120 Litre Planted

[Flubberlump]

After seeing so many great tanks on here I just had to have a go at aquascaping. Of course, that meant a tank upgrade. So out I went and invested in a Juwel Lido 120ltr with a black cabinet. It came with:

Standard Juwel Bioflow 3 internal filter with combined 100w heater.
2 x 24w T5 'daylight' tubes. (I have a feeling that 2 of these may be too bright, so may end up changing them. Perhaps to the 'natural' ones. Opinions?)

I'm also getting, or have already:
Black sand substrate
Black background
Nutrafin DIY co2 kit and ferts
Possibly an airstone to diffuse the co2 at night.
Mopani wood
Grey rock to build a cave (not really sure what it is, can anyone identify it when I upload my pics?)
Lots of plants

So far, I have a list of plants that I'd like. I want to try and get plenty of different colours, textures and leaf shapes. Can anyone see any potential problems with this list?

Vallis spiralis (possibly corkscrew)
Amazon swords
Ludwigia arcuata
Alternanthera reineckii
Hygrophila polysperma
Java fern
Anubias nana
Bronze crypt wendtii
Red tiger lotus
Staurogyne sp.
Riccia fluitans (for a carpet/possible rock coverage)
Java moss (other possible rock coverage)

Initial stock list:
6 x kuhli loaches
6 x corys (3 albino, 3 peppered)
6 x rummy nose tetras
6 x glass bloodfin tetras
3 x platys
Pair of bolivian rams/apistos
Top dwellers? I want to get some seen as it's a tall tank, but not decided on what yet. Any ideas? I've been looking at hatchetfish and non-annual killifish - although these are hard to come by, and I don't have the facilities to raise them from eggs. African butterflies aren't an option, as I like the tetras.

As I said, this is the initial planned stock list, which incorporates the fish I already have. If possible, I will then increase the numbers of the shoaling species, depending on space etc. Thoughts? I want to create a natural, heavily planted environment with lots of cover. I've found that this increases the confidence of shy fish without a doubt.

I will upload photos of what I've already done later today. Just started the fishless cycle yesterday.

Thoughts welcome


Edit: I will now be using pressurised co2 rather than the yeast method, and won't need an airstone as there's a solenoid on the regulator.

 

[MegaZerino]

what do you plan on doing today??

 

[Flubberlump]

I've already put the substrate in, put the background in, bought the wood and a few bits and bobs. I'm not doing anything today as I've just started cycling it. I've been taking photos of what I've been doing over the last couple of days, just meant that I'll get them uploaded today. Sorry it wasn't very clear was it.

 

[MegaZerino]

I've already put the substrate in, put the background in, bought the wood and a few bits and bobs. I'm not doing anything today as I've just started cycling it. I've been taking photos of what I've been doing over the last couple of days, just meant that I'll get them uploaded today. Sorry it wasn't very clear was it.

no it was clear, i just didnt know if you were going to be putting the fish and plants in today as well i would love to see some photos as i am setting up my juwel rio 125 next weekend

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Sounds like a nice start although I'd not use the nutrafin yeast co2 on a tank that size, if your going for vallis then liquid carbon is out of the question so I'd look into setting up a large scale yeast co2 system with 2L bottles, there is a thread on here somewhere for it to help you out .

In fact with your plant list you could go low tech, lower the lighting, not use co2 and just dose some ferts too .

 

[Flubberlump]

Thanks for the comments!

Yep photos will be going up shortly. It's just a tank full of water with black sand and a black background at the min though. I've put some mature filter media in from my current tank so hopefully it'll cycle a bit faster. Then I'll put plants and fish in.

Steveo, do you think 2 nutrafin systems would be enough connected to one ladder? So i could change the canisters alternately? Or would bigger bottles be better?

 

[KkAaNnEe]

I tend to agree with Steve, looks like with the plant list you could save yourself some hassle at the start and go low tech, i would personally drop the swords as i have always found them difficult, they always outcompete in a low tech i have found. The plan sounds good though and its a noce size for a mix of plants and fish.

 

[MegaZerino]

i haveswords in my tank and they dont have any co2. some leaves melted in the first month but now they are doing really well

 

[Flubberlump]

What lights would you recommend for a low tech setup on a tank this size? I'd definitely consider it if it saves hassle. I don't really know anything about low tech setups. What ferts and things would I need? I've had a browse around on here but can't find a thread that explains it fully.

I really like the tank dimensions as it has plenty of depth too. Its 61x41x58. Great for my aquascaping plan!

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I'd recomend half the light you have for low tech, if that's not possible I'd go with 2x2L bottles as the nutrafin kits aren't great. Set one up with cool water, a cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of yeast, set up the other 3 days later and change them both after a week, every week. That should give a nice constant flow and if you can take back the kit you have bought, do it, grab some airline and connectors and I have a spare ladder in the cupboard you can have .

 

[KkAaNnEe]

T8s would be best really, i found the t5s on my old rio 180 way too strong for low tech. It would be difficult to change your lighting unless you sold the t5 system and bought the t8 version. I dont think you can run just one bulb...

 

[Flubberlump]

Cool thanks. I'll have a look into it and see whether I can take one of the lamps out and do low tech or get some that aren't as bright. These 2 T5s are quite bright!

Here are some pics of where I'm at now.

Tank and cabinet:

Mopani:

Other side:

Rocks:

Sand and background:

Rock to hold up raised corner, think I'm going to cover it in Riccia or java moss:

Rock cave, don't mind the green putty, it'll be hidden once it's covered in Riccia or moss. There is actually quite a lot of room inside it, but the photo doesn't really show it:

Soaking the mopani, with help:

So just waiting for it to cycle now really! Anyone got any pros and cons for bolivians vs apistos? I'm leaning towards apistos at the moment purely based on their colours. No idea which ones yet though.

pH from the tap is 7.5, but may lower a bit with the wood, and definitely will be if I end up with co2.
I haven't tested the water hardness yet.

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Bolivians would be best in harder water, but are mich bigger than apistos, some reach 4-5", they have less colour but IMO Have the best character out of the dwarf cichlids

Tanks coming on, i might consider moving your filter to the other side if your going to slope from that side though, just for balance

 

[MegaZerino]

Tank is looking good, i like the little slop at the back corner. I'm going to be getting either butterfly rams or german blue rams, and how do you upload such high quality photos??

 

[Flubberlump]

Thanks the reason I've raised it so much at the back is because it's a tall tank, and I didn't want to end up with empty space at the top. So by planting the taller background plants higher up they'll fill the space. I like the different levels too think it'll look quite interesting once it's all planted up.
I host the pics through photobucket. My boyfriend ran them through photoshop first though to enhance them a bit lol.

Hmm, I think 5" will be a bit big in here. More researching to be done! Kane your apisto is awesome. I think the rock cave may end up next to the filter, sort of sunken down into the corner at the back, facing upwards a bit. I plan to put some bushier plants around the filter too to try and disguise it. I envision the plants filling out really nicely sort of like they do in jungle scapes. I know that might take a while though

Just another thought, when I was thinking of the nutrafin co2 system, I would use the DIY mix rather than the nutrafin tabs. I don't know whether this makes a difference? Maybe not.