Emmas Rio 125l (33us Gallon) Planted Adventure

[ebrcknrdg]

PLEASE NOTE. THESE FIRST PICS ARE OF POOR QUALITY AND DO NOT REFLECT THE CURRENT STATE OF MY TANK. PLEASE DONT GIVE UP READING, THEY DO IMPROVE, AS DOES MY TANK. THIS IS DUE TO THE WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE IVE GAINED FROM THIS SITE AND AN UPGRADE TO A VERY GOOD CAMERA

This is my first "proper" attempt at a planted tank. I say proper because ive done the usual niave thing of thinking i can just buy a plant, stick it in the gravel and hope it flourishes, how wrong could i have been!

I know my tank is no where near perfect yet, i sitll have a long way to go but on the other hand i have learnt so much as well.

I am currently fishless cycling, and have been for the past two weeks. Ammonia didnt really change for a long time, but its now starting to come down from 5ppm to about 2ppm. Ill have to keep my eye on it now and then top up the ammonia back to 5ppm as soon as it drops any more. I have tested for Nitrites and they have increased to 3ppm so my patience has paid off finally. Just need to keep topping up the ammonia as it drops.

My tap water PH is 7.2 but the tank water PH has increased to 7.4. I dont think this is anything to worry about but i do know a crash in PH is far worse than a rise.

I have the internal filter that came with the tank but have removed the nitrate and carbon sponges replacing them with another coarse or fine sponge-i cant remember! All in all i have two fine and two coarse along with the filter wool.

I have a 20W Aqua Glo tube and an 18w Original tropical arcadia tube, both with reflectors, these give me 1.2WPG. I have ordered a Hagen Glomat double starter so i can upgrade to another two 18w tubes giving me 2.2WPG. I will be using the original Juwel tubes to begin with as funds are really low at the moment! Both with reflectors of course. I dont know if ill get a tube and a reflector in the back of the hood as i have this (####ty!) rock background in the way. I dont want to take it out yet as it cost £50 so i need to get my moneys worth!

The front has plenty of room

The back however....

I dont know what possesed me to buy that background. Its hideous and takes up space!

If the reflector wont fit onto the tube then ill have to use foil on the lid, unless anyone has any suggestions.

I have a Nutrafin CO2 system hooked up the the ladder but this wont give enough CO2 when i upgrade my lights so im going to add a 2 liter pop bottle to the system connected by a t-connector at the moment but i am going to buy a gang valve so that pressure isnt lost to one canister whilst im refilling the other one. I also have a bubble counter and have purchased a nano diffuser.

I also aim to go down the EI method route and already have a trace mix, i just need to buy some Potassium Nitrate and Potassium Phosphate from AE then will dose 3x per week doing a 50% water change on a sunday. This will all happen when i have all the plants, the CO2 is hooked up and the lighting is installed.

The plants i have at the moment are;
Cabomba Caroliniana (I think)
Elodea Densa
Anubias
Amazon Sword
Water Wisteria
Moss Balls
Java Moss, tied to slate
Some i dont know the name of
1 Artifical plant

The reason i dont know the names are that i bought a bunch off ebay cheap and they didnt come with any ID so ive had to guess them. Anyone that can ID any of them then please do so. I know im sparse on the plant front but am going to buy a bulk load when my tank is cycled. I am using Tetra Complete substrate under the gravel

Right now, heres what the tank looks like two weeks in.

Yes i know im not going to be winning any aquascaping contests but primary concern is getting the tank cycled. Then i will fiddle around with location of plants and adding bogwood etc etc.

 

[john starkey]

Hi there,from looking at your pics your substrate looks just like normal gravel, if so your plants will struggle to grow i suggest you try something like eco-complete or something from the tropica range regards john.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Hi there,from looking at your pics your substrate looks just like normal gravel, if so your plants will struggle to grow i suggest you try something like eco-complete or something from the tropica range regards john.

I forgot to put that i am using Tetra Complete substrate

 

[john starkey]

Hi emma, ive not tried that one so i cant give you an opinion, the only other thing i would suggest is to plant more to beat any algae issues, also take a look at the tropica web site it has loads of info, if you are anywhere near worcester i have some books i can lend you if you wish, i dont mind posting them to you if you promise to look after them, also why dont you have a look at the newly formed united kingdom aquatic plant society (ukaps)regards john

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Hi emma, ive not tried that one so i cant give you an opinion, the only other thing i would suggest is to plant more to beat any algae issues, also take a look at the tropica web site it has loads of info, if you are anywhere near worcester i have some books i can lend you if you wish, i dont mind posting them to you if you promise to look after them, also why dont you have a look at the newly formed united kingdom aquatic plant society (ukaps)regards john

Thanx John

The Tetra complete seems to be giving the plants enough nutrition so far. The elodea, amazons and Cabomba caroliniana are growing like crazy. I have taken cuttings from them and replanted. Mind you, in my 32L i dont have anything under the gravel, co2, liquid ferts or high lighting and the elodea still grows like mad. I do need some more plants though i do agree, but budget is pretty low after buying the Glomat double starter and various equiptment for extra CO2. I have reduced the lighting to around 6 hours a day to try and combat algae (i have no signs of any so far)

 

[ebrcknrdg]

UPDATE

I am thinking of adding a few more plants, ive already spent £450 so why not stretch a bit more

These are the ones im thinking of
Hygrophila polysperma
Java Fern-attached to rock
Some more Elodea Densa
Really want Ricca but need to wait for lighting upgrade
Echinodorus Rosé for a bit of colour

Ive seen all these on ebay so that will save some money i suppose

 

[john starkey]

UPDATE

I am thinking of adding a few more plants, ive already spent £450 so why not stretch a bit more

These are the ones im thinking of
Hygrophila polysperma
Java Fern-attached to rock
Some more Elodea Densa
Really want Ricca but need to wait for lighting upgrade
Echinodorus Rosé for a bit of colour

Ive seen all these on ebay so that will save some money i suppose

Hi emma, i dont think you need to buy more elodea you should get plenty of cuttings from the plants you have. goodluck with it all regards john.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

UPDATE

I am thinking of adding a few more plants, ive already spent £450 so why not stretch a bit more

These are the ones im thinking of
Hygrophila polysperma
Java Fern-attached to rock
Some more Elodea Densa
Really want Ricca but need to wait for lighting upgrade
Echinodorus Rosé for a bit of colour

Ive seen all these on ebay so that will save some money i suppose

Hi emma, i dont think you need to buy more elodea you should get plenty of cuttings from the plants you have. goodluck with it all regards john.

I guess you're right John. I have Elodea in both tanks so that should be enough.


UPDATE

The starter kit came today and i rigged it up, it looks as though i will get a tube and reflector on the back if i squeeze it all in. Ive had to to put the ballast on top of the tank as the leads arent long enough. The amount of extra light is really noticeable, i am so tempted to leave it on but as i havent got the extra CO2 connected it would lead to a disaster algae wise.

Ammonia dropped to 0.25 this morning and Nitrites are off the chart, so added a few more drops and will test again tonight

Two tubes 20w and 18w 1.2WPG

Four tubes 20w, 18w, 18w, and 18w 2.2WPG

The warmlite juwel tube at the front gives off a yellowish tinge which i dont know if i like but it doesnt really matter as i will be upgrading these to one interpret daylight plus and an intepret triplus as soon as i can afford it.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Bought some more fast growing plants today. Didnt cost as much as i thought it would at £8 so pleased about that. The new additions are

More Water Wisteria
More Cabomba Caroliniana
Limnophila sessiliflora (I think!)
Vallis mini twister
Some kind of grass for the foreground

I dont know what some of these are as they dont have labels on in the fish shop and the staff dont seem to know what they are themselves

The tank looks much better now, and it looks like i caught it just in time assome brown algae was appearing on the glass.

Readings are ammonia 0.50, its dropped since last night and i topped it up. Now added another few drops of ammonia.
Nitrites are still off the chart

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Has noone got an opinion? It would be great to know what you think! And any help would be great

 

[Liam]

Yeah excellent start, it will make a great home for fish. The grassy ones at the front not the vals are not true aquatics they will survive under water for some time but they don’t really grow, don’t think the long leaf one with the red edge in the corner is aquatic either (not sure). If it were me I would dump the red fake plant, but if you like it then that’s all that matters. It does look like L. sessiflora which is a nice looking easy plant very good for a new tank. You probably could get better pics if you take them at night with the room light and camera flash off, only keeping the tank lights on, that way you don’t get the reflections.
The brown algae on the glass (diatoms) are common in new tanks they disappear after a while so don’t worry too much about them, any algae eating fish will love them.
Should look great when the plants settle in.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Yeah excellent start, it will make a great home for fish. The grassy ones at the front not the vals are not true aquatics they will survive under water for some time but they don’t really grow, don’t think the long leaf one with the red edge in the corner is aquatic either (not sure). If it were me I would dump the red fake plant, but if you like it then that’s all that matters. It does look like L. sessiflora which is a nice looking easy plant very good for a new tank. You probably could get better pics if you take them at night with the room light and camera flash off, only keeping the tank lights on, that way you don’t get the reflections.
The brown algae on the glass (diatoms) are common in new tanks they disappear after a while so don’t worry too much about them, any algae eating fish will love them.
Should look great when the plants settle in.

Thank you for the reply! Its great to know other people opinions as im going into this totally blind so all the help i can get will be appreciated.

Do you know what the name of the grassy one is? Ive tried to find it on the Tropica website but to no avail. The one with the red round the edge was from my LFS but they dont even know the names of some plants so i guess it could be non aquatic. Will it poison my fish? It seems to be doing ok. Also i dont know the name of the tall long leaved plant in the middle (at the back) Looks like amazon sword only bigger

I see what you mean about the red plant, it is a bit bright and distracts the eye from the others but im hoping over time the colour will fade. I do quite like it though and it cost me 4x as much as a real plant would have I could just try and hide it behind some others to try and calm it down.

My camera isnt the best, i tried using my dads for the one picture which did come out better. Will take some more pics tonight then and see if it makes a difference quality wise.

Ammonia is being processed within 12 hours so i just have to wait for nitrites to fall.

I cant wait to get my fish from my other tank into this one now. Its gonna seem like the ocean to them after their 32L! Ive currently got
3 Plattys (two female, one male)
2 Albino Danios (guessing one male and female as the one gets huge every now and then n they chase each other)
1 Neon (other 4 died)

I know ill need more to put into this tank and im thinking of getting
5 Zebra Danios
5 Neons (will put them into my mature 32L until 125L is more established)
5 Ottos

Will this be sufficient for this sized tank? If possible id like a showy fish, what could i get or will i have enough with those?

 

[Biulu]

No, you definitively have space for showy fish in there! Personally I love gouramis (am definitively biased! ), but I think they look great, and there are several species which are not too difficult to take care of, such as thick-lipped, banded, pearl or honey gouramis. Just try to avoid the dwarfs as they often get sick due to inbreeding. You can keep them by themselves (a male) or in trios (1 male, 2 females). Other colourful fish include dwarf cichlids, and these pair up, so try to get a male and a female.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

No, you definitively have space for showy fish in there! Personally I love gouramis (am definitively biased! ), but I think they look great, and there are several species which are not too difficult to take care of, such as thick-lipped, banded, pearl or honey gouramis. Just try to avoid the dwarfs as they often get sick due to inbreeding. You can keep them by themselves (a male) or in trios (1 male, 2 females). Other colourful fish include dwarf cichlids, and these pair up, so try to get a male and a female.

Thats great! I have just purchased an Eheim 2213 external filter, so this will be used as well as the Juwel internal one. This means that i have adequate filtration for full capacity i hope!

With either of these species if i get a male and a female will they breed like mad? I dont really want babies as i dont have the room Or would i be able to get two male gouramis or two female gouramis? Same with cichlids?

 

[Biulu]

They don't breed like crazy, and it is more difficult in a community tank. Gouramis are bubblenest builders and egglayers, so are not like livebearers at all. Yes, you can get 2 males or 2 females (males are much more showy though!), but towards their own kind they are territorial, so make sure you have enough hiding places. Normally it is 1 fish/10 gallons territory (doesn't mean you cannnot add other species in that space).