Sal Goes Rio With A Bit Of Vision

[Salam]

Thanks, minnnt. I was planning on having zero light on that tank, just daylight from the window. There are no plants, so I don't think I need to bother. It's only on now for us to see them in their full glory.

 

[Salam]

I haven't got FTS yet, but here are a few absolutely unnecessary pictures to entertain you while you wait. Or make you fall asleep as they are quite boring

I told you that I sent the man out this morning to pick up some more sand at Pets at Home. I also asked him for some plants to fill up other tanks (the puffer tank and ex-sorority). As he has absolutely no clue what I was on about he made himself a little plant shopping list which he then took with him and showed the guy at the store. He actually came back with the correct plants, well at least the ones that were in stock

Here is the sand before disaster struck. It's the 'Pewter' sand from P@H.

Don't you just love this part?

This was last night after putting in the compost.

So, after the disaster it was up to me to sieve it this morning and try and salvage as much as possible. Here are my rescue-steps I had to undergo gazillion times.

Batch in sieve

Water water, shakey shakey

Rocks left

Sand left

That was round one, then I had to do another two rounds of each batch to get rid of the remaining small black stones.

Eventually, after a few hours, I was left with this

Well, it was all worth it. It looks really good, although also very weird as it's so bright but once the plants grow it will be more green.

Pictures later, it's almost dark enough here.

 

[Salam]

Sorry, but the battery is dead. FTS pics have to wait until tomorrow. It will be good though

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Excuses excuses....

 

[Salam]

You got some other pictures though! Can't complain about seeing sand in a bucket and my sink

And don' forget the shmanzy fancy plant shopping list

 

[Tizer]

should have popped down Argos for a bag of play sand and just ditched all that!

 

[Salam]

No, I'm off playsand now. Just don't really like it anymore. Keeping it only in one tank now, the shellies tank.

 

[Salam]

I got pictures

First of all the Rio 180 that you know by now. Nothing has really changed, but my plants are growing like mad. Look, minnnt, yours is almost touching the surface Please excuse the horrible colours, it looks so much better in real. I need to ask Santa for a good camera, this one is rubbish.

And now, after the big changeover and my little drama in between, I can reveal my new Oomigoomi tank.

FTS

Close up of my rocks

In case you wonder - yes I got new fish in there. There are five rainbow cichlids. I'm letting them grow up and see who pairs up and keep the pair. They will be my centrepiece fish with the shoalers. Not sure if I keep the dwarf gouramis yet, they bore me to death. The rainbow cichlids are actually hilarious, they constantly shoal with the dwarf rainbows. Well, they share a bit of their name

What do you guys think? Was the swap-around worth it? I love the plants now, but need to put the moss back into the bowl on the window as they started munching it again Just got it out for pics.

Oh, and what do you think of my latest scape ornament?

Sorry, couldn't help it. I remember how excited I was when I got this a year ago

 

[minnnt]

The 180 is awesome!! The Hydrocotyle is growing well. Its out of place though. I would move it to the back left at the side of the filter inlet.

The 125 needs bigger rocks imo. Also, watch the rainbows with the plants, they're herbivorous so may be partial to your grass. Mine were like lawn mowers. They hammered my vallis to the roots.

 

[Salam]

I like it as my centerpiece plant though and the bacopa will hopefully cover the filter soon. It's growing, but at a slower rate. I finally got roots on them and not constant floaters.

At the moment the rainbows are leaving the plants alone, but will keep an eye on them. Need to let the moss grow first before I can return it to the tank. Plus I think once I start my new job (next month, eeek!) I'll invest into more plates to speed it all up, getting impatient...

 

[FishFanatic04]

The 180 ISSSSS Awesome! The colors are great actually. I can see the tannins which I like. Fresh clean water is nice and all, but the fish have to live in it.


Minnnt is right, the Oomigoomi could use maybe 2 larger rocks to give some height. I LOVE it compared to what you had before. You are almost there!!!!

 

[minnnt]

The Hydrocotyle stands out like a sore thumb. It should flow frome side to side and front to back. Nip the ends off and replant so it bushes. It would sit well then.

Just my opinion though.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I likey .

 

[Salam]

Minnnt is right

Don't tell him that! Shushhhh

Will see if I find bigger rocks that I can spare from the malawi tank. I suppose I just wanted to get things finished because the fish were fretting and getting stressed out. They are calm again so will see what I can do. I like it though

Believe it or not, I have actually nipped some biggish piece of the hydrocotyle off already and given it to a friend. So what do you say, make it short again and plant next to the original piece?

Thanks for liking, it's good to know that I'm at least on the right track. I really need to sort this camera thing so I can take true pictures of the 180, as the colours in real are much more stunning. What is this all about ISO and manual mode? Can someone give me a quick crash course?

 

[minnnt]

Auto.

I use iso 100 and exposure 2.0