A tuned light, automated dosing, a second circulation pump, a background that failed and stayed out, and the problems still on record.
The rescape is about four months old. The work has moved from waiting on a sparse grow-in to shaping: keeping the Dutch groups distinct, controlling where each canopy stops, keeping space between neighbouring groups, and bringing the foreground in. None of that is finished, and the problems below are as much a part of the month as the changes.
The Chihiros WRGB II Pro 90 has been over the tank since the 17th of September. Its channels have moved twice since the first survey: R86 G86 B95 W15 on the 18th of September, R97 G100 B118 W8 on the 1st of October, and R115 G85 B120 W0 from the 10th. Red up, green and white down.
On the 10th the end of the photoperiod moved from 4:00pm to 3:00pm, so that full light ends close to when CO₂ stops. Before the change, pH had risen about 0.2 above the day's low by the end of full light.
Spot readings at the new setting, the same evening: Rotala 'Orange Juice' about 150 µmol at the tops, the older 'Blood Red' group about 110 at the tops, Monte Carlo 50 to 60 at the carpet. Across the fifteen positions both full surveys measured, the September survey under the Chihiros reads higher on average and more evenly than the August survey under the Solar RGB. Those two surveys were taken at different fixture heights, sensor depths and spectra, so this is a direction, not a result. A matched survey is next.
An AI Nero circulation pump now sits in the left/front quarter of the tank near the surface, to complete the circulation loop the filter outflows leave unfinished. The change was made in response to surface film and the way water was moving; the specific observations were not logged and are not reconstructed here.
Pearl reads its setpoint over Bluetooth. In the last three days of its log it ran at 25% through the day and 40% overnight, the stronger night flow intended to help degassing while CO₂ is off. The EHEIM keeps its own calmer daytime and stronger overnight profile alongside it.
2Hr Aquarist APT 3 is now dosed by the Red Sea ReefDose: 4 mL a day in one dose, from one head. APT 3 is a single-bottle fertilizer, so the second head is unassigned. For a period before this it went in by hand, and that period's record says so.
Make-up water is RODI remineralized with 2Hr Aquarist APT SKY at 9 g per 20 US gallons. KH is kept near zero on purpose and GH generally sits around 5 to 6 dGH; those are practice, and measured values stay on the tank page with their dates.
The DET illuminated background failed in October: roughly half of its internal 12 V LED strip stopped lighting. The panel was opened successfully and is repairable. With it out, the tank runs on clear rear glass with the room wall behind it, and that is how it is staying for now, by choice.
A new group of Rotala 'Blood Red SG' went in the week of the 26th of October: eight submerged-grown stems, pink to red on arrival. It is a separate group from the older far-left Rotala sold as 'Blood Red', whose exact clone is uncertain and which presents more reddish brown than crimson here. Whether the SG holds its color in this tank is the question; it is too new to say.
Rotala macrandra and Rotala macrandra 'Mini' are no longer in the layout. Their history stays on the plant index with the other removed groups.
Hair algae is still present. The measure remains clean new growth rather than old leaves recovering, because affected leaves do not.
There are localized blue-green, cyanobacteria-like mats on parts of the foreground aquasoil. They bind soil grains together and trap oxygen bubbles. They are confined to patches, and they are recorded here rather than treated as an emergency.
The plan for both is the same as for everything else this month: keep CO₂, light and fertilization steady long enough to judge them, rather than change several things at once.