Journal UNS 60L High Tech Countertop Build

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Looking good for a shade over a month! Once that MC gets moving you might appreciate the glosso rising above it a little to soften the edges against the stone.

Thanks! I hear you on the glosso. It actually looks really good at eye level, and that was the intended effect I was hoping for in mixing it with the Monte Carlo. It’s just that in other tanks I’ve seen, it looks like glosso is capable of growing really tight to the substrate, so I think I’m just assuming it’s some failure on my part that requires fixing .

 

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Post water change after a 2 week vacation.

CO2 cylinder spring a leak and ran out the literal day before I left for vacation. I did manage to swap the bottle, but still came home to things in pretty poor condition.

There were a few substantial clumps of soft slimy filamentous algae that seemed a whole lot like diatoms, although this tank has been established for a few months already.

The Monte Carlo I started was slowly starting to die in patches a month ago, but it really suffered over the past few weeks. I’m pretty sure the hairgrass is choking everything out and hogging the substrate nutrients, so no water column ferts during vacation was just the nail in the coffin. The glosso seems to be doing okay so I’m going to let it take over as the primary foreground carpet. Maybe I’ll plant some new Monte Carlo but not sure yet.

Interestingly, some of the hairgrass also started to die off. Not sure if I need to intervene with root tabs, trimming, or even uprooting something to thin it out.

I still think flow is weaker than I’d like it to be, although I’m getting the drop checker green during the photoperiod, the zone close to the substrate may not be getting enough CO2.