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Rio 180 planted community (work in progress)

Steve Smith

Member
Joined
19 Jul 2007
Messages
4,412
Location
Wellesbourne, UK.
Its been on going for about 8 months now. It had a bad patch recently, over Christmas and untill 2 or 3weeks ago. I had green water, a lot of decaying plants (mostly pygmy chain swords), a CAE that would rip up stuff etc etc. I decided to pull my finger out and get it sorted. So, after adding a 15w UV filter for £60 (after buying one second hand, to find it leaked!) and after some additional red wood and some planting, this is what I've ended up with:

March2008.jpg


Still needs some work, need to work on CO2 injection. Currently using a diffuser under one of the inlets (running 2 external filters). Planting wise, I need to add something low infront of the Mayaca sp. to break up the "wall" effect. I'm thinking along the lines of Lilaeopsis brasiliensis. Other than this, stuff just needs to start growing :) Looking forwards to the mosses that Eds sent me filling out. Hopefully they are strategically placed to give a good effect (willow and spiky moss, along with some flame moss).

Fish list:

12 pentazona barb
12 mixed Harlequin Rasbora (apparently I have some purple, orange and red so I'm told)
5 Leopard danios
2 ottos
6 ish amano/yamato shrimp
1 bamboo shrimp

Thanks for looking :)
 
Themuleous said:
is that photo of the whole of the tank?

Yep. Still needs a lot of work and a lot of growing. I'm going to tweak the back left a bit. I'm going to plant some stems towards the middle, probably ludwigia acruata or something suitably thin and pointy to echo the delicate leaves of the mayaca. This will go from behind the mayaca (about half way) to closer to the middle. Hopefully it won't look lop-sided :D

Any suggestions welcome :) I need to get some height back into it. Might add some more crypt. balansae on the left too.
 
Ok, Before:

Before.jpg


After:

After.jpg


Not a massive change, but I see where you're comming from Sam. The two upright parts to the right combined before to make a large bulky odd looking shape. Now (with maybe some more tweaking) it breaks that up a little.

Thoughts?
 
Looking Good, Love how the Stems look in the back. Will Have to get there before you buy them all.
 
I'm considering planting lots of Eleocharis Acicularis. I bought 2 pots from a local garden centre very cheaply (5 plants for £10 - I got 3, Gill got 2). I got 2 pots of this, and 1 pot of Hydrocotyle novae-zelandiae (hoping I can grow this submersed). Each pot is a good 4" square. Gill managed to plant his 90g tank with 1 pot! I might have a bit too much. Still, on the plus side its immersed growth at the moment, so I can keep it alive as long as I need.

Cheap_garden_centre_purchas.jpg
 
Contemplating starting afresh. I bought a new (to me) tank last night and I'm now contemplating scaping that and moving all of the fish from this tank into it. I'd then move my cold water fish into this existing tank, minus some plants of course ;)

Bit of a quandry really. Not sure what to do.
 
Choices choices hehe at the moment I am content with one tank, but the more the merrier. It was looking great though.
The hardscape looks great, guess you can use that in the new tank anyway ;)
 
Themuleous said:
My only comment would be re the wood, the two pieces (I assume its two) look out of alignment, and that spoils to the scape, to my eyes at least. Could you move the back one right a bit?

Sam

I think when the plant starts growing in the misalignment of the two pieces of wood will mostly be hidden by the plant. Great tank. Love it all. Well all except for the bit of wood in front that seemed to point upwards. It's too obvious. Kinda pull the centre of focus towards that branch rather than focusing on the stump.

Just my two cent
 
Thanks for the comments guys :) I'm breaking this down and moving everything to another tank today/tomorrow. I'll only be using one of the bits of redmoor I think, its too over powering at the moment. The new tank is slightly shorter but slightly deeper I think.

I'm moving stuff so I can have a fresh start, but also because the new (well, new to me) tank is in better condition. No scratches on the glass etc. When I've done that, this rio180 will hopefully become a goldfish planted tank :) Currently my single fancy goldfish resides in a 20gal with some WCMMs. I want to get him another goldfish friend and some more WCMMs :)

I'll be taking pics as I go and starting a new journal :)
 
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