Cumulative Update

My tanks are doing great I couldn't be happier. From the very start I've had little problems growing plants, but now I seem to be getting better. My ten gallon, I thought, would be unable to provide the necessary environment for most plants, it has two 14 watt AquaGlo bulbs and DIY CO2. With these in mind I couldn't help but feel a bit pessimistic. About a month ago I added some Rotala rotundifolia, it didn't grow or do anything at all so I took it out. I also added some Hygrophila difformis which I thought would not thrive. Now it seems to be growing slowly. The Ludwigia repens used to grow exponentially inches by the week before I decided to rescape it. It doesn't seem to do much now. When I refilled one of the DIY CO2 bottles I noticed some pearling on some of my plants, specifically the java fern and the dwarf lily. This is good news because I've never had any pearling in this tank before and that means I must be doing something right. Below you can see slight changes in my ten gallon, the dwarf lily grew lots of leaves, which I had to cut off and the Hygrophila difformis is making a great attempt to reach the surface. The vals also put out a lot of runners which I decided to use in my 6 gallon.

Microsorum pteropus pearling

Nymphaea sp. 'rubra' pearling

I've never shown this tank before, it's my 6 gallon endler tank. Not too sure what to make of it, I tried this island layout don't know if it goes well or not. The rock to the left seems out of place, I might take it out. I used to have some cherry shrimp in there but none of the babies were surviving so I put them in their own 2 gallon tank. Currently I only have some Vallisneria, java fern, Hygrophila polysperma, Ludwigia repens, and anubias. Hopefully the back gets full of vals so that I can cover the filter.

And finally, my 2 gallon hexagon. This is my miracle tank, I can grow just about anything in it. It has a 15 watt CFL bulb plus some sunlight when the sun is lower in the sky, more than enough light in my opinion. The other day I was thinking about how long into the photoperiod the plants would start to pearl. Amazingly they started pearling within the minute I turned on the lights! It also has some DIY CO2 which definitely helps everything grow faster. Here you can see the three stages it has been through within one month, the last picture shows how I'm running out of room to put all the clippings. This is my "cultivator" tank so I don't have to worry about where to put the plants, I can just plant them in my ten gallon.

Planorbis corneus/rubrum

Thanks for reading.