One of the Espeis was dead the next morning. I think he may have been partially squished in the bag during transport when the bag went flying off the seat of my car onto the floor. Poor guy.
I set up a new container of CO2 mix. I found a recipe in the archives that sounded different/interesting so I tried it. I used 1/4c sugar, 1/4 tsp normal bread yeast, 1/4 tsp molasses, 1 tsp baking soda (oops was supposed to be 1/4), and 2 cups RO/DI water warmed up to about 90 degrees. Shook it up, and hooked it up. It took about 24 hours before the bubbles got as far as the ladder to come out!! I'm getting 1 bubble every 3-4 seconds now. So the CO2 wasn't technically working until lastnight.
Hopefully the addition of CO2 will help with the small amount of diatoms and blue/green algae that are on a few leaves of the Water Sprite.
EDIT: Just tested the tank for the first time since setting it up.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.25
Nitrate ~7-8
Phosphate 1 ppm
KH 1.6 dKH (0.57 meq/l Alkalinity)
In freshwater, do you measure KH or Alkalinity? So I guess my cycle isn't over yet (not surprising). Apparently I should have higher nitrates though? I don't have a freshwater pH kit, and the batteries on my pH meter are dead, plus it's calibrated for saltwater anyway. I'm not about to calibrate it every time between testing fw and sw! Hmmm...I should find a decent pH kit for the tank I guess.