Jimbooo's Jungle Journal 2 (rio 180 - 40g)
- Thread starter jimbooo
- Start date
47.5509692 us gallons
sorry.. just kidding..
please ignore me!
I was kidding
.. lets stop now.. were making jimbooos journal look even more popular than it already is.. 
im just jelous... bah humbug
OP
OP
jimbooo
James flexton
Hi everyone. well 6 weeks on since the last strip down and i've been at it again. the last layout would have lasted longer if it wasn't for my sailfin gibbiceps playing the fool. he obviously found something of interest beneath the riccia carpet whilst i was at work and decided to rearrange the tank for me. he was obviously bored with the layout so how could i refuse him. needless to say at 8pm ish i took the lid off, clicked the light timers to constant and set to work.
here is the little bundle of joy i came home to
i left it for a few hours for the cories to have a play (and eat all that rotting stuff that they seem to love for some reason). the cardinals joined in the fun as well.
i didn't take pictures as i went along this time as my camera was playing up. i had the full intention of taking pics as i prune and writing a detailed thread on how to propogate anubias, swords, stems, rosettes etc.. unfortunatly that will have to wait till next time but i will do it i promise.
on a side note i got a JBL Proflori2 for christmas and was eagre to set it up however i wanted to start off as "clean" as i could so the next stage took a little longer than normal.
i got a bit carried away when cleaning out the debris and ended up putting a big plastic sheet down on the carpet and literally emptying the tank. all that was left was gravel and a lot of fish in a 1/2 filled tank.
seeing as i have 3 planted tank i thought i'd have a change around so decided to remove all the java fern (minus one small one) from the 180 and put them in the cube. i also pulled all the vallis out and binned it, it was getting a little tired and over pruned. all the riccia (both types) was and still is in 2 saucepans awaiting ideas.
RYO very kindly sent me some cuttings a while back and the Eusteralis stellata was going mad sprouting branches everywhere so i decided to make more of a feature out of it (thanks again RYO i love it). also my narrow leaf ludwigia reapens was directly in the filter flow and had been collecting algae on the top leaves so i wanted to move that somewhere different. on top of that my anubias nana's were sprouting in all directions so they were prime for a chopping.
the one thing i am not sure about is the lillies, they are lovely but dont seem to fit in anywhere. for now i have put them at the back and am going to let them grow to the surface to shade the anubias. i'm sure it will look to "stemy" at the back right corner but i'm going to wait and see if the swords fill out enough to hide the back wall.
the last thing that has been bugging me is the Echinodorus "Red flame" it has kind of shrunk in the last 6 months as the ludwugia was cutting out too much light. i wanted to reposition that in more direct light so i can grow it to it's full potential.
after a few scribbles to get the layout right (yes you'll be impressed george, i had a plan this time!!) i came up with this..... it's a bit gappy at the moment but should look better in 2 weeks.
remember though i have enough riccia to carpet the whole tank twice and glosso (from the also redone rekord 60) to do the same. it's sitting in pots awaiting ideas, i just cant decide what to do with it. the forground needs something. field of glosso or riccia hills? i'm not doing a flat riccia carpet again though i fancy something different.
so at 5am this is where i left it what do you think, all and any suggestions are welcome.
i have never mentioned this before but here's a simple aquascaping tip to create contours. push a rock up against a piece of bogwood. take a few handfulls of gravel and drop it in the gaps. hey presto a little hilly thing.
and for those who haven't seen one before, the JBL diffuser. it's like an upside down helta skelter.
and finally a close up of an anubias cutting (as i'm sure some of you are wondering how short the cuttings can be), in a month this will look like a proper plant, i hope..
I hope you enjoyed that and please feel free to comment
James
here is the little bundle of joy i came home to
i left it for a few hours for the cories to have a play (and eat all that rotting stuff that they seem to love for some reason). the cardinals joined in the fun as well.
i didn't take pictures as i went along this time as my camera was playing up. i had the full intention of taking pics as i prune and writing a detailed thread on how to propogate anubias, swords, stems, rosettes etc.. unfortunatly that will have to wait till next time but i will do it i promise.
on a side note i got a JBL Proflori2 for christmas and was eagre to set it up however i wanted to start off as "clean" as i could so the next stage took a little longer than normal.
i got a bit carried away when cleaning out the debris and ended up putting a big plastic sheet down on the carpet and literally emptying the tank. all that was left was gravel and a lot of fish in a 1/2 filled tank.
seeing as i have 3 planted tank i thought i'd have a change around so decided to remove all the java fern (minus one small one) from the 180 and put them in the cube. i also pulled all the vallis out and binned it, it was getting a little tired and over pruned. all the riccia (both types) was and still is in 2 saucepans awaiting ideas.
RYO very kindly sent me some cuttings a while back and the Eusteralis stellata was going mad sprouting branches everywhere so i decided to make more of a feature out of it (thanks again RYO i love it). also my narrow leaf ludwigia reapens was directly in the filter flow and had been collecting algae on the top leaves so i wanted to move that somewhere different. on top of that my anubias nana's were sprouting in all directions so they were prime for a chopping.
the one thing i am not sure about is the lillies, they are lovely but dont seem to fit in anywhere. for now i have put them at the back and am going to let them grow to the surface to shade the anubias. i'm sure it will look to "stemy" at the back right corner but i'm going to wait and see if the swords fill out enough to hide the back wall.
the last thing that has been bugging me is the Echinodorus "Red flame" it has kind of shrunk in the last 6 months as the ludwugia was cutting out too much light. i wanted to reposition that in more direct light so i can grow it to it's full potential.
after a few scribbles to get the layout right (yes you'll be impressed george, i had a plan this time!!) i came up with this..... it's a bit gappy at the moment but should look better in 2 weeks.
remember though i have enough riccia to carpet the whole tank twice and glosso (from the also redone rekord 60) to do the same. it's sitting in pots awaiting ideas, i just cant decide what to do with it. the forground needs something. field of glosso or riccia hills? i'm not doing a flat riccia carpet again though i fancy something different.
so at 5am this is where i left it what do you think, all and any suggestions are welcome.
i have never mentioned this before but here's a simple aquascaping tip to create contours. push a rock up against a piece of bogwood. take a few handfulls of gravel and drop it in the gaps. hey presto a little hilly thing.
and for those who haven't seen one before, the JBL diffuser. it's like an upside down helta skelter.
and finally a close up of an anubias cutting (as i'm sure some of you are wondering how short the cuttings can be), in a month this will look like a proper plant, i hope..
I hope you enjoyed that and please feel free to comment
James
kenneth_kpe
Lider op da pises.
Hey jimboo, another strip down ? Anyway your tank lacks something... The only thing i could think of now is a focal point ? All the plants are too spread around or something maybe a nice centerpiece or something ? less plant types maybe or something like that ? How about a large driftwood in the middle or on the side. Just my idea..
Anyway your tank lacks something... The only thing i could think of now is a focal point ? All the plants are too spread around or something maybe a nice centerpiece or something ? less plant types maybe or something like that ? How about a large driftwood in the middle or on the side. Just my idea..
OP
OP
jimbooo
James flexton
Hey jimboo, another strip down ?
i agree ken, the focal point will be the echinodorus red flame (back centre). you cant really see it now but that will be a big marbley red and green leaved monster when it takes off.
i dont want any more wood in there really i have the cube as well remember, thats the woody tank. i am going back the the dutch style with this one so i'm really looking to fill the tank with colour etc.. i know the stems are too spread out but thats just temporary i'm trying to get them to fill out and branch so on the next prune (a week or two) i will have a much fuller forest to replant.
thanks mate. i'm not sure if anyone will find that usefull but you never know.
kenneth_kpe
Lider op da pises.
oic its much clearer once you establish the dutch style look it just needs to be filled in i guess but like what we all say you will never be happy with how your tank looks until the next strip down > hehehe looking forward to how this plan turns out jimboo
its much clearer once you establish the dutch style look it just needs to be filled in i guess but like what we all say you will never be happy with how your tank looks until the next strip down > hehehe looking forward to how this plan turns out jimboo simonbrown403
Fish Herder
I like the riccia arch its going for £1.50 on ebay for a small 3" tube on ebay so your sitting on a gold mine with that little lot 
look forward to seeing the updates
its going for £1.50 on ebay for a small 3" tube on ebay so your sitting on a gold mine with that little lot look forward to seeing the updates
Kopix Nation
Fishaholic
Holy CRAP!!!! It IS A JUNGLE!!!! That is awesome!!!LUCKY!!!
claire
claire
OP
OP
jimbooo
James flexton
okay i'm fed up now. my new jbl co2 is screwed, gone through 2 500g bottles in a week so something's leaking. i'm getting a complete replacement kit next wednesday so all should be sorted then. for now i have switched off 2 lights as i have no co2 at all.
my girlfriend came home last night from work and looked at the tank, then commented "what the hell have you done to that. it looks minging. where have all the plants gone?" (she hadn't noticed i'd changed it about 5 days earlier)
my reply: yes i know dear i've messed it up, got carried away and ripped too much out, the co2's dead so some of the plants will probably follow suit soon enough and yes i do have gravel in the tank, that green stuff (riccia) was painstakingly planted there. no i haven't put it back in as it's in the bin apart fromthe dwarf riccia that is just sitting on the gravel looking a little lost.
grrrrr i'm such a plonker the tank looks awefull and i'm pi**ed off with myself.
rant over just thought i'd keep you all informed.
my girlfriend came home last night from work and looked at the tank, then commented "what the hell have you done to that. it looks minging. where have all the plants gone?" (she hadn't noticed i'd changed it about 5 days earlier)
my reply: yes i know dear i've messed it up, got carried away and ripped too much out, the co2's dead so some of the plants will probably follow suit soon enough and yes i do have gravel in the tank, that green stuff (riccia) was painstakingly planted there. no i haven't put it back in as it's in the bin apart fromthe dwarf riccia that is just sitting on the gravel looking a little lost.
grrrrr i'm such a plonker the tank looks awefull and i'm pi**ed off with myself.
rant over just thought i'd keep you all informed.
George Farmer
ad aqua
Sorry mate. Look on the bright side though, a great excuse to start a new layout from scratch! Have you replaced the tubes yet? I remember you were considering the full-spectrums I found and the ADA NA 8000Ks.
I'm surprised by your JBL though, I assumed they were reliable. I'm not going to insult your intelligence by asking if you double checked connections etc. Soapy water is ideal for testing for leaks BTW.
I'm surprised by your JBL though, I assumed they were reliable. I'm not going to insult your intelligence by asking if you double checked connections etc. Soapy water is ideal for testing for leaks BTW.
simonbrown403
Fish Herder
that's what i though when i did mine, i got a similar reply of the wife to 
OP
OP
jimbooo
James flexton
thanks for the support guys LOL. well at least i've got an ongoing project to concentrate on anyway so i shouldn't complain.
george: i've spoken to a JBL rep who is convinced i have a dodgy pressure reducer or solenoid so he's replacing both next wednesday. fingers crossed it should all be sorted then. i've checked for leaks but cant find anything.
george: i've spoken to a JBL rep who is convinced i have a dodgy pressure reducer or solenoid so he's replacing both next wednesday. fingers crossed it should all be sorted then. i've checked for leaks but cant find anything.
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