# Rio Negro biotope



## George Farmer (20 Jan 2010)

My biotope featured in Feb '10 PFK.  March issue is Lake Inle and is also planted.

Nice and simple.  Play sand, collected wood, leaf litter, E. tennelus and C. furcata.  Water stained from leaf litter and Indian almond leaf tea-bags that sit in an external filter.

RO water, pH 6, temp 28C.

Fish are 15 Cardinal tetra.


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## Mark Evans (20 Jan 2010)

the best one yet IMO! it looks surreal or enchanting to me.


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## John Starkey (20 Jan 2010)

Hi george,i have to agree with saintly your best yet,with the stained water i bet those cardinals stand out a treat,
nice setup   ,
regards john.

ps: do you want some fissidens moss yet ?


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## George Farmer (20 Jan 2010)

Thanks, guys!

John - you know I can't grow moss to save my life, so please stop taunting me!


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## TDI-line (20 Jan 2010)

Less is more George, Uber cool scape. 8)  8)


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## John Starkey (20 Jan 2010)

George Farmer said:
			
		

> Thanks, guys!
> 
> John - you know I can't grow moss to save my life, so please stop taunting me!



Ok mate i,ll back off   ,
regards,
john.


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## George Farmer (20 Jan 2010)

TDI-line said:
			
		

> Less is more George, Uber cool scape. 8)  8)


Thanks, Dan!


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## Lozbug (20 Jan 2010)

Was admiring this one in da'mag.

really like it, when i move (end of year?) hopefully i'll have enough space to set up that tank properly, i am going to do a biotope, yours have been very inspiring.

L


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## andyh (20 Jan 2010)

Excellent as always George!

Is it strange not look at crystal clear water?  

Its great to see something away from the norm! Have you seen any difference in the Cardinals behavior, better colours happier fish etc?

Regards

A


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## flygja (23 Jan 2010)

I admire your ability to churn out different biotopes each month. I do wish I had the money, patience and time (in that order of importance  ) to follow in your footsteps


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## Steve Smith (23 Jan 2010)

Beautiful George!  I love the stems, and how natural they look!  Not too dense, not too sparse.  Cracking job mate


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## George Farmer (23 Jan 2010)

Thanks, all!



			
				andyh said:
			
		

> Have you seen any difference in the Cardinals behavior, better colours happier fish etc?


This is an interesting question, Andy.

I've kept cardinals about 6 years ago in a 30ppm CO2 injected, EI set up. 

I have to say the fish in this biotope seemed to settle in much quicker and were a lot more active than I seem to remember.  Also feeding with more vigour.  This is purely anecdotal evidence though, of course.

It may be controversial but I do now consider that some fish may 'prefer' low CO2 and low nutrient-laden water.  In the _majority_ of cases this is how the fish exist in the wild.

On the other hand, to provide an environment ideal for plant growth generally means that by default we are creating a good environment for the fish.  

But I do wonder about pushing high (30+ppm) CO2 and the extensive use of liquid carbon products and consider this in future set ups.

It's also interesting when you read about Amano's CO2 levels - they're stated much lower than 30ppm.  I think this may be because he uses CO2 mist where the actual dissolved CO2 is less than 'required' due to the plants obtaining sufficient qtys. throught the CO2 in its gaseous form.

Amano also records increbibly low NO3 levels i.e. <1ppm.  This is presumably testiment to the incredibly rich substrate system.

It's something to think about, anyway.  These biotopes are certainly making me think about things from the fish perspective, rather than the purely plant growth/aesthetic.


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## Dave Spencer (23 Jan 2010)

I have found some fish don`t like CO2 levels approaching 30ppm, especially when I had Trigonostigma hengeli. With those fish, it was a fine line between Spirogyra and unhappy fish.

My current house move/makeshift scape has Moenkhausia pinnieri and Pristella maxillaris, which seem happy nearer the 30ppm mark, but I do sometimes wonder how much more their activity would pick up if I slowly tweaked the CO2 down.

My tanks are generally run with high CO2 and lots of surface disturbance.

I like the tank George. Is it easy to live with a tank full of brown, dirty looking water? I have a bit of an OCD for gin clear water, unfortunately.

Dave.


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## andyh (23 Jan 2010)

George

I can see you logic with the each fish has its own preference levels, certain fish enjoy water with high o2 levels so why cant they not like the CO2 rich environments. One thing i defiantly notice is that some fish can take a while to adapt to the planted tank environment than others.

with ref the "mist" i really am seeing the benefits, i have enjoyed longer lasting CO2 bottles since switching to an inline diffuser, i have even turned down the bubble rate on my kitchen tank whilst still maintaining the green DC.




			
				Dave Spencer said:
			
		

> I like the tank George. Is it easy to live with a tank full of brown, dirty looking water? I have a bit of an OCD for gin clear water, unfortunately.
> 
> Dave.



        I am in Dave's club! Years of keeping catfish in tanks full of bogwood with slightly brown water, has given me OCD for the gin clear water!  Oh and i like the occasional G&T


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## Garuf (23 Jan 2010)

Rainbows don't like high levels of co2 either, I think it's a river type thing, I'm lead to believe co2 levels in rivers with lots of  waste have higher levels so fish from these places can take more. I seem to remember Ceg laying this out regarding some fish that couldn't take the co2 levels, I could be making that up though. 

The whole Gin thing confused me, till I realised it was only me who had red gin.


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## nrus70 (24 Jan 2010)

Looks great George, excellent effort and well thought out. I have just read the PFK with the White Cloud biotype,( It takes a while for the mag to get down under) loved the simplicty of that as well, it got me thinking Biotype for my Espei tank now!!

I dont know much about Cabomba Furcata and a Google search says this is very difficult plant to grow, have you had success with this plant before or this your first go with it? It looks like a stunning plant in some of the images

Cheers Nick


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## mr. luke (24 Jan 2010)

Now we know why you where after red cabomba


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## Ivan (30 Jan 2010)

Hi George, just wondering if you know what the species of the wood is and what you did to it before you put it in the tank.


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## George Farmer (31 Jan 2010)

Thanks, all!



			
				Ivan said:
			
		

> Hi George, just wondering if you know what the species of the wood is and what you did to it before you put it in the tank.



Ivan - the wood is collected and there's a bit of redmoor in there too.  I just scrubbed the collected stuff, as it was already submerged in a local lake.  There always a risk when using collected wood etc. but it's a risk worth taking, IME.  However, if you have very expensive and/or delicate fish then it will be worth considering using the wood in a 'test' tank first with some less expensive and hardier fish.



			
				nrus70 said:
			
		

> I dont know much about Cabomba Furcata and a Google search says this is very difficult plant to grow, have you had success with this plant before or this your first go with it? It looks like a stunning plant in some of the images


This is my first time with red cabomba.  I found it easy, with 2 x T8 too. 

I have issues with the antiquated 'difficulty' categories.  I think these were created 20 odd years ago before CO2, decent nutrient management and circulation levels were the 'norm'.  What was once very difficult is now relatively easy in the 'modern' planted tank.  Lighting levels do not have to be as high as previously assumed with the nutrient-rich substrates/water in the presence of good circulation levels.


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## Ivan (31 Jan 2010)

Yep, collected wood looks brill I think. I have some bits of Beech in my tank, with the discus, but it is starting to drop to bit and I need some more.


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## Amoeba (5 Feb 2010)

Love the tint


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## AdAndrews (5 Feb 2010)

Just read the article in pfk, I have to say, i think its great, something that bit different that you dont tend to see often, I was wondering though, when you perform water changes, I take it you do this with pre-stained water? I was thinking if you poured clear water in, the light will be able to penetrate easier as not having a stain in the water to block it, maybe resulting in algae?


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## mzm (9 Feb 2010)

Hi George, great scape!!

Stumbled across it today and what a coincidence to have read the article in PFK only a week ago....

You have inspired a lot of hobbyists in Malta with this scape   

Michael


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## George Farmer (10 Feb 2010)

Thanks, all!

I've done another two planted biotopes since this, and I think both are better still.  I'll post them after they're published in PFK.



			
				AdAndrews said:
			
		

> Just read the article in pfk, I have to say, i think its great, something that bit different that you dont tend to see often, I was wondering though, when you perform water changes, I take it you do this with pre-stained water? I was thinking if you poured clear water in, the light will be able to penetrate easier as not having a stain in the water to block it, maybe resulting in algae?


Thanks, Adam!

The catappa leaf 'tea-bags' that are in the external filter constantly secrete tannins.  So the water changes to temporarily make the water clearer, but it soon gets stained again.  Water changes can be minimised in a set up like this, as fish load and lighting is relatively low.



			
				mzm said:
			
		

> Hi George, great scape!!
> 
> Stumbled across it today and what a coincidence to have read the article in PFK only a week ago....
> 
> ...


Thanks, Michael!  That's lovely to hear.


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## dw1305 (11 Feb 2010)

Hi all,
I like it, I'd probably add a few dead leaves and try and hope some red algae grows on the wood as well, but that's just me.
Here's a video of the real thing (a Rio Iniridae region blackwater Igarape ) that Heiko Bleher posted on "Apistogramma forums".

http://www.aquapress-bleher.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=438&Itemid=40.

video at the bottom of the page and well worth a look.
cheers Darrel


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