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My rio 240 planted discus tank

Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Cheers Tourney,yeah what ever i make on plants i spend back on the tank

It does need a real good trim to be honest, i could do with starting over again with it as its quite messy especially when i see what it looked like in pfk magazine when it was just filling in nicely.

Comon anyone on here keep bn plecs in there planted tanks are they ok :lol: :?:
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

steve2tanks said:
Been reading up on bristlenose plecs and cant decide whether to get some or not anyone had any experience with them and plants?

I assume you mean Ancistrus. If so they're great.

They don't grow very big (4-5inches?) There supposed to be fairly easy to bread if you give them a cave or good hiding ground. It may sound obvious but the male has the bristlenose and the female is without bristles.

I tried to add a female to give my male some company but he was well established and didn't want her in his teritory so she had to be removed for her own safety. If you're going to to put a couple your tank, do it at the same time to prevent wars.

Having said this they are great community fish, they are easy on plants (I've not noticed mine chewing and definately not uprooting plants). They are good at glass cleaning although this is done in the dark hours, so I assume its the ancistrus providing this service.
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Cheers simon im on getting a male and a female i hope off someone :D

Hopefully they will be ok togther as they have been kept togther in that tank.
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

billy boy said:
Tank's looking good steve :D Wow that discus looks massive lol :eek:

Cheers,the discus are big i'v got 2 smaller ones that where hiding at the time lol
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Well i eventually gave it a good trim sold loads of the blxya on here and locally,This is what it looked like after the trim:
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And this was taking tonight:
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As you can see its starting to spread out again :lol: .I decied i wanted to try some more plants so ive ordered,Anubia Nana,Echinodorus Red Rubin and a common amazon sword,will probally regret it as i think they will be too big(but gotta have a go) and some Vallisneria Spiralis,that will be kept under control :lol: :mad: ,hopefully it will give the discus some cover as they spend half the day trying to find shade in it now :lol:

The plants should be here this week so i will post an update once there in the tank,also setting up a 60 litre tank,that will be low tech,no co2 and the stock lights as dont think the other half will be impressed me buying more things :rolleyes:
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Well plants took alot longer than hoped but eventualy got them in,i've chopped abit of the blxya up as it was collecting alot of the food in it and replaced it with swords,and hopefully giving the discus more room to feed.Also bought some more wood as my other wood was well hidden now.
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This was taking straight after planting up and a water change.
I evantually sold the 2 malboro reds and bought a HMA unit for my new discus with the £,never used one so should have some fun rigging that up,when it turns up tomoro :lol:
You cant see the new discus as there hiding :rolleyes: but they are there :lol:
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Looking nice.
Although i dont think the swords go well with the finer leaved plants on the other side. Maybe when they grow in or you add more?
Have you thought about adding a bit of sand at the foreground? maybe border it with moss or riccia stone?
Really is a lovely sight watching discus blow on the sand to get at the food :D
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Cheers hadn't thought about sand foreground,dunno if i can be bothered with the hassle of changing it now :lol:

Yeah i know what you mean about the leaf shape(i dont really like it,but its easier for the discus to get the food from underneath) but theres a few swords in the corner so it should fill in within time then i'll deide what to do for the best.

Cheers steve
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

hi mate!
beautiful set-up!! i've tried blyxa before but only has 2 small ones. i have a rio 240 that's a malawi setup right now but i'm planing to convert it to a planted setup, but need to get all the stuff ready before stripping it down.
what lights are you using??? how much substrate did it take??

you tank is a real inspiration mate
cheers
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Cheers, glad it can inspire you :oops:

Im using the T5's that came with the tank and reflectors fitted,4 bags of aqua soil but could of done with more though really imo.
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Its been awhile but heres a quick udate
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Its been negleted over the last few weeks what with it been warmer out doors 8)

Lost 3 of the new discus,well one died and polluted the water,ammonia was off the scale when i found it(it was behind the plants poor thing)soo lost 2 because off that,i thought rummys were ment to be good water conditioner check,ie there red nose's but mine were bright red still :twisted:

I've got some new swords growing from the plants already in the tank, soo think im going to remove the blyxa soon and have more swords as there slower growing for me than blyxa and easier to see through to check on the fish.

Having an open foregroung has helped with feeding the discus,i use an old gravel cleaner tube and put the food down with that so its not blowing into all the plants and decaying ;)
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

pm me if you sell some blyxa. i get first dibbs!!!! :D

looks awesome mate... The blyxa obviously needs a bit of a trim as its blocking out some of the tank for the fish and probably creates a 'wall' stopping some flow. Saying that it does look lush!
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

I'll keep you in mind i should hopefully get it trimmed on sunday as its desprate to be done,like you say its blocking alot of flow
 
Re: Rio 240,hc emmersed setup

Just got some Red Alenquers 5 of them,havent managed to get a good picture of them yet,as soon as i get the camera out thy shy away :twisted: :lol:

Only got 3 of them left and one blue turk.

Tbh they just seem shy all the time im thinking about getting rid as i never see them out and about unless its feed time :rolleyes:

Cheers tony was gutted when it happend,i now count them through out the day so i now there all ok
 
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