Puddles

Last night I got bit by the meddling bug again after reading through a thread discussion on flow, and decided to switch my 75g XP3's position back to paired intake/output. Unfortunately the hoses now sport a Hydor ETH heater, and getting them to play nicely under the tank was difficult. So difficult, it turns out, that I woke up this morning to a moderately-sized puddle on my living room floor. Let's hear it for polyurethane-sealed floors! So after towel-mopping and a quick check of the canister (leak mysteriously not apparent), I went off to work, and came home to another moderately sized puddle on the floor. Now I had time to really investigate, and found that I must not have gotten the quick-release seated correctly, because water was leaking slowly out the power cord hole. Two hours and a major canister cleaning and hose adjusting later, I think I've solved that problem, but now one of the joins on my Hydor is slowly dripping. That should be a lot easier to fix, at least! I'm sure it got a little loose while I was twisting things about. The hose barbs are not very secure, unfortunately.

On the planted side, various stems have come loose after the last trimming and need to be replanted, and the crypts are doing their best to fill in as a carpet - I'm pleased about that, since they were looking terribly sparse for so long. But they seem to have grown their root systems to the point where they're happy now! I ought to give them a Flourish tab or two next time I'm armpit-deep in that tank. I think the crypt spiralis heartily approves of being moved from "under" the Amazon sword to its own spot on the back wall - I haven't seen any more leaves shed from that plant at all since the move. I need to do another drastic H. pinnatifida pruning - I hate having to cut down the large stem that Tex Gal shipped me, but I suspect it's necessary for the plant to recover from the neglect I subjected it to. I'm planning to move some things around a bit to give it its own "patch" to grow in! The ozelot sword is responding well to the harsh pruning I've been giving it - the leaves are coming in thick and fast, and it even appears to be starting a new flower spike. I harvested a baby plant off the end of the first one, although there are still three baby plants on it, those haven't grown any roots yet that I can see. They may need to be touching water before they grow roots, but I don't want to cut them from the parent plant before they've rooted - catch 22.