The New True-Aquatic Plant Look

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thought I would show off my the changed look of my Rio 240, after the addition of some proper plants and a Dennerle 300 CO2 system!

Cambomba
Anubias barteri nana
Microsorum pteropus 'Dwarf'
Ludwigia repens
Alternanthera reineckii 'Pink'
Ludwigia glandulosa
Echinodorus 'Rosé'
Alternanthera reineckii ''roseafolia''
Pogostemon helferi
Microsorum pteropus (large plant broken up into 3 sections, fixed to bogwood)
[A free floating plant that customers get when buying anything in May, need to look up its name and and a pic to this thread]

I'm tempted to try and fix the Anubias plants to the smaller piece of bogwood, once it has settled in and grown more roots.
Only one bit of the pteropus is fixed to the large bogwood, with an elastic band (the front one), which I'm wondering about lowering to a fix on the base level bogwood in that stack. The other two bits are literally just stuffed in gaps between the two bogwood pieces. Will that suffice, or is it essential I fix them with bands/cotton/superglue?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I've moved the foreground bit of the pteropus down to the lower bit of bogwood, to try and get the plant tops sloping dowqn more gently to the open water (right) side of the tank.

I'm amazed at how much the pH has dropped due to the CO2 system, its now ~7.6 from 8.1 in the space of 48 hours! As the water will be relatively unsaturated in a new setup, I tend to boost the bubble rate up from 25 to 60 for a few hours mid afternoon. Hopefully, not only will this help the plants settle in, but it will also limit algae growth due to toxic levels of CO2 for them (although my better half just pointed out a tiny bit of fluufy biege algae on the lower level bogwood, might even be a few random strands of rockwool).

 

[Biulu]

That is a very nice set-up you are having there! I love the bogwood; I thought at first you had made an arrangement with rocks... Apart from the CO2 can you give some more specifications? Are you using a substrate below your gravel? Are you dosing any ferts? What is the photoperiod and what kind of lamps have you got?

 

[ian]

thats a really nice set up!

it'll look really good when grown up.

 

[Ryefish]

wow! very nice!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thanks!

The bogwood maze came from two pieces that went together like hand and glove, creating several wood caves! The smaller piece can also wrap around the zig-zag lower piece for a cave tower, but for now at least, I'm happy having the smaller piece as a minor feature surrounded by medium and small plants (although I am tempted to try and fix at least one of the Anubias nanas on there, perhaps the one next to the fine grass)

There's ~1cm of Dennerle Deponitmix under ~6cm of Congo sand.

I added 5 squirts of Dennerle "S7" fertilizer (came part of a freebie with CO2 system, long with "v15" and "v30") on Sunday, which has sent the nitrate levels through the roof (~110)!

Just hope this with the CO2 will get the plant stock taking a quick hold.

At some point, I fancy getting some Microsporum "windlov"(sp), love its multi-branched stem tops!

The pH is dropping like a rock, now ~7.2 from a base level of ~8.1 before the CO2 system, in just over 48 hours!

Its a Juwel Rio 240, my first ever tropical fish tank, along with first real plants that will be my sole responsibility (poor plants)!

Stocking will be focused around a lovely pair of Opsarius pulchellus (Green-barred Danio), that have apparently been at the LFS for six months or more. Celebes Rainbows and Halfbeaks are very likely, as is Dwarf Neon Rainbows.

My real dilemma is what fish to add first. Part of me thinks Zebra Danios would be a safe bet, which could also double up as good dither fish long term. Part of me thinks two or three Giant Danios, that will hopefully link up with the Opsarius for a playful group. Part of me wonders about Golden Panchax or Paradise fish.

The question running through my mind is where is the cycling at... I did not test the water for a few days after adding some fish flakes last week, so I may have missed the "ammonia spike." However, nitrites have spiked to 0.8 and nitrates 110! I do have a large bottle of Tetra SafeStart in the cupboard, but I would prefer to keep it back for an emergency situation, if the tank is going to naturally cycle itself with plants and the added fishfood!

 

[Biulu]

I wouldn't add any nutrients at the moment, apart maybe from trace elements, as you have a substrate which will provide you with most of the nutrients at the beginning.

All your options sound interesting, the only ones that I wouldn't add are paradise fish; they are very agressive and should be put in a species only tank.

Well done with the wood! And yes, it looks more interesting with the smaller piece on the side..

 

[ian]

Zebra's would be fine IMO, they are hardyand can be used to cycle a tank anyways. Are you using any other filtration?

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Filtration is being done by the Juwel Bio 8 and the upgraded Juwel 1000 pump I got as part of the package deal on the tank. There's a Koralis 1 powerhead in there too for extra water movement.

Up until now, I've always turned on the T5 108w lighting at breakfast time (nowish), along with the CO2 system... But today, I'm going to try a routine of saturating the water with CO2 at a silly bubble rate until 0800ish and then turn on the lights!

 

[ian]

Keep us/me updated on how the filter holds out. You know these filters get bad reps. I'm running just the juwel with 1000lph + a koralia, it's doing a great job at present. You also should see the plants pearling when saturating!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

I have already noticed that the top white filter sponge of the Juwel gets easily clogged and then almost kills the pump outflow altogether (but works fine again after a quick rinse). I can see myself having to upgrade the filtering as the fish get older...

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Had a mini move around yesterday with some of the plants...

• Hairgrass is now to the right of the small bogwood
• One of the Eleocharis(?) has moved from by the filter/heater chamber to the left of the small bogwood
• Moved both Anubias bateri nanas onto the small bogwood, using postie elastic bands to hold roots in place!

The floating freebie plant (must post a pic to identify it) is rapidly growing a daughter plant. The colony of (saw-edged green leaved plants with reddy brown stem) are all budding, still not sure if its just new leaves or some sort of flower.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Had a bit of a move around, an easy excuse when I ended up having to remove most plants to net my Danios and get them into quarantine on Sunday!

The small bogwood (now with the Anubias barteri nanas attached via postie red elastic bands) is temporarily located in the QT, to give the poor adult Danios some cover...

I say adults, when I should say parents, as 19+ fry have hatched in the last two days, on top of a baby Chocolate Orange Spotted Rabbit Snail (have two adults, plus 5 adult Yellow Antennae)!

The new photos show my poor cleaning routine of both algae (saving it for the snails, Otos and possibly Vietnamese Golden Sucker Loaches) and dried water minerals (hmm, don't think fish will sort this one) on the glass!

 

[ian]

great growth mate!

looks good.

 

[PDSimon]

really nice, good job you've done there