My Juwell Rio125 Adventure

[farmerhoggers]

quick update.
 
The plants seem to be doing quite well with all showing good growth. I have just started using flourish excel in the last couple of weeks however not sure of the effect this is having at the moment as i'm currently waiting delivery of a new co2 fe as the last one has run out over the last couple of days so may be a couple of weeks before I see any real benefits.
 
Last month sore a mass diatoms outbreak which I am slowly getting over, this was helped no doubt by the tank been kept dark and wrapped for a week with no light at all, that and pleco going on a mass growing spree and eating a fair amount!
 
snails, these seemed to appear shortly after the introduction of the floating plants however as yet have not reproduced in to massive numbers so I have decided to leave them alone as they add in  my opinion an extra dimension to the eco system, that and the mrs thinks there cute!!!!
 
fish - pleco is growing well as is now approx. 1 1/2 long with some lovely colours. corys have grown well and again have some lovely bronzy green colours as well as been the most active fish in the tank.
As for the harlequins, well quite simply they all died. I tried my hardest with them, even transferred them to a qt tank but unfortunately one week into feb the final two died.
these were replaced the following weekend by six red eye tetra's, not my first choice but they were what my son wanted. I must say ive been quite surprised by these, they are all growing well, active and showing lovely tail bandings and of coarse the big deep red eyes.
 
I will be looking to add a few more fish in the coming weeks but as yet am un decided as to what to get, what ever I go for will have to be able to cope with the red eyes active and sometimes boisterous nature.
 
As mentioned above I have also got a qt tank recently which has been painted a light blue on two sides, a few plastic plants, heater and a cheap ebay air driven filter. Ill get round to adding some pics of this at some point but to be honest its not overly exciting haha.
 
I will get round to taking some photos on the camera soon and post them up, but for now I will add one from my phone if I can remember haha
 

 

[farmerhoggers]

pic
 
 
 
 

 

[Ch4rlie]

nice 

 

[farmerhoggers]

half decent pic, fish all hiding though haha
 
 
 
 

 

[farmerhoggers]

few of qt and new stock waiting patiently to be added, again not the greatest pics im afraid
 

serpae tetras
 
 

 

[daizeUK]

half decent pic, fish all hiding though haha

 
Very nice looking tank!

 

[Xzavier247]

That tank is looking great! Keep up the good work.

 

[farmerhoggers]

serpaes have been moved in a few weeks now and are doing really well, full of life and colour which is all good.
 
came across another post the other day with a good idea for making water changes easier. having an extremely large lazy bone myself I decided to construct a similar set up. so after a few ebay deliveries I had all the bits today to complete the drainage set up. I must say it works a treat.
 
 
 
still waiting for a powerhead and some 25ltr drums to arrive before ive got all the bits for the refill side of things but hopefully they shouldn't be too long.
This little set up coupled with an electric gravel vac that I purchased with some birthday vouchers should make for simple stress free water changes, hopefully

 
  

 

[farmerhoggers]

So, after 8 months the rio adventure has come to an end 

 
Having recently having a baby finding the time that the planted tank required was becoming harder and harder so i have taken the decision to close the planted tropical down. However a 46x18x22 nd aquatics tanks seems to have appeared in its place which will be set up with mbuna

 
 
My thinking in this idea is that mbuna are not as shy and more active than my tropicals with slightly brighter colors there for more enjoyable for the children, require slightly less maintenance, plus i wanted a bigger tank haha. I will of coarse be writing a journal in the old world cichlid section for anyone interested.
 
It has been an adventure, i have enjoyed writing it and i thank you for all your nice comments
 
Dan 

 

[Ch4rlie]

Absolutely don't blame you for closing the tank down. I too, just recently had a new baby and closed down 4 tanks and just kept the little 10 gal low tech tank going just to keep me happy

Am so glad I did close the tanks down, even with just one tank, finding the time to do maintenance properly is hit and miss

Good luck and sure look forward to seeing new tank journals from you

 

[farmerhoggers]

thanks ch4rlie, glad you kept a tank, think i would be lost without one now! i have started a little journal on the old world cichlid section, wont be a in depth as this one but thought id better do one.