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

[jimbooo]

ok will do. another excuse to post some pictures.

i cant explain how nervous i am at the moment. this layout just HAS to work. normally i dont care, if it fails i'll just bin the plants and start again but standing there in front of the tank i can just picture it in a month with the perfect glosso carpet, pearling lillys, lushous red's coming through on the echinodorus "red flame" blah blah..... sorry got lost in the daydream again lol....

i noticed a few bits of 3mm gravel with a furry coat last night (not recent, theyve been like that for the past few weeks). i'm getting in there with the tweezers tonight to get all the suspect pebbles out. the last thing i want is for big furry blobs to appear in the middle of the glosso carpet.

 

[jimbooo]

right then guys and girlies, update time.

finally i have sorted my co2 issues. now fully pressurised with the Dennerle classic line kit (same as gf225 uses) for a step by step setup guide click HERE it really is simple, takes less then 10 mins to set up.

anyway as some of you have read i have had an email from PFK asking if i would be interested in doing a "reader visit". i have replyed to the message that i'd be very very happy to show them around my tanks but as yet have not had any further communication. in anticipation i really want this layout to thrive as we dont want a dodgy planted tank full of algae appearing in our favourite mag do we, especially as it's run on EI fertalisation and will be used as an example of the method. (hopefully!)

I do have a few problems i need to sort. the Glosso carpet is spreading well (with only one nutrafin on there for the past week) although i am having trouble with furry pebbles in the substrate. i assume this is down to low co2. it seems to get worst the day after dosing with CSM+B (trace fert). bearing in mind i had lowered the lighting for the past week plus low co2 the growth rate will have slowed and in turn the nutrient uptake rate will have also slowed. maybe the extra iron etc gave rise to this. thats all i can think of anyway.

here's a close up, if anyone can offer any other explination please speak your mind. i need to sort this small problem fast before it gets buried in the glosso.

despite the above problem the carpet is taking well

and a few random tank pics for the hell of it. notice the tiny co2 bubbled produced by the glass diffuser in the first picture. i have a tiny internal filter fitted above the diffuser to "blow" the bubbles through the plants. the filter looks awefull but for the short term will help me discover if this co2 mist theory will have any impact on my tank before i go and buy a small external filter with spraybar. excuse the dodgy anubias leaves, as i've said the tank has been through some wobbly times the past few weeks. they will be removed as soon as the new leaves are out.

the diffuser

and the gang of 28 cardinal tetras (half were georges) and pooper the platy

whole tank

incase your wondering whats going on with the co2. i'm leaving the nutrafin in there for a few days until the pressurised kit has run in a bit. i cant afford to be without co2 if i have any teething problems.

any and all advice/comments welcome

 

[ChrisP]

Looking great it should look excellent when the Glosso fills in a bit more!

Any plans for planting the left hand side more? Just looks all kind of huddled and cramped to the right and a bit bare to the left, then again it may look completly different when the Glosso fills in.

Great job though, liek I say its looking great!

 

[George Farmer]

Looking good mate. It's great to see the fish and fern again.

Your (early BBA) algae will have been triggered by your low/unstable CO2, and possible furthur affected by your fert dosing. 90% CO2 though and possible low circulation issues.

Pump out lots of CO2 over the next few days - up to 3 or 4 BPS, keep an eye on pH and fish health though, aim for 40ppm or thereabouts.

Overnight manually turn off the CO2 using the needle valve (don't completely shut it off, 1 bubble every 10-20 seconds is fine just to prevent back pressure).

Dose as per normal.

Hopefully this should clear up your BBA. If not then manually remove the affected leaves, gravel etc.

 

[Themuleous]

How did you get you picture to look like Justin took it? You been geting sly PM hints from him?

Sam

PS just re-read that, it sounds like I'm staying you cant take a decent pic, which quite clearly you can!

PPS in other words, nice picture

PPPS that was far to much effort, sorry Jim!

 

[jimbooo]

Looking great it should look excellent when the Glosso fills in a bit more!

Any plans for planting the left hand side more? Just looks all kind of huddled and cramped to the right and a bit bare to the left, then again it may look completly different when the Glosso fills in.

Great job though, liek I say its looking great!

thanks, it's set up with photo's in mind. the tank can only be seen clearly from the front left corner as i have a bannister going right across the right side. i know what you mean but i planned it that way. too late to change anything now as the glosso's gathering speed and i want to let it do it's thing for the PFK visit.

Looking good mate. It's great to see the fish and fern again.

Your (early BBA) algae will have been triggered by your low/unstable CO2, and possible furthur affected by your fert dosing. 90% CO2 though and possible low circulation issues.

Pump out lots of CO2 over the next few days - up to 3 or 4 BPS, keep an eye on pH and fish health though, aim for 40ppm or thereabouts.

Overnight manually turn off the CO2 using the needle valve (don't completely shut it off, 1 bubble every 10-20 seconds is fine just to prevent back pressure).

Dose as per normal.

Hopefully this should clear up your BBA. If not then manually remove the affected leaves, gravel etc.

thanks mate. i thought it was down to co2. i have put an additional internal filter on the left side pane blowing co2 mist down onto the glosso and across to the right. it's pumping it out at about 4 bps at the moment so fingers crossed it will sort itself out. dosed 10ml nitrate last night and going to try to keep it in the 15-20ppm range. i am still not dosing phosphate, i'm really sitting on the fence on that one. the plec and angel produce a lot of poop so am worried that additional phosphate will throw the ratio out of balance. hmm what to do, get it wrong and the algae could swallow the glosso which would be bad news for the photoshoot.

what do you think, stick with nitrate or sod it and put the phosphate in as well. my readings are normally 1ppm phosphate without dosing anything.

oh sod i just thought of something, i'm still really overstocked after my greedy day at yours could it be ammonia?? i'll dump some fish at the LFS on sunday and see if that helps at all. the blue neons and danio's can go thats for sure so that will take a little of the strain off the filter.

How did you get you picture to look like Justin took it? You been geting sly PM hints from him?

Sam

PS just re-read that, it sounds like I'm staying you cant take a decent pic, which quite clearly you can!

PPS in other words, nice picture

PPPS that was far to much effort, sorry Jim!

lol, what are you on about sam if justins pictures are a 10 mine are a 6 (and thats probably still too much). i just stand in front of the tank and press the button. thats the extent of my photographic skills lol.

thanks for the compliment though mate.

 

[jimbooo]

quick update - i just bought a fluval 104 external filter with spraybar to run alongside the juwel internal. i must say the current from the spraybar is brilliant. i've pointed it down at about 45 degrees (it's stuck to the top of the left pane). the current blows along the substrate and glosso from left to right then up the right side and along the surface from right to left.

the fish love it and constantly play in the current zooming along in it. much more interesting to look at now with leaves gently swaying etc..

hopefully it'll help circulation and prevent some of my poop buildup in the glosso (due to my angel and plec)

anyway thats it for now, all's going to plan, the furry pebble problem seems to have turned a corner. i sucked out the worst of it last saturday with some precision vacuuming and haven't seen it reappear at all.

I still haven't quite decided on EI dosing but i'm playing with a 5ppm nitrate and 0.5ppm phosphate every other day with 5ml trace on the other days routine at present. fingers crossed all's looking good.

 

[George Farmer]

Nice update mate. Let's hope it all stays together for the 20th eh?

 

[Themuleous]

Sounds good to me keep up the hard work, it'll be worth it

Sam

 

[zig]

Congrats jimbooo thats great news.......i will have to lift my boycott of PFK for that edition (boycott due to dodgy plant articles)

Make sure you have the best suit on for the photos

 

[jimbooo]

Nice update mate. Let's hope it all stays together for the 20th eh?

thanks mate, all's going to plan so far. fingers crossed

Sounds good to me keep up the hard work, it'll be worth it

Sam

thanks sam

Congrats jimbooo thats great news.......i will have to lift my boycott of PFK for that edition (boycott due to dodgy plant articles)

Make sure you have the best suit on for the photos

lol, i enjoy reading them. but cant wait to show the readers what an EI tank can look like. hopefully jeff will comment i'd love to hear his views after i get the article in there. he'll probably pretend he didn't notice it though.

the misses has already planned my clothing (she cant have the world thinking i'm a scruff bag apparently) lol

 

[Themuleous]

the misses has already planned my clothing (she cant have the world thinking i'm a scruff bag apparently) lol

Indeed not!

 

[jimbooo]

not long to go now until the PFK visit (getting rather excited lol)

i've been busy fiddling with this and that, you probably wont notice many changes as it's mostly pruning to promote new growth but all's going to plan. the only small issue i have is the glosso to the left side. it's a bit sparse and i'm planning to transplant some from the right into the gaps. i've got 7 days to fill it in so hopefully we'll get there in time.

some pics for you to keep you up to speed with the progress.

this is the gibbiceps from the cube i have 2 in here now (not ideal but i like challenges!!)

WOW my glass is clean. not blowing my own trumpet but i haven't done a water change for 6 days and pumping in 13 hours of light with tonnes of co2. no glass cleaning and no algae at all.

cool hey!!

thanks for looking

 

[speedingorange]

beautifull

 

[ChrisP]

Wow looks great I love it, that Glosso makes all the difference no wit has filled in a lot from the last pic you posted! B)