Pearling

I had read both good and bad about the manual CO2 dispenser that comes with the Fluval Flora tanks. I am very happy with mine and glad I decided to get one for my Ebi tank. I am now considering getting one for my basic 10 gallon tank.

First Blooms of 2013

The first bloom of the year in my yard opened today. It is a dark, windy and rainy day here but I tried to get a photo.



These little weeds began blooming too. I love their delicate tiny purple flowers. When I was little I used to gather many different tiny blooming weeds for fairy bouquets. I was very fortunate in that my grandmother encouraged my imagination and gave me tiny glass bottles to put them in.

8 gallon day 52

The plants could use another trimming. Still no fauna other than a few pond snails. No more algae problems since I started using excell and upped the amount of CO2 I use. The new filter made a huge difference too. After I am well I intend on doing some research to see if I can add cut off valves to the Finnex to make maintenance easier. I also plan to move the CO2 dispenser to the back of the tank where it will be hidden by plants.
I am so very happy with how well the Fissidens fontanus is doing in this tank. It is thriving in it where I could not keep the expensive moss alive at all in my other 2 tanks.

new filter for 8 gallon

The internal filter that came with the 8 gallon fluval tank had nice flow but I hated how it would come apart in the tank when touched. Yesterday I replaced it with a Finnex px-360 canister filter. The new filter is extremely quiet, silent actually and works great. I wish it came with cut-off valves for maintenance. The glass top no longer fits because of the filter intake/outflow so I cut a piece of lexan to replace it.
I also started using Flourish Excel in that same tank to help with the algae outbreak.  Installed the Cobalt Neo Therm 25 Watt heater finally. It works great and is so incredibly thin. It barely takes up any space at all.