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Just a day in and already seeing roots emerging on the new Calathea - pretty amazing.

Lily of the Nile plants are now in the African tank. Added today.

Also, one week in for the Tea plants in the Askento4 tank... so far, no signs of stress.

Just got a huge new leaf on the Calathea Orbifola - it's a monster, 8-10 inches across. I'm thinking the South American tank is going to be algae-free from now on. Luckily, I've got some extra room to raise the lights if I need to.

Adding another Calathea to the South American tank, this one's got something new - tubers in the roots, first time I've seen that.

Just a quick update on the plants... Bonsai willows didn't make it, I think they needed more light or didn't like the temperature difference between the water and air. Either way, those are a bust.

Tea plants are still looking good, no ill effects from the transition, so I'm staying optimistic about those. They might just be going through a dormant stage after the roots got rinsed.

Nile Lilies are doing alright too, still looking healthy, but not much new growth yet. I'll add more once I'm sure these ones are going to make it.

The last two Calatheas are a bit of a question mark - we're in winter, so it's possible they got too cold in shipping. Both have some good greenery and some that's dying, so I need to give them more time to see if they don't like the hydroponics or just got chilled. The one with the tuber-like nodes in the roots might not like the water, who knows.

On the other hand, those fancy Chinese Evergreens are doing great, even though they went in last. I think their roots are starting to grow out of the pots, which is nice to see. It's funny how different plants react differently - my first Philodendrons have been dormant for almost a year, but just started growing roots and new leaves this month.

I'm pretty sure this is the challenge of mail ordering plants during the winter. My last two Calatheas, which I ordered during this time, aren't doing too great. Now, I have to figure out if it's due to the shipping time and temperature or if it's related to the hydroponic aquarium conditions.

The pin stripe Calathea is a bit of a mixed bag - half of the plant has browned and curled up, but the other half looks super vibrant. I'm guessing it might have gotten cold during shipping or maybe I damaged some of the roots when I was cleaning them before potting it in the aquarium. Although, that's unlikely since the plant had pretty thick roots to begin with.

The newest Calathea isn't doing much better - about three-quarters of the leaves have curled up, but they're still green. On the other hand, about a quarter of the leaves are not curled up and look perfectly normal. Most of the healthy leaves are lower on the plant, though. Calatheas are pretty sensitive to bright lights, so this one might just be more light-sensitive than the others.

On a more positive note, those fancy Chinese Evergreen's I just got are still looking great, and I'm starting to see some root growth, which usually precedes the actual plant growth.

Noticed something that's caught my attention... seems like the plant's crown should be at or above water level. Swapped out some of the hangers for the pots today to move the crowns up higher.

This Pothos vine has grown like crazy - from just a rooted cutting to a 3-foot long vine, almost spanning the length of the tank, just above the water.

I've noticed a significant improvement in the plants since I adjusted the hooks and raised the pots, so the crowns are now fully above water. The Tea plants seem to be thriving, with new buds forming all over them, and I'm seeing increased root growth on most of the plants.

I've got more Lily of the Nile on the way, which will bring the total to six in my African tank, along with the floating Water Lettuce and Java ferns on the bottom. The Water Lettuce is growing so well that it'll need regular thinning to prevent overcrowding - it's already producing plenty of babies.

The Monstera's in my hang-on tank filters are doing amazingly well, and that tank has been running for six months without me touching the filters, just regular water changes. I plan to keep running them until one of the roots clogs an impeller, then I'll trim the roots back to the size of the pots and see how often I need to do that - I'm guessing it'll be about every six months.

Another experiment is brewing... I've got a tank that's too far from my RO filter, and it's still getting house-softened water - super alkaline and hard. The fish in this tank, mostly Platies and Rainbows, plus a Bulldog pleco that's tolerating it, all like harder water.

I've been using slotted hang-on tank pots filled with bio media and plants in another tank, and I'm really happy with the results. I think I can adapt this setup for this tank, but I'll need to use hardy terrestrial plants that can handle the alkaline water.

I've got some peat beads lying around from before I installed the RO unit. They didn't make the water softer or less alkaline back then, and they stained the water with tannins. But I'm thinking of trying them again, this time in a couple of pots with plants. Maybe the plants will thrive in a "softer pH environment," and if I do this with both Aqua Clear 70's on this tank, it might eventually make the water a bit less alkaline and add two more healthy plants to the mix.

Worst-case scenario, the water gets too dark, and I can repot the plants in a blend of bio media and peat. If that fails, I'll have to pipe my RO over to this side of the house and switch the tank to RO with mineflakes added.

I dissected one of the Aqua Clear 70's... and honestly, no matter what you're doing with these filters, the first thing that stands out is that they just don't come with enough bio media from the factory. I mean, the name suggests they're good for up to 70-gallon aquariums, but in my opinion, they're only effective for up to 25 gallons as is. When I fit the pot into the filter reservoir, it takes up most of the space, but I was still able to add all the original bio media in mesh bags on either side of the pot, effectively more than doubling the amount of bio media in this filter. Plus, I added peat beads and will be adding a plant... making this filter, in my opinion, about three times more effective than how it comes from the factory.