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Island Getaway - re-scaping a Juwel Lido 200

shaunrs

New Member
Joined
7 Sep 2022
Messages
2
Location
Hong Kong
Hi,

New here as a poster, but I've been keeping fish for years and recently got into aquascaping after having tried (and failed) many years ago!

Here's my latest scape, which is now at the 6 week mark.
This was previously a very established "jungle" tank (>3 years) that I ripped down and re-scaped. I maintained the filter media/fish/plants and added some more along the way.
It was challenging because this tank is deep so it took a while to source the right pieces of wood to make it happen.

Overall, I'm pleased with how it's growing in. Obviously I made a couple rookie mistakes, mostly around not plugging gaps to prevent the aquasoil from being pushed forward by a boisterous Pleco
I will be cleaning that up and plugging the gaps; but I'm happy to show the result of this mistake as a lesson for others :)

I'm not going to pretend it's been smooth sailing. After a few weeks I had some very sorry looking stems, especially the Rotala with leaves an inch below new growth disintegrating. I believe that was down to a Nitrogen deficiency (0ppm NO3, and using API Leaf Zone which doesn't provide N). I switched to Tropica Specialised, and things improved - but new growth is far from perfect.
I suspect it either wants some CO2, or less light to compensate for lack of CO2. Could also be the hard water (?). The Bacopa is also struggling a fair bit and I'm not sure why.

There is then some BBA on the slow-growers, so around the edges of the fern and also some GSA on the Anubias.
It doesn't seem to be spreading all that much these days; but I've only just started dosing Seachem Excel. I may consider reducing photoperiod or intensity in the coming weeks if the algae situation doesn't improve.

I'm taking it slow, making small tweaks and observing their results. But any suggestions are very welcome :)

Specs and dosing information below image.


Thanks,

Shaun


DSC01531-2.jpg



Equipment
  • Tank: Juwel Lido 200 litre
  • Light: Chihiros WRGB2 Pro (74W) at ~50% for 9 hours with 30 mins ramp up, ramp down
  • Filter: Eheim 2217
  • Chiller: Hailea HS-28A set to 24C
  • Skimmer: Eheim 350, as needed
  • Substrate: Aqua soil + ADA La Plata Sand. 10x Seachem Flourish root tabs, because aquasoil is 3+ years old.
  • CO2 injection: None, yet. Have a CO2 Art reg + 2x 1 litre tanks on standby.

Parameters
  • Ammonia: 0ppm
  • Nitrite: 0ppm
  • Nitrate: 10ppm
  • PH: 7.8
  • GH: >16 d - water is hard out of the tap, probably not helpful
  • KH: 3 d

Treatment regime
  • 5ml Tropica Specialized, daily. ~35ml / week. This is almost 2x the bottle instructions which suggests 20ml/week.
  • Seachem root tabs under soil at build time
  • Seachem Excel, per instructions on bottle. Started this week.
  • 40% Water Change per week, treated tap water.

Plants

Background
  • Rotala Rotundifolia
  • Rotala Rotundifolia Green (maybe?)
  • Ludwigia Super Red
  • Bacopa Caroliniana

Midground
  • Hydrocotyle Tripartita
  • Cryptocoryne Wendtii Green
  • Cryptocoryne Wendtii Brown
  • Cryptocoryne Lucens
  • Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis - didn't fare well, removed. Suspect it needed much more light.

Epiphytes
  • Microsorum Pteropus (Java Fern)
  • Anubias Nana
  • Anubias Nana "Petite"
  • Bucephalandra Kedagang - Growing very slowly compared to in my other tank.

Fish
  • Rummynose Tetra
  • Celestial Pearl Danios
  • Cherry Barbs (original inhabitants of the tank from 3+ years ago)
  • L471 Pleco (original inhabitant)
  • Amano shrimp
  • Nerite Snails (Normal + Zebra)
 
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