Well it has been a while since I posted an update. A fair bit has happened in that time and I was away from home for a while, about 10 days, so the tank was just running on automation while I was away with fingers crossed.
A few days before we went away I increased the CO2 yet again, monitored the fish for two days and all seemed fine so decided that as the tank is automated apart from water change, I would just set up the auto-feeder and leave things running as normal, no changes to CO2 or lighting period etc. I had hoped that while I was away, the increased CO2 would improve things, but on returning home, not really the case. Sure, things had grown, but the MC was still a real mess and there was much more BBA on the Anubias at the front, on the bogwood, on some of the stones and also on some of the older lower leaves of the Alternanthera. On closer inspection also some filamentous algae, what appears to be staghorn, had also joined the party. Argh! To add insult to injury, there was even one bit of BBA growing on my drop checker, as if to say look at me, you still don't have your CO2 right!
Not all negative though, the Alternanthera had taken off in growth and the S. Repens had more than doubled in height. The new Crypts were looking good, but the Balansae had really grown and is swamping the Petchii in front of it. It's also in the wrong place, being in the back left. The initial plan was height on the right and lower plants on the left. The new Ludwigia Palustris has not done well, it grows like a weed, but does not turn red and does not grow straight up, possibly due to flow. It comes out of the substrate, grows forwards for 2-3 inches, then grows up and looks a right mess. It also has no hint of turning red and a lot of the stems were ragged and looked to have some damage to them, I think it gets moved around in the flow to much. It's therefore coming out later this week and the Crypt. Balansae will move to the back right corner.
Fish all seemed happy on my return, the only casualty while away appears to have been one of the two horned nerite snails. A shame as they are really cool little guys, but still have one more plus the big zebra nerite.
I had a really good clean up in the tank, removed all the Ludwigia, removed some BBA, gave the MC a really drastic cut right back to the substrate in the hope that it will pick up and improve and removed the front piece of Anubias that had BBA on it. I managed to salvage two small pieces with two leaves on each which I have glued to two small stones and put in the propagator with the roots just in to the soil, so will see if they survive. I also increased the CO2 again and did a big water change, about 70% as it had been over a week. There was a slight smell from the tank, not bad, but just a slight hint that things were not as clean as they could be. I have done another water change since the first and intend to do another one tomorrow after moving those Crypts around. While the water is low I will have another go at scrubbing more BBA from the bogwood and try to trim out the bottom leaves of the Alternanthera that have BBA on them. There was also some BBA in the MC, but I got most of this out with the trim.
I'm in two minds what to do with the Alternanthera. It's getting a bit too tall now so needs some sort of maintenance. I'm very tempted to trim the tops off which gives me access to the base of each plant, I can then easily remove all the BBA covered leaves, leave the base of the plant rooted and then replant the tops. I think thats the best way to get it clean and tidy. If anyone has other suggestions, let me know.
The S.Repens has grown, but has some brown tinges to the edges of some leaves. I think these are the old emmersed growth though, new growth looks ok so not too worried yet. Thinking about bringing some more from the propagator and expanding the planting a little more.
I'm not convinced that my auto dosing is working correctly, so before I went away I put tape at the level on each container to see how much was used when I was away. It actually seemed to be about right, but maybe a bit more Micro than should be going in. I then had a look and noticed that the Micro tube was empty, right from the tank, back through the pump, past the non-return valve and there was just a little bit of the tube full above the container. I removed the tubes from the tank and set them up over measuring containers, the Macro dispensed the correct amount, but the Micro did seem to be a bit over, more like 15ml instead of 11ml. I mixed up a fresh batch of both Macro and Micro and have switched back to manually dosing 25ml on alternate days as per EI. Not sure what I am doing to do with the auto-doser yet, I want to get it working again, but with it not being able to alternate days, I am tempted to have it set up with an all-in-one solution dosed daily from one pump and leave the other empty for now, maybe adding liquid carbon to it at a later date to try and combat the BBA.
Anyway, things are clearly not in the best shape, but its not a total disaster. I have dropped the intensity of my light to 80%, just to take my foot of the accelerator a little and I upped the CO2 two days ago. It seems to be a pretty fast stream now, but with the two powerheads I do have a little surface ripple that I didnt have with just the violet. My DC was cleaned out and I checked yesterday and it was green at lights on. By CO2 off at 10 PM it was most definitely yellow, but the fish did not seem at all bothered. I checked again today, green at lights on. I'll monitor again tonight and ensure the fish are not distressed.