Jimbooo's Jungle Journal 2 (rio 180 - 40g)

[Dubby]

Glad to see you back James. Show us the pics!!!

 

[shaz3271]

i would love to see how the tanks are doing now

 

[jimbooo]

Right then finally i have something to show you all. After spending an hour fiddling with this damn PC i've managed to upload some pictures. I must say there not great as up till now i could only view them on the camera. these are from about 2 months ago. the tank is only slightly different now, i've moved some java fern around to fill the void in the front right corner so that's all java fern now with the moss ball carpet in front.

now i know i can upload pictures i'll take some better ones soon and update this thread.

Major changes since the last update are:

Plants

- No Glosso.... it looked great but i felt sorry for my 6 starbai corys. they've never seen sand so i thought i'd give it a try. no forground plants just playsand in the front 1/3 and the old gravel pushed to the back with a long slate divider keeping it seperate (as you can now see some gravel has inevitably moved forward onto the sand surface). The Plec loves the sand, constantly digging and flinging the stuff all over the place. more luck than judgement but with the cross flow from both filters the sand cloud gets blown back to the front pane and resettles perfectly so this isn't really a problem.

- Moss ball carpet. I had a moss ball bobbing around for a while but nobody took any notice of it so as always i got board and pulled it apart to make a carpet. used the usual riccia method with a hairnet. it hasn't grown really apart from matting together and just sits there content. great from a maintenance point of view, i get quite fed up of making riccia carpets every month or so. the shrimp seem to like it as they are always picking through it keeping it clean.

the rest are the same plants rearranged.

Fish

- 12 Gold panchax killifish. these just leaped out at me in the LFS, i must admit it was an impulse purchase but i knew they'd fit. i think i have 6 males and 6 females. unfortunatly this was after i took these photo's so you'll have to wait till the next update to see them.
here's a link with a picture of them link

- 2 male platys (yellow and orange). these were friends for pooper (georges female platy) unfortunatly she passed onto fishy heaven whilst i was away on holiday. all the other fish were okay so i think it was just a natural death.

no more new ones. i do still have about 12 cardinals although they spend all day behind the plants only coming out for about 30 mins during the evening feed. i've put it down to my angel getting rather er large!! the plec is now about 15 cm nose to tail tip but still behaving with the plants.

my boss wants to put another tank in the office (i've converted him!) so this one will be joining my rekord 60 at work to be replaced by a rio400 or trigon350. the misses wants the trigon and i want the rio (for lighting reasons). either way a bigger better tank is on the way in the next few months!! i cant wait.

now for some pictures...

the one you all want to see, George Farmer's Java Fern.

full tank shots

my attempt at the hairdryer trick

My angel fish, now 2.5 yrs old

Tom, my common plec

Otto

finally some shrimp cleaning my anubias

 

[RadaR]

It's absolutely fantastic to see the tank again James. It looks great, so full and healthy. The red from the lillys is beautiful.
Oh and look! Theres no pesky banister in the way any more and you can take frontal pics lol

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks RadaR. i'm not really doing full EI and haven't been for a while. i still add 1/2 tsp Potassium Nitrate in twice a week, a small squirt of leafzone (FE & K) and twice weekly capful of seachem trace. 50% weekly water changes and thats it.

i suppose it is EI just that i only need a small amount of ferts due to my fishload. i've finally found the balance and that cobweb algae as i call it has gone.

much better without the bannister hey!

 

[mlawson]

The tank looks brilliant!
The plants and fish all look very healthy and everything is perfect.

Well done!

 

[Castellop123]

Cheers...

 

[George Farmer]

Looking good James. Nice to see an update (at last!)

 

[wei0204]

WOw, it is so lovely, very nice indeed... I have been waiting for so long to see a nice one and finally I saw one...

 

[cleekdaFish]

jimbo u should open a business , jimbos aquascaping designs , inc! , Ill be ur 1st client

 

[three-fingers]

Looks very nice.
Your plec is stunning too! I think I'm going to try some floating riccia in my trigon 190 when it's set up.

By the way, why do prefer the rio instead of the trigon for lighting reasons? There's alot of space under the trigons hood for a few power compact t5's
Though I admit the trigon comes with very low lighting to start with, not even 1 wpg .

 

[14gtr14]

The anubias is amazing! Especially with the roots sticking up like a cave!

 

[jimbooo]

jimbo u should open a business , jimbos aquascaping designs , inc! , Ill be ur 1st client

if there was enough money in it mate then i would.. thanks for the comment.

Looks very nice.
Your plec is stunning too! I think I'm going to try some floating riccia in my trigon 190 when it's set up.

By the way, why do prefer the rio instead of the trigon for lighting reasons? There's alot of space under the trigons hood for a few power compact t5's
Though I admit the trigon comes with very low lighting to start with, not even 1 wpg .

thanks 3 fingers, it was more the fact that you can fit tonnes of light in a rio180 as opposed to lots in a trigon he he... i dont like limitations. also more swimming room for the fish in the rio. however i'm now looking at a vision 450 so bigger again!

The anubias is amazing! Especially with the roots sticking up like a cave!

more luck than judgement i'll admit. cool though isn't it. the cories hide in there most of the day along with some shrimp.

 

[George Farmer]

.....however i'm now looking at a vision 450 so bigger again!

You surprise me James - bowfront?

I figured you take the next level and go for a custom design too. Or do you just like the simplicity of the heater/filter/lighting combo that Juwel provide?

I assume you'll be entering the PFK Aquascaping Contest?

 

[jimbooo]

.....however i'm now looking at a vision 450 so bigger again!

You surprise me James - bowfront?

I figured you take the next level and go for a custom design too. Or do you just like the simplicity of the heater/filter/lighting combo that Juwel provide?

I assume you'll be entering the PFK Aquascaping Contest?

ahhh, you've inadvertantly made me think of a problem. pictures are going to look odd through bowed glass aren't they...

basically i have 5.5 ft to play with and want as much water as possible. the rio400 and vision450 are the same length hence i thought i may as well get the 450.

as to the juwel choice it's more an asthetic reason. the misses likes the clean lines of juwel tanks and the cabinets. i know they are cheap and basic but they look smart in the room.

if you can suggest a better idea i'm all ears. not fussed about the heater, filter side of things I just want 100G and a nice tidy BLACK matching tank and stand with planted tank capabilities with regard to additional lighting etc...

feel free to make suggestions mate (any anyone else for that matter)

i'm definatly entering the PFK comp. i have already taken another 10 pictures bang up to date. the tank looks a bit better in those, more of a crafted look than the wild scene in these pics from a few days ago.