Lady Mav's Rio 180

Well, it's here and I am super-excited.

Collected the tank and cab last night, having previously collected the Tetratec Ex1200 and Hydor 300 and new filter media arriving in the post on Friday. The bathroom is currently home to 25kg of Limpopo black sand and 2 pieces of bogwood (currently soaking). I still need to pick up some river cobbles.

The first big job is a bloody good scrub and scrape to get rid of the algae, gunk and small eggs, then I've got black sticky-back plastic for the back, the hardscape can go in and I'll part-fill to get the filter running.

Plants ordered from plantsalive.co.uk so just waiting on delivery then will get planted and complete the fill. Then it's just a matter of how long it will take to cycle. I'm going to use the media from the Eheim Bioflow that came with it so that should speed things up nicely.

Hubby is somewhat "dismayed" at how dirty it is but he's not seeing beyond the surface. If anything else, he'll be even more impressed at how fab I'll get it looking.

Will add pics later.

Look forward to seeing the pictures

Well, after 2 and a half hours of scrubbing, mainly trying to get rid of snail eggs which seemed to be hiding in EVERY nook and cranny, she was ready.

Started off fighting with some sticky-backed plastic for the background. Had visions of it being perfectly smooth and bubble-free but that proved far easier in theory. So it's got a fair few wrinkles and I did have to nick the larger bubbles to smooth them out but I think the crinkles and shading give it some depth, and the planting will hide some of it anyway.

So, 25kg of Limpopo black and two big hunks of bogwood later, we have this:



Different angles show the bogwood well. I chose the pieces because I thought the contours would make some good hidey-holes but I'm really pleased at just how many there are.





(I'm expecting the sand to wash off during filling. It's just stuck after trying the wood in different positions.)

The cabinet houses the Ex1200 nicely, which is all packed with media and ready to go. The previous owner 'helpfully' washed the internal that came with the tank so I'm assuming that media is tanked and just going for a full cycle.

Plants have been dispatched and should (fingers crossed) arrive tomorrow so that's the next step. I've gone for the 36" collection from Plants Alive which should give me more than enough. If anyone has any comments or suggestions on the hardscaping or thoughts on planting, I'm more than happy to hear them.

I can't believe how much fun I've had today working on this. Nearly as much as my 7-year old - he even volunteered to help by cleaning the outside (hence the smears on the end shot!)

L_M.xx

Nice tank. Luckily for you, you have the older style Rio, the newer ones won't house the 1200's.

Did you rinse the sand first?

I did wonder about the cab - I'm 95% sure it's the same as the very last tank I had in 2000.

I didn't rinse the sand, no. It didn't seen dusty when I opened it so figured I'll fill carefully and it should be fine.

ladymaverick said:

I did wonder about the cab - I'm 95% sure it's the same as the very last tank I had in 2000.

I didn't rinse the sand, no. It didn't seen dusty when I opened it so figured I'll fill carefully and it should be fine.

Click to expand...

Oops. Good luck with that then...

Looks great, will be even better when your plants arrive.

Agree with minnnt, better take the sand out and give it a good wash. As in 1-2 hours at least.

But of a delay on the update due to a minor hiccup but I'm up and running now.

Plants fully arrived on Wednesday. I really can't recommend Plants Alive enough - the plants were all clean and healthy. The pack was supposed to be 108 plants for £12.95 +p&p. There were nearer 120 plus root tabs and weights.

I did a 20% fill then planted up (root tabs only, no weights used) before completing the filling and adding the Prime. It looked pretty good, everything was running and I was happy...then it came to switch off at bedtime...wet carpet!

Turns out the outlet valve and canister seal were both slowly leaking. Switched it off overnight, cleaned and coated with Vaseline the next day but to no avail. Ordered new seals online and put the Eheim internal in to maintain circulation for the plants.

Seals arrived on Friday, fitted and everything now running smoothly. Whisper quiet and not a drip.I left the Eheim in until today just in case. Temp is steady at 25C.

The plants seem to be establishing themselves; I'm sure the Elodea has already growth the best part of a couple of inches!

Did my first water tests this evening: pH - 6.4, NH3/NH4+ - 4ppm, NO2 - 3ppm, NO3 - 30ppm ( tap water is 7.4, 0, 0, 0)

I think the Eheim might have had some surviving bacteria and this has kick-started the cycle. At the moment, I've not removed any plant debris to provide an NH3 source but will pick too some ammonia tomorrow and tidy it up.

Will add a pic tomorrow when I'm on the laptop but so far, so good! Hubby has even complemented me on how good I am at keeping warm water

Oh, and no dust at all with the sand.

So, here's the tank on 8th August, immediately after planting and filling:



And here it is today:



The Elodea in the back left corner (not too clear in the pic) is particularly thriving. Some melt and yellowing on the crypts but they've not completely dies off, so I'm hopeful.

Going to add some more crypts to fill the foreground and possibly Java moss on the wood.

I was worried that sitting through the cycling process would be frustrating but it's actually nice being forced into having time to make sure the scaping is right and established. Over the years, I had forgotten how enjoyable an afternoon up to your elbows in tepid water could be!

Lovely! Plants can really make a tank look so lush and beautiful. Java is always great on wood, go for it.

Nice setup.

nice tank