Rio 240 Tank Journal

[SJ2K]

So far so good, get those fish in there ...If you want angels, just go for a shoal of tetra that are a little over bite size Loooads of options, rummy nose are popular, personly im a fan of lemon tetra.

 

[JenCliBee]

looking really good m8 cant wait to see the finished article

plant wise 2 stick 2 the bogwood would be java moss really nice when it takes.

also if u add some carbon 2 ur filters it should keep the tannin from the bogwood out of ur water


jen

 

[Straydum]

now that i re-looked, you're going to have ALOT of deco in your tank with the wood. not that its a bad thing of course. your fishes would have plenty of places to hide and it gives a nice look to your tank, but the downside is that if your fishes tend to be shy, you may not be able to see them at all from all the hiding. deco also makes catching fishes and maintenance a little harder. that you might want to take note of.

 

[Laffers]

now that i re-looked, you're going to have ALOT of deco in your tank with the wood. not that its a bad thing of course. your fishes would have plenty of places to hide and it gives a nice look to your tank, but the downside is that if your fishes tend to be shy, you may not be able to see them at all from all the hiding. deco also makes catching fishes and maintenance a little harder. that you might want to take note of.

Yeah, that makes sense and I'm not really 100% sure what the outcome is going to be. The one definite is that there will not be as much slate in there when the Bogwood goes in. Given the size of it there physically wouldn't be enough room in my tank! Chances are it'll take me quite a few attempts to get it to look how I want it and a lot of luck given the fact I am going to revert back to my Axe n Hammer technique to try and get the slate how I want it.


One very, very good thing is that after filling a 10G bucket up with boiling hot water (About 15 or so kettles worth and quite a lot of time!) my Bwood leached more tannins in a night than it did in a week and has not leaked hardly anything since. Assuming I can get my pink pass, Ill hopefully be able to get it into the tank tonight and start getting it looking something like I want it to.

If I do get permission and its a success, expect to see a large pics update tonight. If not, I've probably dropped a large lump of slate in my tank as I tried to get it out and smashed it The more suggestions I can get on the set up once its done though the better as my plant placement skills are lacking a bit!!

 

[SJ2K]

id stick the wood in mate, end of the day a little tanning is inevitable, really isnt worth worrying about Fish preffer it and it'll clear after a few water changes.

Look forward to the picture update and for the love of god, dont drop the slate in the tank Looks like it weighs a ton.

 

[guppy_man]

Dont worry about the tannins, it will clear up eventually.

For the wood i'd go for a nice sized Java fern or a few anubis nana spread out over the wood, i think that will look great.

Thought about what kind of angels you are going for?

 

[catfish101]

hi your tank looks great so far, can't wait to see it with the bogwood! I think a pair of altum angels would look very nice along with a schol of largerish tetra along with some Siamese Algae eaters for clean up crew.
good luck with the tank
-nate

 

[guppy_man]

hi your tank looks great so far, can't wait to see it with the bogwood! I think a pair of altum angels would look very nice along with a schol of largerish tetra along with some Siamese Algae eaters for clean up crew.
good luck with the tank
-nate

Cories would be better for clean up crew, and they come in a few types so adds to the fun.

 

[Straydum]

altums are rare finds really. i've been searching for a pair of true altums since forever

 

[Laffers]

Well, Ive changed the layout a bit and not overly happy with it so pictures are only going up so that I can have recommendations. It doesn't look great and this will not be the final layout! I think half the problem is that I do like the slate in the tank and need to find a way of making it work. The reasoning for my persistence with the slate is that I have seen it in tanks and it has looked really good. You may also add stubborness to that and the fact that I've got it so want to use it The good thing about the slate is though even though is may not look a lot smaller than it was before - it is!!

Tank as it was last night - still need to change

Plants that came out

The bogwood has leaked a very tiny bit but I have to admit, I do think it gives the tank quite a nice effect overall and I am glad I've actually taken peoples advice and put it in. The thing I have now is deciding where to put my wood in regards to the tank. I seem to be a bit like a woman in a clothes shop at the moment in that I try all these different things then decide that I think I preferred the way I had it at the start. The wood is currently on the left hand side of the tank but I'm now thinking I should move it back to the middle.

Final picture Is a close up (as close as my camera will allow) of the Amazon swords. As you can see, they are starting to go brown and I have already removed a few leaves that had completely gone. One suggestion is that maybe my WPG is a bit low as I am only using the standard Juwel bulbs that came with it. Ill have a check on that and update with what it actually is.

 

[Straydum]

it looks good actually. i like how the wood is not the centrepiece and yet still gets attention. a set-up like this would work for a tank for bigger fishes and less plants but since you'd go planted, you might want to take away abit more slate or spread it out abit.

 

[SJ2K]

Looks good to me and might just be experiencing a little amazon sword die off, give it a few weeks, it'll root and come back

 

[Laffers]

it looks good actually. i like how the wood is not the centrepiece and yet still gets attention. a set-up like this would work for a tank for bigger fishes and less plants but since you'd go planted, you might want to take away abit more slate or spread it out abit.

Thanks for the comments again guys. As always its nice to see people following me as I blunder my way through the world of fishkeeping!

The tank layout is going to be changed about a bit again tonight when I get a bit of time. The main thing that I think needs to be changed in the tank at the moment is the bit of slate that goes between the pile of slate to the wood. Its one of those things where it didnt look too bad when looking down on it but as soon as your level or lower it looks a bit silly.

I have kept all the smaller bits of slate i have taken off the larger lumps that I had previously and hopefully I can do something with these to make it look a lil bit better than it currently is. Ive also taken a bit of time to make sure that I haven't got any sharp edges showing on my broken off bit - Dont really want to come home one day to find one of my fish impaled on some slate or cut into two!!

Have spoke to someone on live chat about my Swords and they have recommended some fert ball type things to me that go into your substrate and last for 12 months. They had the same thing as me and after seeing his journal and a before and after these things, I'm more than happy to give them ago at a couple of quid.

Hopefully have a bit of an update tonight with the big fish update coming early next week.

 

[guppy_man]

it looks good actually. i like how the wood is not the centrepiece and yet still gets attention. a set-up like this would work for a tank for bigger fishes and less plants but since you'd go planted, you might want to take away abit more slate or spread it out abit.

Hmmm..... well i would prefer the wood as the centre piece, as it is the largest thing in the tank. Laffers have you tried moving the wood in different positions/angles?, because you may like it better if it was placed differently.

Heres what i would do...... Have the wood as the centre piece, amazon swords planted behind the wood, few pieces of slate stacked in different ways each side of the wood, with the plants coming from behind them.

Another thing i would suggest is a nice sized Java Fern for your wood, great plants and will grow well in low light conditions. All you do is tie the java fern to the wood with cotton or fishing line, it will then attach itself to the wood.

Have you considered Co2?, or liquid ferts?


Keep us posted

 

[Laffers]

As promised, gotta new layout which still needs a lot of tweaking with the plants and the slate a little bit but its the best I think I've had it so far. Not sure whether to build the right hand side up a little bit more with some of the little bits of slate and see if I can do it without it looking overdone.

Anyway, this will probably be the last picture update till I get my fish in there. Ill still be posting in the journal so keep your comments and suggestions coming as always Also nice seeing a few of you in the live chat now, would be cool to see a few more

Plants need sorting out a bit, and as pointed out, I need some Fern for my wood which should add to the look of it. I've also gotta move a load of Amazon swords that you cant see behind my wood. I need to see how high they will grow cos if its not very, they're gonna be a bit wasted there!