Getting Ready for St. Nick

I'll be gone for nearly a dozen days for the Christmas holidays, so I'm trying to get everything in order for the tanks to be self-sufficient during that time. This not only involves going to Alamo Aquatics to pick up some feeding blocks (and drop off some plant cuttings), but also a trip to Home Depot to pick up some low-wattage lights. I feel like the best way to avoid an algae outbreak is to lower the light level, so I picked up a 4-pack of 14 watt compact flourescents for less than $10. It's a little lower wattage than what I wanted, but the next highest was ~20 watts, and it would have cost $30 to get four of them. So that I'm not under 2.0 watts/gallon, I'm thinking about leaving in one 26 watt bulb. I hope the feeding blocks will provide enough plant food, and I'll also turn down the CO2 about 10 psi in the interest of conserving my reserves as much as anything (honestly I forget the whole thing is even there most of the time).

In addition to spending money, there was also the issue of general horticultural maintenance, which was sorely needed. It gave me a chance to spend some time watching the tank, which not only allowed me to see at least three golden kuhlii loaches, but also that several of the cories appeared gravid. I hope they're pregnant, and if they are pregnant, I hope some off-spring survive; perhaps the feeding blocks would serve them well.

A couple of gigantic water sprites, in addition to some star grass and cambomba were pulled up to give to Alamo Aquatics. I contemplated giving them one of my impressive red lotus newbies, but I think I'll hang onto it, as well as the melon plant baby for a new project...

There a guy at work selling a 10 gallon tank for $25 that I'm going to offer $20 for, since apparently you can pick up a similar size tank for $15. Now, he's including a bunch of additional equipment, but it's mostly stuff I don't need, so I'd prefer not to over-reach for something I don't even need. I'm thinking I could throw some low light over it, some plants in it, and try to breed shrimp. That's the plan anyway.

Finally, I want to start charting the TDS ppm for at least the big, fertilized tank, since it is important to make sure that I don't over-fertilize (I am, after all, double-dosing or so according to the EI method). Google Documents lets me do that relatively easily; the link is:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=
p1QPGfjWYsXlC1ZucE3X7JQ&oid=1&output=image

And for the record, here is the approximate daily dosing scheme I try to follow; water changes occur when the TDS approach 700 ppm. The thought behind the lower nitrates is due to the overstocking, although I need to measure what nitrates actually are, since I have BGA cropping up in places (esp. in java moss). Mg salts are only added on a whim.

• 1/8 tsp KNO3
  
• 1/8 tsp K2SO4
  
• 1/16 tsp KH2PO4
  
• 1/16 tsp Plantex CSM+B