

The vallisneria is sending out more runners and getting taller too, slowly but surely. I've decided I probably will keep this plant, but not sure where it will go in the final design.

Rotala is making a nice background. I've just trimmed a few this week to even out the tops- thinking to cut it back hard again soon so it will fill in more...

There are even some bright little java fern leaves growing new on the log. I don't know if I should hope these will mature nicely instead of turning mottled and dying off like the older ones have been doing...