New Roma 200 journal.

[RickB]

Thanks Darrel.

Tank filled for now, new sponges and media swirled and left to soak for 2 minutes in water with mulm from old media.

heater sorted, everyhing setup for now till tomorrow.

 

[RickB]

Now to look forward to tomorrow.

 

[RickB]

A bit cloudy this morning.



I am assuming it is because of sand getting shifted from this area by the flow.

 

[RickB]

Planting in progress

 

[RickB]

Now to wait for the fog to clear...

 

[RickB]

Todays weather forecast is slightly less foggy

edit: any tips for getting rid of reflections?

 

[tam]

Looks like there might be something nice lurking in the mist!

Wait until night time to take photos and turn all lights off other than the tank.

 

[alto]

edit: any tips for getting rid of reflections?

No
- they are my Armageddon
OK if you look at tank photo shoots, you'll see the answer 😀 but definitely not practical on a daily basis for tank in a room with lots of ambient light ..... you can try photos after dark with only light coming from tank

As for the fog in the tank, you can just water change to remove most of the fine particles - this works well IF that is dust from the sand (my guess)
But fog will return if it's bacterial bloom or "green water" ... in which case, ignore it & go about your planned maintenance schedule

You can "treat" bacterial bloom & green water with ultramicro-filtration (think diatomaceous earth filters, very fine particle filters will also assist, as will some UV filters) but it generally resolves over time anyway

Note that the sand etc in water will impact light to plants; bacterial bloom, green water will impact light & oxygen etc levels

 

[RickB]

Thanks for the tips for the reflections.

The fog is slowly going away, I am thinking of rinsing the sponges from the filter in tank water during water change tomorrow incase there is any sand blocking it up at all.

 

[alto]

Definitely rinse the filter sponges, you can also add a temporary layer of fine filter floss - this is very cheap & you can just toss at each maintenance - you'll also be able to see if there is a green tint or if it's just sand color residue

 

[RickB]

I will try and get a better picture before bed tonight.

 

[RickB]

They are better pictures.

 

[RickB]

Tank clearing up alot this morning, and the fungus on the wood has landed, no diatoms yet though.

I am going to leave updates for the next week and just continue daily water changes etc and let it all settle.

Edit: light is on for 6 hours a day for now, dosing 5ml of aquascaper food a day and 4ml of liquid carbon.

 

[RickB]

Hey everyone.

Tank is doing ok.

I know the wood was going to get fungus but is it normal to get it on the glass too?

 

[leetaylor]

If that were my tank mate i would get a canister filter and external heater along with an inline Co2 reactor (if you are going to be dosing CO2)

 

[tam]

I know the wood was going to get fungus but is it normal to get it on the glass too?

Usually brown diatoms on the glass (and elsewhere) in a new set up - soft, brown fuzz. You can wipe it away and it will usually go by itself as the tank settles 🙂

 

[RickB]

I added some media from my old tank and am still doing daily water changes.

1 wendtii and some petchii melted but I expected some melt and there is still enough of both left so not a disaster.

I have 1 cockatoo, 6 peppered Cory, 5 oto's, 2 amano shrimp and 9 neon tetra in the tank and all look very happy and active.

The plan is in a few weeks to add more neon tetra, then in a few months add a single angel fish.

 

[RickB]

So I discovered that the sponges that come with the U4 are not very good at clearing particles from the water.

I replaced the standard sponges with some external filter pads cut in half on monday and they have been great, I think flow has increased too.

All the fish are doing great too.

Will try to get a picture later or maybe even a video.

 

[RickB]

Hey everyone!

Wow, long time with no updates 😛

What an up and down journey, BBA is my nemesis still, slowly fighting it and holding it back for now.

Decided to do a bit of a rescape, well covered all the sand with gravel and threw root capsules in and planted up alot more of the tank.

A few images, sorry for the bad picture quality though, really bad budget tablet camera 🙁



The Crypts underneath the big arch melted big time but are very slowly recovering, the tridents grew alot but also attracted alot of BBA, the Balansae is doing good, not growing too high yet but it is doing well with little melt.

The new plants are alot more small crypts, some more Balansae, Hygro polysperma and ludwigia palustris.

 

[RickB]

A few more pictures.