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Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape Christmas Update

Vito

Member
Joined
2 Feb 2008
Messages
527
Location
Watford, Hertfordshire
Hey guys,

Yet another attempt to to plant this tank, fingers crossed all goes to plan.
Well just some specs before any pics
I am using some old ADA AS from my previous scapes and I placed 40 or so TPN capsuels evenly to give the substrate some life.
I have upgraded the lighting to 4 x 39W T5 im using a mixture of two Orsam lumilux 880's and 1 Orsam Lumilux 840 and 1 Sylvania Grolux bulb all on for 6 hours, my CO2 comes on 2 hours before and goes off 1 hour before lights out and its coming from a fire extinguisher through the atomizer inline diffuser.
Filter is a Tetratec EX1200 with Filter floss at top with one sponge, then Bio Balls follwed by eheim substrate pro and lastly ceramic tubes, there heater is also inline.
Im doing EI on recomendatios of the Nutricalc program and all ferts are from Flidsensor online bar my trace mix which is from gardens direct.
Plants are as follows:
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Micranthemum Micranthemoides
Echinodorus Tennellus
Eleocharis acicularis
Lilaeopsis novea-zealandiae
Sagittaria
X-mass moss
Rocks are welsh green rocks availalbe from most garden centres.
Here are some pics of the tank a couple of weeks after setup, I used my brother Cannon EOS550 to take these shots but I'm not happy with them but its the best I can do.

vitotank1.jpg

vitotank5.jpg

vitotank2.jpg

vitotank3.jpg

vitotank4.jpg


Thanks for looking

Vito
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

How would you trim the moss? Do you use special sicisors? Sorry if its a dumb question but it looks awsome and soo naturally.
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

nice scape there vito. A koralia would definitely help to move more of the ferts around the tank. ive got an ex1200 and koralia 1 on my 180l which seems to work quite well. Not sure what the new equiv is of the old koralia 1 tho?
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

stuworrall said:
nice scape there vito. A koralia would definitely help to move more of the ferts around the tank. ive got an ex1200 and koralia 1 on my 180l which seems to work quite well. Not sure what the new equiv is of the old koralia 1 tho?

Well just ordered a Hydor Koralia Evo 1600 hope it does the job. where shall i position it?
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

stuworrall said:
i'd do top right pointing left to help with the circular flow back to the inlet.

Thanks for the advice stu, really appreciate it, I thought i'd give my filter a clean lastnight also just to try and help flow. i think I will be cleaning it every 2 weeks now. and i uped the KH2P04 dosage just to see if it has an impact on the plants
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

Looking good, I like the effect of the mosses on the rocks, the xmas moss should attach nicely to the rocks too afterwards. Congrats on a nice scape :)
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

Thanks for the comments guys, my photography isnt up to scratch and the first pics really dont do it justice so here are some more of the tank today. Any tips for cleaning the outside glass as I always have smear marks.
You will see form the pics the new Koralia Evo 1600 I got and I must admit its not as unsilghtly as I thought I would be and with 24 hours running the HC growth has appeared to improve.

vitotank4.jpg


vitotank1.jpg


vitotank2.jpg


vitotank3.jpg


Thanks for looking.

Vito
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

Looks Good. Only black background not the best, i think some dark blue will be better.

Regards,
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

Hey guys looking for a bit of advice, the tank seems to be getting a slight hair/thread algea issue and I find myself spending a good 30 mins each evening trying to remove it, also my HC has gone a bit leggy, all the other plants seem to be doing well and even the HM is starting to look half decent, I feel slightly let down as I have upgraded my lighting and my flow but I dont see any kind of improvement, as you can see from the pictures I have the korallia pointing down to the HC the only thing I can think of is upping the Co2 but the drop checker is already peaking yellow and I can clearly see 1000's tiny bubble being blown everywhere, do I have too much light or could it be that the EI dosing that I got from the nutricalc isnt enough?
Another thought was areation during the night is it worth re-directing the korallia to the surface to create more agitation and more oxygen when light out?
According to NutriCalc I am dosing
KN03 20ppm
KS204 30ppm
KH2P04 3.0ppm
MgS04 10ppm
Trace 0.50ppm
Im running 4 x 39w 6 hours a day.

Any suggestions where I could be going wrong?
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

im not that clued up on EI but id say youve got too much light going in there if you cant up the co2 anymore. my rio125 did fine on 96watts, can you turn off one back of lights until you sort the thread algae?

im sure someone wil be along soon to comment on if you have enough nutrients going in from the EI.
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

stuworrall said:
im not that clued up on EI but id say youve got too much light going in there if you cant up the co2 anymore. my rio125 did fine on 96watts, can you turn off one back of lights until you sort the thread algae?

im sure someone wil be along soon to comment on if you have enough nutrients going in from the EI.

I could reduce the light but I am concerned that HC will get worse, I suppose it trial and error, just wish there was less error :)
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

Ok guys I thought it was time for an update, so I have been battling with aglea and I have to admit I feel like its a losing battle for me but I'm trying to stick with it basicly I find myself removing hear/thread algea every night and trimming etc, I have been dosing easycarbo aswell to try and help but I dont think its having a posative effect. I have reduced the lighting to 2 39W t5's instead of the 4, one more week of this then I will consider upping the EI so the plants will hopefully out compete the algea, I still have issure with HC forming a decent Carpet, I have selected good grow spots on the left but the right isnt as good, again not quite sure whats going wrong as I am sure I have plent flow and co2. enought talk check out some photos which my little bro took while I was maintaing the tank.
vitotank1.jpg


vitotank2.jpg


vitotank3.jpg


vitotank4.jpg


vitotank5.jpg


Oh yes and I introduced 9 rasbora hengeli, I bought 10 but I cant find the other one or the guy at my LFS miss counted, I know its definetly not in the tank.

Thanks for looking
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape

Vito said:
....I will consider upping the EI so the plants will hopefully out compete the algea...
Well your hopes will be dashed because plants can never compete with algae. They will always lose. Adding more nutrients can never solve hair algae because it's not caused by a nutrient deficiency. It's caused by CO2 deficiency. Reducing the lighting, adding more Excel and/or CO2/flow is the only way to solve this issue.
Vito said:
I still have issure with HC forming a decent Carpet, I have selected good grow spots on the left but the right isnt as good, again not quite sure whats going wrong as I am sure I have plent flow and co2.
The fact that you are suffering hair algae is proof positive that you do not have adequate CO2/flow/distribution for that lighting value.

Cheers,
 
Re: Vito's latest Rio 125 rescape *Update 22/07/10*

not sure if its good advice but i bumped mine up to twice a week when I had algae problems on my rio (also halved the light to 48watts) and also introduced some red cherry shrimp which got on top of it too.
 
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