Day 35: Low-tech Tank

It's been a challenging week for this tank. Green spot algae has invaded it and spread not just on the glass walls but also on leaves of brazilian pennywort, hydrocotyle tripartita, and bacopa caroliniana. Only a few leaves were affected so I hope it does not get any worse.

Nitrate levels reached a high of more than 80 ppm last week but dosing some phosphorus probably helped by allowing plants to take up most of it. Today it measured at 10 ppm only.

Staurogyne repens melted away. Only a few stump of it were left. There are small leaves left over but I don't expect it to survive. It is supposed to be fine in a non-CO2 tank but perhaps, the high temperature caused it to melt.

Hydrocotyle tripartita continue to do well except for those that were planted beside staurogyne repens, which melted away. Could it be that they are too far from the light? those that are hanging at the middle of the tank continues to do well except for a few older leaves that are starting to get covered by green spot algae. The rest of the leaves are slightly covered by diatoms but in time I expect it to get better.

Water wisteria continues to do well too. It has grown thick and lush but it keeps growing horizontally. I always thought it will grow vertically on a low-light tank but I was wrong.

Hygrophila Polysperma has acclimated. I remember this stalk as the last remaining one in the high-tech tank several weeks ago when I was battling with nutrient deficiency at that time. This plant has no leaves at the bottom because it melted away. I threw this stalk in this tank and let it just float around until I found a pot to plant it in. It was a good decision as you can see how pretty it is now. It took sometime before it adjust to this tank but now it looks so healthy. I can try to cut and replant the new stems this week as I would like this to propagate.

Rotala indica also took a while to establish it self in this tank but it finally start growing fast. I may need to trim it as well this week to encourage growth.

Christmas moss looks almost exactly the same as it was when it was first planted. It's not dying but it's growth rate is just extremely slow. I'm not surprised as this tank is running at 28 to 32C.