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New Rio 180 set up

martinmjr62

martinmjr62

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2012
Messages
292
Location
Feltham,Middlesex
Hi to everyone. Just set up my new tank with a lot of help from my son. Only day 3 and a long way to go. Tank is a Rio 180 running a Fluval 405 filter, Hydor 300 heater, JBL 2 kg CO2 set up with solenoid and T5 lighting. The hard scape is driftwood, may add some rocks but not sure. Some plants already added but need to get more especially ground cover. Looking forward to watching it progress and sharing the results. Meanwhile a few pictures as it is at the moment
gy9u9ada.jpg
pygytehu.jpg
jygeqybu.jpg
. Any comments welcomed good or bad but be gentle I'm only a newbie

Cheers
Martin

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Forgot to add that the substrate is manado aqua basis with manado on top. Will be dosing alternate days with made up macro and micro solution. Think that's now covered everything

Cheers
Martin


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Welcome Martin!

Lovely use of the wood, especially the one on the right, it looks very natural. It will be interesting to see when it fills up, keep us updated!

Mario
 
Thanks for the replies guys I wanted to try and make it look like tree with roots and the arch just looked like a nice feature. Lots to do and even more to learn. Very early days. Taking it slowly. Daily water changes. Really need to get a lot more flaura in to fill up all the vast expanse of manado that is uncovered at the moment. Bloody stuff is so light it easily gets disturbed.


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Cheers spyder.this is all completely new to me. A few problems this week.Firstly what appears to be fine slimey hair like coating on the wood, a lot of the pogostmen helferi have shrivalled up and the fern on the arch is browning.I only got a drop checker fitted on Thursday evening(took longer getting here than i thought it would ) and found the colour on Friday when i got home was still very dark so i've upped the co2 a little.the co2 comes on at 11.30am and goes off at 7.30pm and the lights come on at 1pm and go off at 9pm,is this too much, i really dont know.Ive done a 50% water change on Monday,Tuesday and Thursday and used a toothbrush to remove the stuff on the wood and sucked it up the syphon pipe as best i can.any help would be appreciated. I'll post some more pictures on Saturday of the problem bits.
Thanks
Martin
 
As promised a few photos 1 week on showing the problem areas
qymabyhu.jpg
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8ypa8u6e.jpg
ahyguvaj.jpg
y2udasas.jpg
napa6y3u.jpg
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Any advice gratefully welcomed. Thanks. Martin


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Nice big chunky bits of wood. I wouldn't get too hooked up on problems with a new set up being related too much your dosing. In the first couple of months plants will die back and various algae or slime can appear which is more related to the tank being immature. My latest set up I used old tank water with mature filter media and plants from the tank I stripped down and some still went black and died off. I assume you're using 4DKH water in the drop checker? The only thing you can do is dose at full EI rates and make sure the drop checker is yellowish from the point the lights go on until they go off regardless of what time it is. Usually co2 on a couple of hours before lights on and a couple of hours before lights off knock co2 off but have a fiddle with your particular set up. Small adjustments in either timing or injection rate. (lot easier done with no fish in) Change 50% of the water a week or more if you want, I prefer to change more water than more often as it seems to stabilise things quicker In a new set up with less fluctuation.

Other than that just keep trimming away at affected plants and and cleaning surfaces until your plants get the upper hand and start growing. Easy carbo or equivalent you can make your own is also a good idea. It's like steroids for plants and an anti algaecide so while your getting to grips with your co2 it will make a little more room for errors. Problems that don't get nipped in the bud early on can take a lifetime to resolve.

Once you have achieved this after 2/3 months you still have some problems you need to also look at making sure you are getting good flow of water around the tank. There are pumps that go in the tank to help if you need it. Koralia is one type that springs to mind.

In short give your plants all they need now :)
 
Hi AverageWhite Bloke. Thanks for all of the comments. I think the CO2 was way too low throughout the week. After fitting the drop checker on Thursday eve it stayed dark green all Friday so I've upped the flow a bit and the checker is now a lighter green. I'm using a pre measured solution in a small sealed ampoules from Dennerle. The flow seems very good in the tank. I have a full width spray bar along the back wall which is just rippling the surface. The glass diffuser is under this and the bubbles are clearly getting circulated around the tank. Is 8 hours of co2 and light too much at the moment? I am dosing a macro solution on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday Ns. TNC trace solution on Monday and Wednesday No fert on Friday and Saturday. The 50% water change is done on Sunday I need to get some ground covering plants in the foreground and some small crypts under the arch. I know it's going to take time but when you see it going wrong it is a little disheartening but I'm sure everyone has gone through it. Rome wasn't built in a day as they say. Cheers
Martin


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8 hours is fine. Some people would go as low as 6. Best reults for co2 I find is yellow, its not an ecact science and the drop checker position can give slightly out readings. While There's no fish in there sitting at yellow is a better place to be and leaves less chance of co2 problems. If you rule out all the might be's its easier to identify what's wrong when you know what definitley isn't.

Putting more plants in never does any harm. The more the better and quicker the tank will mature as the plants will soak up the ammonia and nitrite which are the biggest problems in a new set up.

With regards lighting it is the catalyst in the tank that determines hoiw much demand is on the plants. When the plants are under high lighting all other Parameters need to be in the sweet spot or problems generally in the form of algae ensues. Less lighting gives more room for you to get things wrong without getting problems so don't be afraid of reducing it. The plants will still grow just slower.
 
I might reduce the lighting time a bit and check the co2 again tomorrow to get it nearer yellow. Got to do the water change tomorrow as well. One day at a time!!!
Cheers
Martin


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Just added another wood piece to the left of the tank made up from leftover off cuts. Boiled to within an inch of its life
4eryre2y.jpg
3ajyrume.jpg



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Just added another wood piece to the left of the tank made up from leftover off cuts. Boiled to within an inch of its life
4eryre2y.jpg
3ajyrume.jpg



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This should look great when it's grown in. One thing that I might do is put the co2 diffuser a bit lower down in the tank so it gets a bit more time to diffuse before escaping into the atmosphere.
 
Can do that no problem.Would you leave it in the middle of the tank for a better spread of bubbles ?
 
As long as it's in a position where there is good water movement its should be okay.
 
Done. Should be hidden once I get some plants in the background
uga4a8yj.jpg



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I'm amazed at how much your gravel looks like my cat litter.
 
Wish it was cat litter ,a hell of a lot cheaper. Didn't do my research before I bought the aqua basis and manado. Oh well!!!!


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