Oh really...
A small update for today. The scape is ticking over nicely. The established media and plants clearly helped in the early stages because there was no obvious sign of any diatoms and I only suffered a little bit of plant melt.
One thing I've realised is the the plants lower down (including the beloved ferns) aren't getting enough light which explains why they kept getting uprooted even after 2+ months. I have raised the light slightly but have also increased the intensity to 100% to see if that helps. I'll see how that goes but I honestly think it might still be inadequate and I may have to upgrade to a WRGB II or vivids (yikes).
I have added an AI Nero 3 to the right side to help with water movement as I noticed detritus was settling on the plants furthest to the left. It works well but I'm waiting to find a guard for it before I run it 24/7 as it looks to be a bit of a fish vacuum! Nobody was harmed during this discovery!
I've removed all of the floating plants. I feel they've more than served their purpose now and I want the bucephalandra that's just under the water surface to shine. The floating plants also kept getting stuck in the skimmer which was annoying.
The Gold Tetras that were in my contest tank are now in this scape after enduring two months in a bucket with the black cherry shrimp (sorry!). They've really come to life being around the other fish. They school and eat well, appear to be much less skittish and they glow in the slightly tinted water. I almost tempted to get more. 👀
On a recent visit to Maidenhead Aquatics I also picked up 3 GIANT otocinclus. They're so big it's actually a bit comical, they're easily the biggest fish in the tank. I saw them and just had to. You don't come across them every day!
The Laetacara have attempted to spawn several times but are most likely eating the eggs because there's too much going on in the tank. The apistos keep at it as per usual.
I also really really want a light screen for this tank. I've got them on my other tank and it just makes things pop. It would cost almost the same price as the tank for a 120p so I might have to DIY. Can I be bothered though? Not really. 🙃
Other than that, there's not much else going on. Things are steady.