do you know photography isn't allowed in supermarkets? i got yelled once in whole foods for doing it and there's actually a sign at market basket informing you it's forbidden. that's a shame because some of the best photos can be gotten in supermarkets, particularly in the produce department. despite the rules, i still like to sneak a photo or two whenever i can, just my subversive nature.

the excitement on this particular day was ratcheted way down. left the house just once to get some groceries with my father. he helped me bring in some of the stuff and we planned on possibly renovating my grow closet with yet another row of lights now that my plants are getting bigger. since i'm currently not on any projects i wake up pretty late these days resulting in the unfortunate side effect of a shorter day. i spent the day in my room, then broke it up with a shower around 5pm before spending the night in the living room.

it took just 3 weeks for the green beard algae to return to my minibow tank. i suppose the best way to control is it with weekly (if not more often) water changes. brown algae also grows on the tough leaves of the java ferns which i remove by rubbing them between my fingers in a bucket of water (the water i then dump, turned brown from all the removed algae particles). on the last vestigial valisnaria there's some green fuzz algae but the leaves are soft enough that if i rub them they'll break off so those i don't touch. eventually the fuzz algae will just cover it completely before killing it. after a water change on the minibow, i did one for the male guppy tank. it wasn't necessarily, but i could see dark algae forming on the glass on the border between the gravel and the water (kind of like the aquarium version of tartar).

examining the cardinal climbers today, none of them have yet to climb on the bamboo skewers yet. they have the weirdest leaves, like mutated maples. still trying to get some color in that one light-malnourished cardinal climber. i think it's getting greener, particularly around the veins, but i probably won't see healthy colors until the new leaves come out.