New Juwel Rio 180

[KittyKat]

Plants look nice, you should separate them out a bit though, so that they have space to grow

You will need to be very careful with the four swords: they are very demanding and I have never seen a tank that size support more than one in the long term! Shame I didn't know about them as I sent you another one.

I can only see one stem plant there, is that all you got? You will need more stem plants for a silent cycle, they should make up at least 40% of your plants. The plants you do have are all slow growing, too slow to make sure there is no ammonia in the water.

I don't know how it is best to avoid stirring the substrate, I guess that tweezers come in most useful here!

 

[baldeagle]

Plants look nice, you should separate them out a bit though, so that they have space to grow

You will need to be very careful with the four swords: they are very demanding and I have never seen a tank that size support more than one in the long term! Shame I didn't know about them as I sent you another one.

I can only see one stem plant there, is that all you got? You will need more stem plants for a silent cycle, they should make up at least 40% of your plants. The plants you do have are all slow growing, too slow to make sure there is no ammonia in the water.

I don't know how it is best to avoid stirring the substrate, I guess that tweezers come in most useful here!

i think i've got 5 stem plants all together, some are hidden by the swords. there's only 3 swords by the way. do you think i'll need to take 2 out?

got my ammonia test though so thats one thing less on the list.

 

[KittyKat]

What's the plant between the Crypts and the grass, in front of the Java fern? You can try leaving the swords in, with enough (in my experience) root fertilisation, they may be fine.

Great about the stem plants, I can see them now that I know where to look

Any post yesterday? Have you dechlorinated and done a full water test so you know what parameters you're starting with?

 

[baldeagle]

What's the plant between the Crypts and the grass, in front of the Java fern?

Any post yesterday? Have you dechlorinated and done a full water test so you know what parameters you're starting with?

i think it was becketts water trumpet. when i left the shop i knew every plant i left with and what they looked like, but now i'm not so sure!


Unfortunatley no post yesterday, have declhorinated and carried out a 20% water change just to test my Pump Really, will post full water stats later.

 

[KittyKat]

What's the plant between the Crypts and the grass, in front of the Java fern?

i think it was becketts water trumpet. when i left the shop i knew every plant i left with and what they looked like, but now i'm not so sure!

Ctypt. becketii are the two bunches which are front-right (photo 2, 3, 4 and 8) I am 90% sure that the one to their left is a sword, possibly an Echinodorus 'Aquartica', but I'm not really up to speed on sword species, so you'd be better off asking for an ID.

Do you know if your dechlorinator deals with ammonia?

 

[baldeagle]

water test result:

Temp = 26

Ph = 7.0

NH4 = 0.5

NO2 = 0.01

NO3 = 0.5

Taking the kids out on the bike for the afternoon now, will do a water change later today.

 

[KittyKat]

Interesting results… can you test your tap water ammonia pre-dechlorination and post dechlorination?

Have fun! Just got back from a walk in the park, was rather chilli!

 

[baldeagle]

Interesting results… can you test your tap water ammonia pre-dechlorination and post dechlorination?

can do.

what was intersting about it? What sort of results should i expect to have at this stage?

 

[KittyKat]

what was intersting about it? What sort of results should i expect to have at this stage?

Normally, without a plant substrate, I would expect to see 0 ppm ammonia in tap water before dechlorination and 0.25 ppm ammonia in German tap water after dechlorination (I think chloramine is used in all German water supplies).

So 0.5 ppm is unusually high, but it does mean that you don't have to get fish the day you get the media. In fact, it would be a lot safer to wait until ammonia and nitrite reach 0 ppm after adding the media before getting any fish as they would otherwise harm the fish and it would give the bacteria a chance to start spreading.

I asked for the other two readings because they will tell us whether my expectations were correct for the tap water and whether the substrate is leaching ammonia and if you take daily readings, how much it is leaching into the water.

My tap ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings are all 0 ppm pre-dechlorination or so close that a home test kit won't give me anything else, and I expect yours to be very similar, of which at least the latter two are. I have never seen a home test kit which claimed to be as accurate as yours is!

 

[baldeagle]

what was intersting about it? What sort of results should i expect to have at this stage?

Normally, without a plant substrate, I would expect to see 0 ppm ammonia in tap water before dechlorination and 0.25 ppm ammonia in German tap water after dechlorination (I think chloramine is used in all German water supplies).

So 0.5 ppm is unusually high, but it does mean that you don't have to get fish the day you get the media. In fact, it would be a lot safer to wait until ammonia and nitrite reach 0 ppm after adding the media before getting any fish as they would otherwise harm the fish and it would give the bacteria a chance to start spreading.

I asked for the other two readings because they will tell us whether my expectations were correct for the tap water and whether the substrate is leaching ammonia and if you take daily readings, how much it is leaching into the water.

My tap ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings are all 0 ppm pre-dechlorination or so close that a home test kit won't give me anything else, and I expect yours to be very similar, of which at least the latter two are. I have never seen a home test kit which claimed to be as accurate as yours is!

Acurate if i'm reading it correctly!! first time i've tested the ammonia.

also when i gave the reading for the NO3, the colour didn't change at all, so i just put the lowest reading down. Reading what you've said i suppose that should have read NO3 = 0

Also i think the ammonia leaching from the substrate theory must be correct becuase i keep seeing bubbles coming up from there, especially around the new zealand grass

 

[baldeagle]

Kitty can you identify these plants you sent me? and what i'm meant to do with them? plant them or attach them to wood.

I know you've given me a list but when they all come out the bag i have no idea which one is which!

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Once again thanks for all your help and advice.

That goes for everyone.

Plants are currently back in a bunch floating on the top

 

[KittyKat]

1,2,3,5,7 are Crypt. wendtii 'brown' (they'll go brown quickly)
4 is Hydrocotyle sp. 'Japan'
5 is Vallisneria spiralis
6 is Hydrocotyle leucocephala

There were also Crypt. wendtii 'green gecko', Riccia, Vesicularia ferriei, Hygrophila polysperma (possibly 'Rosanervig', I have both), Hemianthus callitrichoides , Najas guadalupensis, Hydrocotyle verticillata and Pogostemon helferi

 

[KittyKat]

How's it going? Has the ammonia dropped to 0 ppm yet?

 

[baldeagle]

How's it going? Has the ammonia dropped to 0 ppm yet?

Yeah dropped on the 15th of the month, so put my first few fish in. 6 Tiger Barbs.

Continued to a 50% water change every day after that because it seemed to go back up, after a while i added 2 more barbs and have continued every few days or so adding 2 at a time.

Didn't realise plants would be so much hard work!! i keep finding bits of plants on the bottom of the tank so i do a water change, but end up knocking lots of plants out of the substrate, i seem to be spending a lot of time accidently knocking plants out then replanting them.

I took out the other 2 Amazon swords, and added a lot more stem plants to the tank instead. i think it looks better. (at least the swords didnt come out when i brushed against them)

i will add some more pictures very soon. i could do with someone having a look at them to tell me if their ok