90l Fluval Roma

[Matthew5664]

Right to introduce myself, I'm Matthew I have been keeping fish for about 4 years now. Started with a 120l FW set-up and a 60l FW set-up. Both were planted and I bread Rams and Swordtails in them for a while. From there I had Marines a large 250l full reef and a 120l Seahorse set up. Due to personal circumstances I have to put fish keeping on the back burner for a while (Got married and had another child) but with the money from the rock and fish I got a stoking £400 credit note from my LFS. So now I'm back and I have decided to go slowly with a Fluval 90 Roma.

This has the Fluva 2+ internal filter which is fine for the stocking load I will have and a 150 heater which again is fine.

I have bought 2 x 5kg bags of Red sea Flora Base for the substrate, a Red Sea Turbo Bio C02 System and a Red sea Permanente C02 checker.

This was all set-ups about a week before I went on my Honeymoon, hoping by the time I came back it would all be ready for stocking.

The stand and tank went together no problem the supplied lighting is only 2 x 18W and I have decided to keep for now. I do have a spare twin 36W power compact starter (from the reefing days) that I might use in the future. The bottom was set with the flora Base and a medium landscaping rock sloping front to back and right to left.

It was planted with a Vallisneria sp. at the back left Hygrophila sp. on the back right and a Sword and Java in the middle of the middle ground. Right at the front I have two unknown plants

If anyone can help ID my plants better I would be very grateful.

I left the lights on a 10h cycle and the C02 is on all the time however the pump supplied with it is on a timer that reflects the lights.
Heater set to 25 and the tank filled and de-chlorinated I went away.

On coming home two weeks later the tank was looking good all the plants had taken very well however there was a faint green water tint. This over the next couple of weeks bloomed and the lighting was adjusted accordingly witch worked very well with no detrimental effects on the plants.

The C02 system has now been placed into a bucket with a heater set at 25 to maintain a stable C02 production. This was worked fairly well however still needs fine tuning.

And this is how it looks now.

 

[jacko9901]

nice looking tank. whats your planned stocking?

 

[RadaR]

Hey Matthew.
Nice start.
Regarding the plants, the two at the front look like crypt undulata. I'm struggling to find any Hygrophila sp. in there... I can see bacopa carolina (the green stem) and Ludwigia repens (the red stem).
I'd give the stems a trim. That way they will grow back thicker and more "bushy". Trim with sharp scissors about 2/3s of the way down just above a "node".
Also, what nutrients are you dosing? I think Tropica Plant Nutrition +, would be best for this tank. Maybe around 3ml a day.
Try do 50% water changes a week too, to get rid of small amounts of ammonia and algae spores. Remember to dose nutrients afterwards.

 

[Matthew5664]

Many thanks for the replies.

jacko9901> I'm hoping to have a shoal of Lamp eye killifish. They have them in at the LFS and they look amazing. Either those or rummy nose tetras. Something with blue or red to contrast the green planting.

I would also like to have some sort of carpeting plant once I have proved the effectiveness of the C02 system I have something like Glossostigma.

RadaR> Many thanks for the ID's on the plants this will go some way to helping me. I will give them a trim tonight and as you say hopefully this should encourage side ways growth. I did wonder how they become to look so bushy.

I dose 'Interpet Flora boost No.2' 2.5ml a day with a 35% w/c a week. This has led to slight algae build-up on the front glass that I remove with a scraper. I will adopt a larger w/c like you have said and try the Tropical Plant Nutrition +.

Watch this space.

 

[aaronnorth]

If the algae is GSA, then that can be a sign of low nitrates. The rock looks a little to central for me though, try placing it a tad to the right or left.

I like the substrate, it is the first time i have seen anyone use it.

 

[RadaR]

I like the substrate, it is the first time i have seen anyone use it.

I used it for a few months in my Rio 125 before I covered it with ADA Aqua Soil Malaya. Reason being, is that I found the Red Sea substrate to be very prone to crumbling up and aventually I lost a lot of it as the power got into the water and out with water changes.

 

[Matthew5664]

I have found it to be very light and was toying with the idea of covering it with something?

The rock is very centeral, your right but with the heater and filter in the tank I find it tends to balance it out. Once the plants are a little more established I will be adding the fish and just before I will play around with the hardscape.

One thing that does worrie me is I can't get a reading from my Fe test kit. Should I think about dosing Fe along with my exsisting ferts?

 

[RadaR]

One thing that does worrie me is I can't get a reading from my Fe test kit. Should I think about dosing Fe along with my exsisting ferts?

You shouldn't have to dose extra iron. Iron deficiencies when regularly dosing ferts, is un-heard of really..

 

[aaronnorth]

iron is siad to be consumed with in a few minutes, or it becomes chelated and it is no use to plants.

 

[lljdma06]

Iron test kits are inaccurate, as are most test kits really. There are good websites that explain plant defciencies in detail. Your plants and tank will tell you what you need to add. I just did a google on Aquarium Plant deficiences and came up with a huge list. Most are probably copied between sites, which is annoying. Here is an example of a typical site.

http/www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nutrient.htm

Fe is present in a good all-purpose fert, so it's not necessary to dose it separately.

Personally, seeing as this is a new tank, I'd add a lot more stemplants and not preoccupy yourself with the look of the hardscape. When you trim, just replant the cuttings, and soon you'll have more than enough to get you through the maturation process.

I concur with RadaR's crypt identification.

llj