more fish notes

Maintenance day yesterday. Checked the pH in the tenner- it's still steady at 7.4/7.6. I do feel like the java ferns are improving- removed the oldest mottled leaf and the others appear taller, greener. I only notice the darker veins when the direct light is on it, maybe it's just appearance.

Took an overhead shot, don't think I had of this aquarium before:

Usually the view is at a side angle like so-

I've already had to adjust the ferts dose on this tank- nitrates are a bit higher than normal, so I did not dose KN03 with the dry ferts this week. I am hoping with the STS in there I can gradually ease off dosing much ferts at all, if the snail and fish poo can be enough to feed the few plants in there...  I was actually feeling happy working on this tank today, because I kept admiring the broad, green anubias leaves with their leaf ridges, the improving java fern, the black ripple of Oliver's finnage...

In the main aquarium, I have some brown algae still. Clean the leaves off, its back again. I tested the nitrates- just at 15-20ppm. That's okay. It seems the algae came right when Pinkie died, but I didn't see an ammonia spike. I've backed off on the dose of nitrates in that one too, this week. Most of the plants in here still seem to be doing well in spite of the algae- I'm even hoping the java ferns keep up their growth-

I was upset at myself that while pinching off a few dead aponogeton leaves on the smaller plants in center (they're still adjusting) I accidentally removed more than intended- one poor plant now has no leaves. But the other three are looking better and better- so hopefully those two I damaged will come back too.

Most everything else looks nice.