Emmas Rio 125l (33us Gallon) Planted Adventure

[George Farmer]

Hm seems a shame dropping from 2.2WPG to 1.9WPG

Why? Growth may be that bit slower but that means less maintenance, less algae risk, lower electric bills etc.

The end result, in terms of the aquascape, won't be much different.

Have you seen Tom's thread? http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=205611

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Hm seems a shame dropping from 2.2WPG to 1.9WPG

Why? Growth may be that bit slower but that means less maintenance, less algae risk, lower electric bills etc.

The end result, in terms of the aquascape, won't be much different.

Have you seen Tom's thread? http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=205611

Hi George,

Yes i saw that link and that tank is amazing. Im sure i couldnt achieve that no matter what lighting i have though!

Shall see if i can get lights fixed and if not i shall take your advice.

Emma

 

[ShoC]

Emma I think you might be fine with your current lighting,
I actually have some carpet plants growing without Co2, ferts and lighting at 1.2 wpg

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Just a small update of my tank.

Have trimmed and moved around some of the plants today.

Bought two Cryptocoryne Costata or Cryptocoryne albida as it is also known, for the foreground. Couldnt find much on this plant and the little info i did find told me its a difficult plant to keep.

Also got 5 Zebra loaches today, been trying to get a photo of them with just one 18W tube on but they are very skitish everytime i try to get the camera by them. They are not the prettiest fish but i got them to keep my sand in order

Some pics with just one tube on. Didnt want to startle fish at such a late hour.

Need lots of growth to fill in empty bits!

Neatened up Tiger Lotus

Java moss cave

Cryptocoryne Costata

Zebra Loach in cave

Clown Loach. Hes survived whitespot and two tank moves. I think hes gonna be a fighter. Need to rehome him soon, any takers? Hes growing by the day!

 

[Dave Spencer]

It should fill out in no time using EI.

One tip though.....try and even out the sand at the front. It can be a bit distracting when it is undulating too much.

Dave.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

It should fill out in no time using EI.

One tip though.....try and even out the sand at the front. It can be a bit distracting when it is undulating too much.

Dave.

Good tip Dave thanx for that advice.

Am awaiting some cuttings from 'Supercoley' so that just fill some bits up!

Scales came today from china, am tempted to start EI but as Dave said ill wait for more coverage first

 

[ShoC]

Emma, A good idea would be, doing a time lapse of your tank growing and filling out,

So if you was to take a picture in
Morning
Midday (optional)
Night time

but the more in each day the better,

then simply put them all in order by Date/Time
save them to a video and you have your very own time lapse.

I plan to do one myself

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Havent updated my journal in a while.....

Thanx to some very generous members my tank is filling out nicely with plants. Have been taking cuttings and replanting them every few days. It wont be long before i start dosing EI. Ive been getting a green algae on top of the sand so ive cut back on feeding and co2 injection. The co2 drop checker is showing a healthy green even with a cut back.

I have finally sorted out my dodgy starter unit.....well actually my brother, the handyman that he is, managed to solder the end pins so that they fit nicely into the end caps. No more flickering lights! He also wired up my moonlights. Ive taken some pics of the wiring as all the photos ive found didnt help at all, so maybe my pics will help others.

AC/DC adaptor off ebay, roughly £4. Operates at 7 different volts so you can choose which you prefer. I chose 7.5V for my tank.

Cut off plastic clips on cathodes and wired up. My brother did this bit whilst mumbling something about positives and negatives!? I think that you can find this out in the DIY sections under pinned topics "moonlights" Siliconed the moonlights to underside of the hood, making sure that the central support bar was kept clear.

Drilled a hole in the back of the hood so that the transformer could be kep outside of the hood. All you can see is about an inch of white wire so it all looks vey neat.

Blurry rushed pic but you get the idea. This actually makes it look brighter than it is.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I`m a little confused as to why you are not dosing and why you have cut back on CO2.

Dave.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

I`m a little confused as to why you are not dosing and why you have cut back on CO2.

Dave.

George Farmer said not to dose EI until i have 75% substrate covered with plants (page 5 of this journal) I currently have half covered so waiting for plants to fill out.

I believe the algae on the sand is due to too much co2 rather than lighting as lighing is timed as 4 hours 2 tubes, 2 hours 4 tubes, 4 hours 2 tubes so i have reduced to 1bps. Like i said the drop checker is showing a healthy green so im not worried about insufficient co2.

 

[Dave Spencer]

George Farmer said not to dose EI until i have 75% substrate covered with plants (page 5 of this journal) I currently have half covered so waiting for plants to fill out.

I`m not sure what light levels you are at, but as long as you steer clear of 2WPG for now things should be OK. I have always planted very densely from the word go and had everything flat out straight away, but starting slowly and gradually building up to full speed could be a good method for defeating early algae issues (we all get them).

I believe the algae on the sand is due to too much co2 rather than lighting as lighing is timed as 4 hours 2 tubes, 2 hours 4 tubes, 4 hours 2 tubes so i have reduced to 1bps. Like i said the drop checker is showing a healthy green so im not worried about insufficient co2.

Fluctuations in CO2 levels will cause algae, as opposed to too much. I always run my drop checker a little closer to yellow than green and my fish are fine. They will let you know if CO2 is too high, when you get some.

Dave.

 

[ebrcknrdg]

George Farmer said not to dose EI until i have 75% substrate covered with plants (page 5 of this journal) I currently have half covered so waiting for plants to fill out.

I`m not sure what light levels you are at, but as long as you steer clear of 2WPG for now things should be OK. I have always planted very densely from the word go and had everything flat out straight away, but starting slowly and gradually building up to full speed could be a good method for defeating early algae issues (we all get them).

I have 2.2WPG with all lights switched on, but like i say this is only for 2 hours. For the other 8 hours i have 1.7WPG

I dont quite know what you are saying, to dose EI or not?

I believe the algae on the sand is due to too much co2 rather than lighting as lighing is timed as 4 hours 2 tubes, 2 hours 4 tubes, 4 hours 2 tubes so i have reduced to 1bps. Like i said the drop checker is showing a healthy green so im not worried about insufficient co2.

Fluctuations in CO2 levels will cause algae, as opposed to too much. I always run my drop checker a little closer to yellow than green and my fish are fine. They will let you know if CO2 is too high, when you get some.

Dave.

I see what you are saying about fluctuations and this may be the cause of the algae, however i cant afford pressurised. I have a nutrafin and a 2 liter coke bottle hooked up to a gang valve. Ive worked it so that when one bottle is reaching its peak the other one is fading out, so there is always one bottle that is going full speed. The gang valve allows me to change the one mixture without losing pressure in the other. I seem to have a steady rate of co2 this way.

The fish have been gasping at the surface in the morning so thats also why i have lowered co2 for the moment. I believe this may be because i dont have enough plants to give the fish the required amount of oxygen?

 

[ebrcknrdg]

I didnt realise how much growth ive achieved until i looked back at the pics. I still have a long way to go though. Could also do with some aquascaping tips from anyone as its looking rather jungle like!

I would like some more foreground plants as its looking a bit bare. The Echinodorous Tennellus at the front is going brown and doesnt seem to be growing very quickly. I suspect the roots arent longenough to reach the tetra complete under the sand.

Left side

Right side

Middle

Moonlights

 

[ebrcknrdg]

Forgot to mention. I went to buy the background today from my LFS who said they would order me some in 3 weeks ago. Got there and they said that they had forgot to order it Im going to get some off ebay now, it has black one side and blue the other soif i fancy a change i can just flip it over.

2 of my zebra loaches died today Ive only got one left. I guess the PH swings were just too much for they poor guys. Im also treating for whitespot on my clowny again. Everything seems to be going wrong.

 

[SuperColey1]

I doubt its the Ph swings that affected them. You're running DIY and letting it go 24 hours so the Ph swing shouldn't be that bad.

I am running CO2 from pressurised as close to yellow as I can get and with the solenoid stopping it when the high lights aren't on plus raising the lily pipe to aerate my Ph will be up and down much much more but no fishy problems.

As to the plants front its looking nice and I wouldn't worry too much about aquascaping at them moment. Just let it grow, prune etc but leave the plants where they are. Let the tank balance out and stabilise and use the time to look at loads of differnt types of scape before moving on to the next stage of swopping out plants.

Is a huge temptation to keep moving things about (of whichI am guilty of) and the constant disturbance of the substrate is often rewarded with huge algae problems.

Keep going. I'll send you some more cuttings once this damn postal strike is over.

Andy