Added a springtail culture to address some minor mold issues, and added a pipe from the waterfall to get moisture to some mosses on the far end that are drying out. I don't like the way it looks so will probably come up with something better at some point, but for now it seems to work.
That's really the problem with trying something new. If I had this tank to do over again, there are some things I would do differently. But there's no way of knowing that until it's all set up, glued in place, and stocked, and by then it's really, really hard to make changes.
Things I would like to do differently (and might just tear down and fix eventually):
1. The ledges on the back should be all more-or-less on the same level, so plants have more room to grow.
2. The land area needs water running through a trough, or maybe a hidden pipe, along the back to keep everything watered. (I thought I would have the self-discipline to spray the mosses every day. You can guess how that's going)
3. Speaking of plants: More mosses and fewer broad-leafed plants, maybe just a single Himalayan maidenhair fern, since I hope to actually see the frogs that will be living in here some day.
4. I'd still like a tea plant in here...but I think I'd need a taller tank or an open top, which is a no go with frogs. Which reminds me,
@Magnum Man , what ever happened to your tea plants?
5. And a bigger waterfall pump.
6. I need to figure out some way to keep baby snails out of the manifold: Water flow is probably about 1/2 of when I set this thing up last fall because baby snails can get through the sponges, then the pipes get all gunked up as the snails grow up. Maybe it's as simple as using finer sponges, but that would also reduce water flow.
These emergent java ferns are getting huge, though, and that's kind of fun. These aren't really aquatic plants in nature: When planted at the water line and given the choice of growing submerged or emergent, they'll head up in the air every time.
