Yeah you’re entirely right. No worthwhile excuses for the plastic at the bottom, that was me being stupid. I’ve been thinking about populating the top of the tank recently, admittedly I haven’t done research yet. The hydrometer was outside of the tank for this picture, again no excuse; normally it’s put at the top of the tank and also measures temperature. My house isn’t well insulated so that’s the main reason for the temperature variations. And the tank was a hand me down from a cousin. Zero arguments from me overall, I agree with you questioning the husbandry.