My First Planted Tank - Juwel Rio 125

[LondonDragon]

Just a little update, has some might have noticed on a old post I have a little bit of glosso growing emersed over the tubbing of my external filter spraybar, today while doing the weekly water change I noticed it was flowering

Overal photo of the glosso:


Closer up of the glosso:


Close shots of the two flowers:




Thanks for looking, comments and critics always welcomed

[LondonDragon]

Just a quick update on this tank, I am putting my rescape on hold so now I am testing a few things, I am running this pretty high light now and high CO2 and also the main reason for keeping it going full planted is to test the auto dosing system which has been running 3 weeks now, during this period I haven't dosed EasyCarbo at all, its working great.

Some photos of what the tank looks like at present:











Thanks for looking

[andywoolloo]

it's amazing! Simply great! I love how the wood on the bottom looks against the green.

[L number Banana]

Hey! You have my fantasy tank!

That is just heavenly! The flowers are sweet, I didn't see them last time. They look like flowers from the gourd family. Very nice.

What's the little green fluffs on the horizontal driftwood? It looks exactly natural, like moss or mistletoe one might see walking through a forest.

Also what fish are they? The betta is an elegant addition, nice red

[LondonDragon]

it's amazing! Simply great! I love how the wood on the bottom looks against the green.

Mant thanks this is an experimental tank now, until I get my external filter sorted and my inline CO2 reactor.

Hey! You have my fantasy tank!
That is just heavenly! The flowers are sweet, I didn't see them last time. They look like flowers from the gourd family. Very nice.
What's the little green fluffs on the horizontal driftwood? It looks exactly natural, like moss or mistletoe one might see walking through a forest.
Also what fish are they? The betta is an elegant addition, nice red

Many thanks the plant in the wood is Fissidens Fontanus.

Fish stock:

3 x Bosemani Rainbow (1 is a fry of the pair of adults)
3 x Ottos
10 x Harlequin Rasboras
1 x Clown Plec
1 X Betta Splender (missus idea)
Some shrimp

Cheers

[LondonDragon]

Been taking a few more photos today, the tank was starting to get some algae so I have now upped the CO2 and the dosing.
Rather than dosing 40ml per day I have set it to dose 40ml on Mondays, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, 80ml on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. I am also dosing a couple of tea spoons extra per week of Trace and the anubias are loving it.

Well lots of photos for you guys to see whats going on:























Thanks for looking critiques and comments always welcomed

[glenny]

this is a beautiful planted tank! a little bit dutchstyle with a little bit amano, a little precious "jungle", very good pics!

[LondonDragon]

this is a beautiful planted tank! a little bit dutchstyle with a little bit amano, a little precious "jungle", very good pics!

Many thanks Glenny

[LondonDragon]

Haven't updated this journal in a while, here is how the tank was looking before I planted the HC, and moving towards lower maintnance plants in half the tank.




After finishing planting the HC in the tank, I have some of it melting away, but that seems to have stopped and its pearling away everyday when I get home. I was not happy with the EI solution, it was getting my tank a little cloudy and was seeing some algae, so for a test I have been using TPN+ for the last couple of weeks.
Water has remained crystal clear all week and plants have developed much better colours too and the algae is gone.
Going to carry on using TPN+ for a few more weeks and then go back to EI and see the differences, might have to increase the EI solution, maybe it was not strong enough.

Photos right after planting:




Thanks for looking. Comments always appreciated.

[LondonDragon]

This tank is still going, here some of the latest photos:









Thanks for looking

[nj2tou]

all I can say is - holy crap! LOL!

Can you come to my house and do my tank please?? LOL!

Fabulous!

[nj2tou]

Oh, and I wanted to put a betta in my tank too, but I just put in an Emperor 280 and the current is waaaaaaaaay too strong. In fact I think it's too strong for my cories. I'm debating taking it out and putting in the Penguin 200 I also bought. I ordered the 280 without actually SEEING it, just read the reviews and some folks here said it would be fine, but I don't know... When I actually saw it in the store I realized it's MASSSIVE and I only have a 15 gallon tank. Decisions, decisions...

[LondonDragon]

Thanks if you buy me the plane ticket and give me free accommodation I will be right over haha although I am no expert on the subject I just do the best I can with what I have.

The betta does prefer tanks with low flow, but I had a lot of flow in the tank, about 3500lph of turnover on a 30 gallon tank, there are always so dead spots where the pumps and filters don't reach and also between plants etc...

I never found a dead Betta in the tank, one day it disappeared and then I saw the jaw bone in the gravel one day, that's after it was in the tank for about 2 and a half years, which is pretty good for a betta.

Good luck with the tank

[nj2tou]

There aren't many dead spots in this tank now. I should have gone with my gut and known the flow would be too much. Sigh... I just hope it's not too much for the cories. I have to run out, but when I get home, I might just put in the Penguin 200 and either save or sell the 280. I only put it in this afternoon, so no big deal.

[andywoolloo]

still looks amazing! have you seen the clown pl*co lately?

[Luis.Ventura]

whitch plant is in the right side all alone?

btw the tank is amazing

[LondonDragon]

still looks amazing! have you seen the clown pl*co lately?

Unfortunately after 6 years it passed away might get a couple more soon though I love them.

whitch plant is in the right side all alone?
btw the tank is amazing

The plant on the right is limnophila aromatica, muito obrigado

[LondonDragon]

Another update another photo, the new CO2 inline diffuser is great, very happy I purchased that tank is now pearling like crazy, even the Fissidens fontanus is pearling! lol





























Photos just had a resize, and straight off the camera, the Tamron 90mm macro is a great lens! Shame the camera its attached to! lol

Think that is enough photos for one day haha

[2wheelsx2]

Which inline diffuser are you using? The Boyu?

[LondonDragon]

Which inline diffuser are you using? The Boyu?

I tried that one and it was not very good, I have now upgraded to the UP Atomizer http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Aquarium-Co2-Atom ... 25574383e5

[2wheelsx2]

Ah...ok, that's what a lot of the local planted tanks guys have gone to also. I personally still use ceramic diffusers in the tank and "mist" the CO2 with Koralia powerheads.

[LondonDragon]

Ah...ok, that's what a lot of the local planted tanks guys have gone to also. I personally still use ceramic diffusers in the tank and "mist" the CO2 with Koralia powerheads.

I used to do that aswell, but since I have upgraded my filters to something that does 1500lph there is no need to use a powerhead, I still have one in the tank at the moment but its turned off, will remove it soon if I don't think I will need it.
Also eliminates clutter in the tank and the need to clean the ceramic diffusers every week or two.

[2wheelsx2]

Also eliminates clutter in the tank and the need to clean the ceramic diffusers every week or two.

I try to keep the diffusers in the shade so I'm only cleaning them once a month, but yeah, that's a pain. There's a GB on those inline diffusers right now in my local aquarist forum. I think I might give one a try, based on your success with them.

[LondonDragon]

I try to keep the diffusers in the shade so I'm only cleaning them once a month, but yeah, that's a pain. There's a GB on those inline diffusers right now in my local aquarist forum. I think I might give one a try, based on your success with them.

Was using this one before ( http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CO2-Carbon-Dioxid ... 439dd10432 ) and its not as good, very noise and bubbles big in comparison.

[2wheelsx2]

Yup, that's the one...the Boyu. Lots of guys one the plantedtank.net tried them with varied success because they are so cheap, to varied success.

[LondonDragon]

Well the tank is still going without a rescape, just keeps evolving from one to the next, here the latest photo taken yesterday:



Took the opportunity to make a video also: http://vimeo.com/13137723


Some older photos of the tank, fauna and flora:

Threadfin Rainbows:










Moss:


Pearling:


Where its located in the room:


Pixie being naughty! (Portuguese Podengos)!


Thanks for looking, comments and critiques always welcomed

[nvcichlids]

I love your tank! its soo relaxing!

[LondonDragon]

Many thanks, I can sit for ages just admiring it ;) the threadfin rainbows also help, very peaceful fish

[LondonDragon]

This tank is still going but not with the same scape, it was rescaped in early 2011!

Still went on for a little while:


But after a heater incident that basically boiled the whole contents of the tank, I had no choice but to start again, and now don't run any heaters on any tanks anymore!!



I then started a Iwagumi in this tank, here it is on day 1:



And 6 weeks later it looked like this:








Month later:



Video: http://vimeo.com/23820732

And a couple of weeks more:










The rocks turned a very light colour so I stopped cleaning them and gave it a more natural feel:





Couple weeks later:







Due to lack of time and work taking over the tank started suffering:









And eventually the HC had to go:





And slowly started turning into something else:







And now looks more like a Jungle than a Iwagumi





Not sure what is going to happen next as my scapes tend to merge from one thing into another! Might get a new tank soon and start something else long term ;)

Thanks for looking

More info can be found here: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=14998 (please remove is not permitted to post links to other forums)

[2wheelsx2]

Nice evolution. I've come to the same conclusion with HC. I have S. repens and HC in the same tank and the S. Repens is so much lower maintenance.