Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (NEW PICS July 09)

Hey guys, I have finally begun to setup my very first aquarium and its going to be a planted one 😀.

Its been a lengthy process to get here but it all started when my fiance and I were given a gold fish as a pet, back then I always thought goldfish+bowl+water = happy fish, little did I know how wrong I was. over time I became very interested in watching the little guy swim about and I also got a small filter to keep the water clean. As time went on, I bought some slate for the small tank and also got him a tank mate (shubunkin), at this stage I wasn't educated about fish and required tanks sizes and stuff, but my interest in fish grew and grew, so I bought my first edition of PFK (Issue 10/October 2006), the 32 page pull-out beginners guide sold it for me and thats when the interest grew into an obsession. Many issues later, after all the research into the hobby I purchased a Juwel Rio 180, I then put it in my room and my mum went APE!! So I was forced to return it. I could have bought a smaller one but everything I had ever read about the hob told me to buy the biggest I could afford, lol. Anyway I couldn't have fish unless they were in the shed, which I didn't want, so I carried on reading many issues of PFK, forums and other various sites. I then thought I will just scour ebay and other site to gather my equipment for the day I set up my tank, I found a Juwel Rio 125, never used in walnut for £70, local seller too. I bought the stand from LFS for £60, overall saved me £100. Now me and my fiance have moved into our flat and have settled in, unfortunately furniture and TV was priority over tank setup but like I said at the start, finally.

Anyway thats my story, now to the Journal!

Equipment:
Juwel Rio 125 (Walnut)
Tetratec EX1200
Hydor ETH Heater 300W
Presurized co2 - 500g bottle
Original Juwel lighting - 18w
Hagen Glomat twin starter - 18w
4 Juwel Reflectors
2 x Juwel bulbs (came with tank)
1 x Arcadia original bulb
1 x Zoo Med Ultra Sun
Glass drop checker
ADA Aquasoil amazonia - 2 x 9l bags & 1 x 3l
Rocks - My mums other half sourced them for me...

Plants so far:
HC
Glosso
Dwarf Hairgrass

Dosing dry ferts "EI"

Any way here is the pics, step by step'ish

All or most the equipment


Rocks! Supplied by my mums partner...


In with the ADA AS...


Toying around with the hard scape and finally got to this...


Next day I went to MA @ St.albans (awesome shop!!!) and bought HC, Glosso and Harigrass. Removed rockwool and separated the plantlets...


Planting was very time consuming, but it was very easy with the ADA AS... Any way starting to fill the tank, Being a newbie, I just the the hose loose witch messed my hardscape and plants... very annoying, any way I sorted it all...

I now use LondonDragon's Water Changer, found on Hardware and Diy forum, makes life much easier.





Finished Result - 25/07/08...




It was alot of work and It took a long time to get to this stage but it was worth it.

2 weeks on and this is what the tank looks like now...








I just added 14 RCS's and my face was glued to my tank lol... any way guys that's the progress so far, I will keep posting pictures and hopefully my picture taking ability will improve, my cam is an Olympus mini digital 4.0 Megapixel, if anyone know what settings are the best for taking pics of my tank please let me know. Any criticism is welcomed.

Vito.

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

Thanks for the feedback guys, I'll keep weekly updates on the tank until its fully grown.

Ive noticed that my on my hairgrass some of the grass is browning and also some HC leave are melting... any ideas of the cause?

Vito.

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

I need some advice guys, I've noticed since planting leaves of the HC are melting and the dwarf hairgrass is browning in certain stems... could it be down to my photperiod, the co2 comes on at 1pm and the lights come on a 3pm, co2 off 10pm and lights out 11pm, the room is light through the day even with the curtains closed, should i set the photperiod from morning until early evening? or is this melting & browning normal?

Thanks

Vito

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

Ok guys, I will up the co2, the drop checker is currently limeade green bordering yellow'ish, I have some Cherry shrimp in there and I dont want the OD on the co2 in case it might kill them, thanks for the advice guys. currently set co2 to 2 bubble per second, Ill also up the dosing.

Thanks

Vito.

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

Thanks for the advice ceg, ima try upping the co2 and dosing then if i see the shrimps struggleing ill sort the light. I am using 4dkh and I used JBL regent solution thing...

Just a quick update, some of the samller shrimps kept getting sucked up by the filter so I chopped some corse filter sponge to size and inserted it into the filter inlet, my only concern is its not going to suck up the big bits of rubbish but at least my shrip will be ok, well this is just a trial if it causes me problems i'll remove it.... thanks for your advice guys.

Watch this space

Vito

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

Quick update guys,

I trimmed the Hairgrass right back to promote some growth and also to try and remove the ugly brown leaves, I broke my drop checker, DOH! new one on order...

I dont know now how much Co2 im pumping in the tank but its at 2 bps, no pearling yet since set up and the drop checker when its want broken showed yellow.

Shrimps seem to be getting bigger by the day, Ive spoted a few sheded skins, they seem ok with the uped dosage of co2.

There is some bright green algae building up on cermaic diffuser, i tried to scrub it off but its virtually impossible, any advice on removing it?

Also my aquarium is giving of a bit of a smell is there anything I can do to prevent it?

Thanks,

Vito.

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

aaronnorth said:

get some bleach, pour it on the ceramic plate and leave it for at least 5mins (Longer the better! I leave mine while i do the rest of the maintenance 😉 ) then wash it thoroughly off and soak in dechlorinator for 5mins, repeat if necassary.

Scrubbing is useless.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice buddy!

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

Hey guys, Three weeks in and I though might as well update...

So Anyway got about a dozen or so Red Cherry Shrimp in there now, I'm sure two females had egges but they didnt carry them under the tail they just dumped them, so possibly a big poop, I dunno any Ideas? they were yellow and there was about 10 of them....

The tank is doing ok I have a few algae Issues growing on the plants and the rocks... so annoying, I remove as much as I can but its really difficult. Plants seem to be doing much better than when they were first in, at the beginning the HC leaves were melting but has now recovered with some adjustments to the Co2, the Golsso is growing fast as hell and taking over the right of the tanks as you will see in the photos, and the Hairgrass is sprouting runners but many of the orginal planted leaves are brown, I will have to remove each individual one but its so hard!!! is there any tank inhabitant that will eat the dying or browning leaves of plants?





Anyways thats the progress so far guys, Ill be going to Vegas this Thursday so the tanks will be left for a week but im sure will be fine, hopefully some crazy growth while I'm away, when I return I'm going to buy some otto's I need more clean up crew otherwise this algae is going to drive me insane.

Any criticism welcome,

Vito.

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

aaronnorth said:

I love the rock formation 😀

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, I had a good play around until I settled with this layout but I am really happy with it.

Thanks again

Vito.

Re: Vito's first planted tank - Juwel Rio 125 (Finally!!!)

Hey guys, just got back from Vegas (The best place to party), my tank is not doing so well, the co2 ran out while i was away, algae has coverd rocks and plants and its looks horrible, I think im going to remove plants clean up in a bleach solourtion mix and rocks also and then redo the hole lot, what do you guys think ?

Vito