main tank- new looks

Using Aquafertz root tabs and doing only 30% wc still seems to be working well in my main tank so far. All the plants look happier. I have little baby crypts sprouting up in the front of the tank- parva, willisii or petchii I'm not sure yet, and the younger leaves on the crypt wendtii look really robust (nice hammered texture). Vallisneria are sending runners out beyond their bounds again, crypt balansae has more new leaves and is melting the old ones, elodea looks the best it has since the week I brought it home. Hornwort floaters look fantastic. Still a bit baffled why my nitrates are consistently higher than I'm used to- I wonder if it is the use of leaf litter (I added even more this week: one catappa leaf, one each of guava and jackfruit, two of pin oak).

The fish look very healthy- even Punk with the growth on nose. Fish behavior has changed; since I went away for vacation and came back, they are thrilled to see me every time. They quickly flock to one end of the tank or the other, where I stand. Respond even quicker if I tap-tap the top brace as feed notice. I tried to get this end shot showing how nicely the apono capuroni is when backlit- but the tetras swarmed the glass.

I still don't know how well these hygro corymbosa will grow up- they have melted severely and I keep pushing the remains of stems with a few top leaves, back down into the substrate. Here's one in center. I haven't yet seen one recover enough to grow out new leaves...

Moss have failed. All the strands of flame moss I had glued onto rocks died, and then the glue started lifting off the rocks in patches, thin sheets. I think I had glued them on too close together, so the moss itself never took hold on the rock. Oh well. I tied down onto a few of the stones some of the java fern trident babies- still attached to bits of mother leaf.