Day 64 now and I have quite a few updates to share. First and foremost, all that I mentioned in my previous post seem to have helped in getting rid of the algae. I finally got to see the brown tinge fade away and the greenery spreading out. In the process of all this I lost a couple of my Amano shrimps and 3 Red Cherry Shrimps. But rest of the tank (fauna and flora) are healthy as ever.
A few plant additions. I was quite worried about the carpet growth on the rocky side of my tank. I had planted some glossostigma but they didn't progress that well. Its plainly because I chose to do that in a very wrong time when I was fighting algae and reducing my lighting period. Now things are back to normal. So my lighting period has been restored to 8 hrs a day ( 4 hrs in the morning and 4 in the evening). So I replaced the glosso with dwarf hairgrass. They have been doing well and finally giving some green color to the barren rocky hill. My wife and I felt we had made the tank a little too green now. You can see that from the image on my homepage. The Rotala wallichi gives a nice rose tip and gives a great effect, but I felt there should be more red added now. Currently I am on the lookout for some red plants. My next pic update should have the plant.
A digital lighting timer was a long time pending addition to my tank. I personally enjoy keeping my tank less automated so I get to spend dedicated time with it. But with some curiosity on how the timers work and keeping my future travel plans in mind, I decided to go for one. I got a Frontier Digital Timer from ebay and it took pretty less time to setup and works like a charm. So my lighting period now is 7 to 11 AM and 5 to 9 PM.
And the final update as the picture above shows, is a dream come true moment for me to add 4 beautiful discus fishes to my tank. Its been a long pending item. I was a little scared of adding them as I hear from people that it is a sensitive fish and adding discus to planted tank makes it a double challenge for you. Well! What's in life if its not challenging? I thought if I came this far , then why not take a step further. So came the brave moment when I got these little beauties. My biggest worry right now is that they haven't eaten much in the last week. As I understand that they are too shy initially and take some time to settle down, I wait with fingers crossed....
