I take a lot of photos of my aquarium, like my phone is always running low on storage amount. I had a small bout of the burnout and didn’t keep up with maintenance besides the essentials. Now that I’ve caught up, I want to organize my photos and have a place where I can see my progress.

This is after I gave the plants a big trim, so I could see what I was doing. I want a wild jungle look, but first I want to direct the plants to grow in the places I want them to. Think organized chaos. I’ve been trying to grow plants out of the top, but I don’t have a good way to attach them. Especially since I keep the water level lower for my mystery snail Steve.

May 6

I started my testing my water parameters. I don’t do this often, my tank is very stable. I’ve checked these strips against the API freshwater test kit. I just want to check that the nitrates are low enough before I start.

I’m starting by moving this sword plant; it’s a little too crowded. Bob the Bladder is there too, overseeing the operation.

I’m working slowly and carefully to try and not kick up too much mulm.

Took a break to check on the snails; Bob is my first bladder, all the rest are their children. Steve is in the corner, safely out of the way waking up from a nap.

I went around and removed some algae. My java moss has always been covered in hair algae. I was getting tired of cleaning it, so I removed most of it. I accidentally uprooted some plants and switched to using my hands.

I wanted to make space for the sword plant so I removed some others.

And I put the Sword plant in.

This took me almost an hour. I was getting tired and my back sore. So I put in some food and called it a day. I popped the non-aquatic plants back in the aquarium, I was too brain tired to figure out where else to put them.

May 7

I want to move these plants to the middle. I’m going to start by propagating them.

I added root tabs. I like to break them up first; this time the floor did that for me.

Next thing I need to do is clean my pre-filter sponge.

As I took it out a bunch of stuff fell off…

After I rinsed it (I liberated any bladders, and used it to water my houseplants).

I took another break and now I can do some detailing. I used a toothbrush to scrub off the hard water build-up, picked up floating plant bits, and cleaned the inside glass with a magnetic algae scrubber.

After cleaning the outside glass with vinegar, topping up the water, and adding liquid fertilizer this is where I’m at

May 13

There’s some build up at the front that doesn’t look good. Normally, I leave mulm in as plant food, but I don’t have plants at the front to use it. I covered my aquarium turkey baster with a net to prevent bladder snail abductions

I pulled up the rest of the plants in the front, and moved the healthiest ones next to the Rotala indica and removed some new Vallisneria pups.

I rinsed my pre-filter sponge again, topped up the water, and added liquid fertilizer. Here’s the next day (the skewer is holding some spinach for the snails).

May 20

I’ve started researching what critters would fit nicely in this setup. I might get shrimp and some sort of small fish, I just need to find creatures that are all compatible together and with my tank parameters.

I’m really happy with how the java moss is growing on the wood. I didn’t do much today; just trimmed melting leaves.

My motor was making a grinding noise so I took it apart and clean it.

May 27

I came back from a small trip very tired. I wanted to clean the glass today, but I was too exhausted to. Here’s how it was when I got home (I left some spinach for them while I was gone)

I got set-up with my towels and tools, then I couldn’t find my plant trimmers anywhere! It was infuriating! I looked all over the room and even wondered if someone had borrowed them. I knew they were there earlier. Yes they were, I left them on top of the aquarium… to remind me to do maintenance (boy did that word need a spell checker!). But they’re black; black objects live in the void and no longer exist in this realm.

I gave some plants a little trim, to keep them from blocking the light from the neighbouring plants that I want to grow. I had a bag of river rocks, so I’m now experimenting with using them to keep the plants contained. Though I know it’s going to take me awhile to get the knack of hardscaping. I also pulled out some algae and more Vallisneria that was putting pups where I didn’t want them yet. I also added some more liquid fertilizer and added more water.

May 27

Here are some slideshows of the tank’s growth.

I’ve done a lot of research and I think I’m going to get some red cherry shrimp. Shrimp were the original special interest that led to this aquarium. I also think I’m going to look for a lid, because topping up the evaporated water all the time is starting to get old. My goal is to have as low maintenance an aquarium as possible.