Except, you first need to wrangle the set up in the original app then connect it to google. I found that to be a terrible experience. I don’t need to spend that much time on a single light. Further, the system is much less sophisticated compared to the Lumiman lights where I can set the color temperature by Kelvin number (6500 K).
I did a 90% water change and after three days my test results are:
The worms are so small I doubt the average person would even notice. I have extremely good vision, off the charts. These worms are much thinner than a human hair and their body mass looks less than half of an ostrocod. Fry sized fish would probably see them but even a betta might miss them. I need to just relax and ignore them.
Sounds cool. My water conditions are perfect. Most of the plants are happy (the crypts are melting from replanting). I guess it doesn’t mean any harm. I’m trying to get some shrimp. I’m pretty sure they’d eat stuff like this 😂 My local fish store won’t get my shrimp until next week. It’s just weird to see what’s happening in the tank after a week. Lots of unexpected things!
Thank you. I just ordered the tiniest pump to help get things started. It’s 2”x2” and pumps 50 gallons per hour on the maximum setting and even less on the lower setting. I’m going to use it to very gently circulate the water while things settle. I’m so happy I flooded only one jar at a time. This is giving me ample time to learn and figure everything out. I’ve been referring to your book and I thank you for the extra input.Crypts take awhile to adjust, so its not surprising that yours melted. The Crypt was probably in the emergent form when you bought it. Now it must convert to the submerged form. If the root system is strong (lots of stored carbohydrates), it may do fine.
Your soil is decomposing fast and has made the substrate very anaerobic. You don't have any water circulation in the bowl, so bowl probably has an anaerobic water layer over the substrate. Note, the setup I've described in my book always involved a large tank with some kind of filter or water pump. That brought oxygen near the substrate and counteracted the potential problems you are describing.
I'm not saying you need water circulation or aeration, but you'll need to counteract the lack of oxygen somehow until the soil "settles down."
Yes, poke the substrate gently with very thin object (opened paper clip) so as not to injure roots. Keep up water changes. If anything, the associated water movement with these activities will mix the anaerobic layer above the soil. The presence of all the animals suggests that there's a banquet of nutrients here.
