Fluval Roma 200 - The Beginning.

Thank you

Wow this will test me!

I got the tank from another member, and the substrate and some of the plants were included but I have moved them around and added quite a few too!

There are vallis and giant vallis at the back, also a Crinium Thaianum or Onion bulb plant (a good one if your fish like to nibble as it tastes foul) which has now split into two bulbs. The three plants that are the same at the front are cryptocoryne wendtii (crypts). There is a bit of stairgrass and what I think is a variety of bacopa at the back, and big anubias on wood right in the middle. The most recent additions are an amazon sword or echinodorus in the middle/left back and a water violet or (hottonia palustris) n the right hand front corner.

The anubias, crypts and vallis are easy to grow and I have some in my tanks which do not have CO2 and they grow fine. The water violet has about doubled in size since I got it a few weeks back!

Thank you so much for that, really appreciate you taking the time to do that

I'm gonna sort those plants out soon then, have an assortment of plants in my smaller tank which grow like crazy, so will be transferring them over soon too!
 
When would you recommend adding plants; during or after the tank has cycled? & how long do I leave the plants in the tank before I start to stock?
 
Also I have a slight problem with the bog-wood I purchased... It floats, bought it from the Japanese Koi Company, it's about 3kg and it's been in the tank now for 3 days... how can this be sorted?

All bogwood floats for a while but once it has been in the tank and is completely soaked it will sink - some takes longer than other wood! Put a heavy rock on top of it while it is cycling and hopefully it will saturate and sink on its own by the time you add fish.

You can add the plants during the cycle - it won't harm them - but as they use ammonia and nitrate as fertilisers, it may skew your readings. Better to wait until the cycle is done, or almost done (maybe in the last few weeks). Don't rush as some will grow faster than others. I learned the hard way that some just don't do well and it is a shame to waste a lot of money on plants that will just rot!

Right, update on this tank
 
It's coming along very nicely, the bog wood has finally sunk and I've been able to get another piece that fits in with it perfectly to make a nice little archway
I found some eggs in the tank, which I think belong to pest snails that have come in on the few plants I've added, so sent in the cavalry of assassin snails and sure enough there was a large empty shell and a few smaller empty ones over the couple of days!
 
On friday I'll be going to get the proper heater for the tank, as well as a the secondary filter I looked at, at MA Aquatics.
 
Here's a couple of pics of how it's looking so far.. not aquascaped properly yet, just all thrown in

 
Also a photo of the eggs.. which I don't know whether to leave in.. or scrape them off..

 
Feedback/advice welcome and very much appreciated

Revised stocking.. Saw a fish today and completely fell in love with it, I NEEEED this fish
 


 
2 Bristlenose Plecos (1M/1F)
12 Cherry Barbs
5 Albino Cories
30 Cherry Shrimp
4 Peacock Gobies (1M/3F)

Havent seen Peacock Gobies in forever! They are gorgeous! Not sure they wont decimate shrimp population though...

Haha, I definitely agree with you on that, they are literally the most beautiful, perfect fish I've ever seen! & small enough to be a nice addition to a community
 
Ohh, didn't realise they'd do that, what other species of shrimp could i have a large population of, that won't get eaten by this stock?

Update/bump, got some new plants which include amazon sword, anubius and crypts, also added some more cutting from the other tank and a couple of bits of grass!
Decided on the AquaManta EFX300, along with a 200W heater.. so I think the total filtration is now up to 1300l /hour
I've also ordered a few other plants, for a tall and dense backdrop to the tank, so hopefully this is all falling into place now!
Will be buying a co2 system soon as well. This hobby is waaay too addictive
Here's a pic!
 

Another update, the tank's nearly fully planted now - just gonna have to wait for the plants to grow a bit more and get pruning for density. The current residents are loving it, had another batch of guppy fry last night and now one of the cories has decorated the side of my tank in eggs! Also a pic of the newest resident, the Sumatran Neon Red Goby (I think).
 
 

 

 
 

It's been a while now since I've updated this page, and since then a lot has changed. After plenty of reaearch, talking to people in fish stores and friends with tanks I have gone back on completely everything I've decided on. It's a bit of a facepalm moment, however all is not lost, I've rehomed the majority of my tanks inhabitants now, the guppies are finally gone, palmed the adults off on my girlfriends dad for his 43L tank, and all a lot of the fry have gone to my friend for his 450L(to probably get eaten). He's also taken my 3 Albino cories which were starting to breed, and added them to his existing shoal of 5 bronze cories, we thought this would work as the albinos are the same species of cory. This has left me with my BN Pleco (Valery) whom I am keeping in the next setup, and the pair of neon red gobies, who I am yet to find a home for!
 
The new setup is going to have Channa Bleheri. I've been enchanted by these dwarf snakeheads ever since laying eyes on them, and for a a long time I've just assumed those cute little Channa in the LFS will just grow too big, It appears not, they rarely exceed 6-8 inches!
These little monsters are sub-tropical, and I'll be keeping them at 21 C for 9 months of the year, and allowing the temp to fall to 17/18 for 3 months to simulate the winter period they have in the wild.
 
I won't be picking these guys out for another couple of months, as I'm hoping to create a complete jungle in the tank before their arrival, using a Co2 System, and dosing liquid ferts to the tank.
 
Super excited for this plan to start becoming reality, and to finally have the densely planted, rarer fish tank.