March 19, 2007
After last Thursday's
CO2 disaster, I decided it was probably time to start a new thread to track the progress of the tank rebuild, rather than have it be buried at the end of an 11-page thread.
Consider it a new beginning, if a painful one.
I spent about 6 hours yesterday breaking down the tank to the point of substrate-only still in the tank, then rebuilding, replanting, and refilling it. It was a lot of work, but I definitely found catharsis in the process. It was therapeutic, in a sense, in getting over what happened to my fish.
I set the CO2 back up today and dosed macro fertilizers on my Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule:
5/8 tsp Potassium Nitrate (nitrate)
1/4 tsp Mono Potassium Phosphate (phosphate)
3/4 tsp Potassium Sulfate (potassium)
On Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday, I dose Plantex CSM+B mixture for micro fertilizers.
And now, some pictures:
The new tank set up:
A new plant: I think it's Alternanthera reineckii, but please confirm that if you can:
Another new plant: Compact Sword
Morimo ball, perched in the driftwood:
Anubias barteri v. coffeefolia, arranged on lace rock:
[
For Reference: 55g Planted Tank Journal, Phase I: July 24, 2006 - March 19, 2007]