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Ed's Rio 180

Well today the first fish went in - 5 Otos from my old cube tank that had been holidaying in the quarantine tank! The Nitrite reading this morning was down to less than 3ppm, but still a slight orange tinge, so I did a 60% water change and very slowly acclimatised the Otos to the tank. I also removed the diffuser to clean it and put the Rhinox 5000 in while I was doing it and immedaitely noticed how much smaller the bubbles were so have left the Rhinox in the tank. Diffusion seems much better now.

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And here are two Otos chilling out between meals!
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looking great so far, im loving all the lush green-ness! certainly food for thought for when i turn my rio 180 community into a pressursed CO2 planted system

JC
 
Thanks very much guys. It's really appreciated. I'm really happy with it so far and once the Glosso grows in around the cobbles and Crinums, and the Crinums and Nymphaea micrantha get going it will be getting close to how I imagined it.

I did a small trim yesterday and 50% water change. I had to trim back the cabomba as it's growing forwards rather than just up. I haven't trimmed the top as I find this type of Cabomba responds pretty well to being left and then hacked back after a while.

The Hygrophila lacustris leaves are just touching the water's surface now but it'll be a while until I trim it as the stem tops are still about 5" below the surface!

The Ludwigia helminthorrhiza is doing really well with bright red leaves and I've carefully anchored three stems around the Koralia pump. I trimmed them back so they don't take up too much light but it's only over the Anubias. No sign of flowers though - I don't think T5s are strong enough so I'll try some in the greenhouse this summer I think.

I moved the Rotala sp.'Pearl'. It's now at the left hand edge around the Crinums where it'll get more light. A Echinodorus 'Red Diamond' has replaced it next to the E.'Oriental' and will hopefully do better here than in my other tank.

I'm also starting to switch over to pure RO water now after starting the tank off with about 1/3 tap water. I'm remineralising the water with Equilibrium and RO Right.

Tomorrow I'm going on an LFS trek to find the shoaling fish for the tank. I've decided not to put the cardinals in here but to stick with Lampeyes and spotted blue-eye rainbows. Hopefully I'll find them in one of the Maidenhead aquatics near me, but either way I fancy a trip round a few stores! I've also got to go to Wharf to drop off the next batch of Pelvicachromis 'Matadi' youngsters!

I'll follow up with some pictures later in the week as I don't have my camera at the moment and want to spend some time messing with the settings to solve the green-ness!

Edit: Oh and like an idiot I smashed the Drop checker while cleaning it so I need another! The JBL plastic one from my other tank is in instead, which I do find much easier to read, but it doesn't look as good!
 
Time for an update.
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Please ignore the odd stem sticking up at the front. It's a seedling that was in amongst the Hairgrass that I'm growing to see what it is! I'll be moving it soon!

I've also got the fish for the tank. I added 24 Pseudomugil gertrudae. This was the best picture I could manage; they're very quick!
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I also got some shrimp (thanks Chris!). Managed to get a snap of one, but it's not as good as I'd hoped! Any clues to ID guys? I was thinking wild Cherry shrimp, but don't think so any more, they have a rather green cast to them.
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The moss is really growing in thickly now and the Otos are liking it!
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I'm going to have to start trimming the glosso soon as well as cutting the hairgrass back as it's spreading into the glosso. I'm wishing I'd put a clear divider in the substrate to keep them seperate so I may have to add one at some point. The E.tennellus is also going to have to go I think. It's too big for it's position so I may take it all out, or just remove a lot of it so it's just tight in the corner.
 
Well it's been a month since the last updates. A major trim is needed and I started this morning on the E.tennellus on the left side. It was so big and out of hand that you couldn't see much of the Anubias behind it. So I've reduced the amount drastically and removed all the runners that were going everywhere. To do this I had to remove all the bits of wood from the left corner and then replace them afterwards. I've also removed the Eleocharis vivipara and replaced it with some more Hygrophila lacustris as the hairgrass was too much hassle. It's now in my Apisto tank.
I'm liking the more open look now.
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I've still got to tackle the moss on the branches and the glossostigma and there are a few branches of Cabomba still to trim too. I'm also going to tackle the right hand side and remove the unknown plant at the front (I think it's a Bacopa of some sort) and trim some of the Hygrophila sp.'Pantanal'. Here's what it looks like now;
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I've also managed to snap a couple of pictures of the shrimp which are now breeding well and I've babies appearing. There's also another carrying eggs too so it seems I've finally got some shrimp I don't kill!!!
This is a young one not showing much colour,
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And this is a female that carried the first lot of eggs.
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Let me know what you think guys. I'm liking the way most of it is growing in, but it really needs that trim on the moss and glosso!
 
Hi Ed,
I love the way the tank shaped up. The front carpet is looking really nice and the moss has taken on a pleasing shape. Needs a haircut though!

Cheers
 
Hi Ed. just read your journal front to back. not been online much since xmas and missed this! fantastic tank mate it has come together nicely. i see you seem to have had no algae issues at all, unlike me. are you using EI with dry ferts? i did and dare i say it things got er worse every time i dosed. i switched to TPN+ and flourish so i suppose EI at lower levels and things have improved dramatically.

if you dont mind me saying i think your moss could do with a little trim 😉 , you have started to lose the definition between the branches and in the photo it looks like one big clump of green rather than the separate branches with varying colours and textures. the plants behind kind of blend into the green losing the depth perspective front to back. same with the glosso. if it were growing more compact and carpet like the mid ground would seem that little farther away. have you any plans for another tube? one more T5 in front of the existing 2 would easily fit. just my 2p worth. looks lovely though i'd be rather proud of that in my home. it really does fit great into that gap as well even if it was after a little manipulation lol.
 
Cheers guys. You're all dead right the moss needs a major trim!!! It will be taken back pretty much to the branches tomorrow (Easter holidays are great 😉 ) because you're all dead right it just merges with the Cabomba behind.

jimbooo said:
Hi Ed. just read your journal front to back. not been online much since xmas and missed this! fantastic tank mate it has come together nicely. i see you seem to have had no algae issues at all, unlike me. are you using EI with dry ferts? i did and dare i say it things got er worse every time i dosed. i switched to TPN+ and flourish so i suppose EI at lower levels and things have improved dramatically.

if you dont mind me saying i think your moss could do with a little trim 😉 , you have started to lose the definition between the branches and in the photo it looks like one big clump of green rather than the separate branches with varying colours and textures. the plants behind kind of blend into the green losing the depth perspective front to back. same with the glosso. if it were growing more compact and carpet like the mid ground would seem that little farther away. have you any plans for another tube? one more T5 in front of the existing 2 would easily fit. just my 2p worth. looks lovely though i'd be rather proud of that in my home. it really does fit great into that gap as well even if it was after a little manipulation lol.
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I have run a rather lean version of EI and not very consistently! I have a micro mix of AE trace elements and KPO4 and have dosed that daily at first, but then less regularly, and a macro mix of Potassium Nitrate and Potassium Phosphate. That I dose at half strength and not every day. I also added EasyCarbo daily to begin with and still dose it after water changes, trims and moving plants just to help keep any algae from getting going! The tank is also now pure RO water, remineralised with a mix of RO Right and Equilibrium (I had stunting issues in my nano cube when using just Equlibrium and think that may have been part of or all of the cause!), which I think really helps keep a tank algae free. I know lots of others will disagree with me (Clive!!!! 😉 😀 ).

I'm definitely not planning to add another tube! At the moment the moss is shading the foreground too much, but once trimmed there was plenty of light for the glosso to form a nice compact carpet and I seem (touch wood) to have some kind of balance between light and nutrient levels. The T5s with the gull-wing reflectors seem bright enough in the flesh and are making the Cabomba grow more sideways than shooting upwards so I'm happy with the light levels.

It just needs it's cichlids adding now, but there's been a change of plan there...
 
eds said:
The tank is also now pure RO water, remineralised with a mix of RO Right and Equilibrium (I had stunting issues in my nano cube when using just Equlibrium and think that may have been part of or all of the cause!), which I think really helps keep a tank algae free. I know lots of others will disagree with me (Clive!!!! 😉 😀 ).
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Don't rile me up Ed. You won't like me when I'm angry :lol: (what movie was that?). Actually this is not such a preposterous idea. If RO Right adds something the plant needs which was not provided for by Equilibrium alone then yes, you would have eliminated a deficiency, no doubt about it. 8)

Hey Ed, have you ever tried just using GH booster in lieu of the other two? I'd be interested to see what the results are by comparison.

Cheers,
 
Its looking very nice Ed - the mosses are gorgeous. From a scape point of view you could maybe remove/trim right back the cabomba and add a black backdrop to show off the mosses and the other interesting and unusual plants you have getting going at the back... To my eye it seems the cabomba just adds noise but that might not be the case when you see the tank in the flesh.
 
Hi Ed,

The tank looks superb! Do you have any issues with the wood in your tank? I tried putting some oak branches into my tank once. I stripped all the bark off and cleaned it with a power hose, but after a couple of weeks the wood started to grow a cloudy fungus in certain areas mainly at the ends and around the knots and where the wood branched off.

Rob
 
I apologise for ever doubting this scape, it's turned out AMAZING.
 
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