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Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 5 Week update, plenty of pics!

Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island.

Cheers, I'm trying to keep on top of the crypt melt :thumbup:

Was working the weekend so did wc on Monday before co2 on and dosed, all good. Added a C Helferi, trimmed a few longer S Repens shoots and replanted and had a general tidy. Also clipped the Hygro back and planted tips on the other side by the intake. Cleaned start of GSA off front glass and tweaked Ei mix.

Pre maintenance.

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And after.

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The Limnophilia Aromatica has started to move a bit now which I'm pleased with but the HC around the rocks has started melting after doing so well. I've upped the co2, never was quite happy with the shade of the DC now it looks much better.

The Vesuvius runner is being grown out. I'm going for 4-5 young plantlets to replant the area. The plants were all scrunched up but in good flow they seem to hold vertical and avoid getting knotted up so much so I'm going to grow them in fresh.

My fave plant at the moment has to be the Staurogyne. I tried it a while back but it didn't do too well for me. I found 2 pics of the left side of the tank. Tropica has it listed on the slow side but I would say it's faster, maybe medium. :thumbup:

27/11

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5/12

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I also got around to tidying this up underneath too.

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Thanks for looking. :D
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island.

Quick update.

Had some clumps of Blyxa become free floating last night, seems they we're melting at the base of the stems. Cleaned up the best and replanted. The HC was also melting so removed what was left. Tidyed up a few crypt leaves, I've been slacking on my mid week cleaning up sessions this week due to the time of year. :oops:

Staurogyne is still performing well, I think a trim and replant will be in order next week. The L Aromatica is coming on strong too which makes me wonder about the blyxa although it seemed to slowly melt from the off. Trimmed out a little staghorn on a Vesuvius but it was the one not doing so well although it's started throwing a runner. In the new year I should have enough plantlets to replant that area.

I've also been getting an orangey coloured like hair algae. It looks like hair algae that's been hit hard with EasyCarbo but then still grows orange. It grips to plants but seems to syphon off easily. I think I'll drop the lighting by 1 hour :thumbup:

No pic this week, I'll try and get one up next week. May have to up the co2 a little more ;)
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island.

mikeappleby said:
looking better than mine!
Click to expand...

I think the same looking at 95% of the tanks on here. I just keep plodding on, learning and enjoying. :thumbup:

Week 4 Update.

I'm holding off all major trimming till after boxing day as we are entertaining friends and family boxing night. Don't want the tank looking all bare and naked after a big trim.

Working this weekend so no weekly WC yet but snapped these last night to keep the journal going. The Alternanthera is going mental and will be hacked back soon. I'm hoping the new growth will come with smaller leaves and be a bit more compact. I'm still struggling with Blyxa so may have to get more crypts in the new year to fill it out. Also I was surprised that the Hygrophila Corymbosa started melting after it's little trim. There were a few pieces floating around the tank. :arghh:

I'm thinking about a couple of pots of that small Microsorium that AE have in stock to pop on the wood here and there. That should give a bit more contrast. I did order 2 regular Microsoriums from them at the start but they were like 14" tall, a bit bigger than I hoped for. Actually I might go order them after posting this. :D

Staurogyne is doing great, probably the most consistent performer after the Alternanthera. I think I'm gonna trim and replant this next Wednesday on my day off. The plan is to spread across the front and have a clumpy row of Pogostemon Helferi behind it in the centre. Will soon be time to replant the Vesuvius and move some of them to low tech nano's.

Staurogyne.

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Now onto the algae. I've have a little BBA appear on rocks and wood in high flow area so more co2 tweaking to do. I have gas on 2 hours prior to lights which I have moved to 2 1/2 hours now as I upped the injection rate last week. The bubble count is uncountable, so I'd rather move the timings before upping gas again. I have dropped down to 6.5 hours photoperiod. I'll shave another hour off that tonight. :thumbup:

I'm also considering trying taping up every other hole on the spray bar. The flow comes out diagonally with more force towards the blocked end, giving more flow to the RHS of the tank. This should even out the flow a little.

Algae :(

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Drop checker colour is better towards the end of the photoperiod, being a little darker at the start, as we're 2 hours behind I think I'm close to getting it "dialed in" now.

Dropchecker Omg, more GSA :lol:

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And finally, a group shot of the new inhabitants.

Little Orphans.

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Thanks for looking, Merry Christmas, :thumbup:
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 4 Week update, plenty of pics!

Love it, my new years resolution is now gonna be to give my rio 125 a makeover :D
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 4 Week update, plenty of pics!

Callum said:
Love it, my new years resolution is now gonna be to give my rio 125 a makeover :D
Click to expand...

Cheers and go for it. I find the dimensions nice to work with once the internals are removed.

Not much to report. Alternanthera has hit the surface and everything else is just plodding along. Starurogyne has been trimmed and replanted to help fill out. Some leaves on the Echinodorus Quadricostatus have been melting at the base so I taped up every other hole on the spraybar and upped co2 injection a little again. Also pruned another hour off the photoperiod, down to 5.5 hours now.

Skipped my weekly WC yesterday as the Mrs wasn't impressed when I told her at 8am we have to do WC. :D

Got a day off work tomorrow so WC + trim is on the cards. Will grab a few snaps and update soon.
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 4 Week update, plenty of pics!

I get her to turn on the outside tap to fill the pipe then turn it off when I yell and disconnect it to start the siphon process. She then reconnects and turns the tap on to refill with a simple yell. :clap:

So yeah she helps, and supports my rather high MTS I have going on. She'll be setting up and planting her own low tech cube sometime in the new year. :shh:
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 4 Week update, plenty of pics!

crackin wife. I only have to look at the tank and my wife pulls a funny face :?

Although, she is coming around to the idea that 'mark keeps aquariums'...it's only taken about 6 years to get to that point. :lol:
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 4 Week update, plenty of pics!

Well she was never allowed tropicals in the past, being to hard to look after etc. She bought a 30l Biorb and was told NO on the heater. It was sat in box, in the garage for 5 years when I met her. I soon had it out, got a heater and set it up. The rest is history as they say.

We have plans for something around 240l maybe later in the year to replace the 125l (upgrade for the orphans). Something around 1200mm in length would fit nicely. I want to go open top, she's still unsure.
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 4 Week update, plenty of pics!

So a day off yesterday gave an opportunity to catch up on tank maintenance before a shopping trip to get a few items so we can start making candles. :D I've ordered a pipe cleaning brush as the filter pipes need a good clean out.

Here's where we are at prior to maintenance.

FTS Pre Maintenance

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Time to hack down the Alternanthera and remove the odd old algae infected crypt leaves. It's just the odd bits of algae that don't seem to be spreading fast but just bits here and there. Removed some melting leaves from the Echindorus Quadricostatus. What's left from my chunky lumps of Blyxa after they melted into oblivion are now front center to see if they pick up.

Filling back up

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As these water change shots seem to be increasing in popularity here's one of my own. It shows the diagonal flow from the spraybar which gives little co2 issues on the left hand side although the Staurogyne is doing better on the left than the right. Go figure.

FTS last night after trim.

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I don't know whether I should try another pot of HC in between the rocks at the front now my co2 seems a little better than it was. Either that or some Hydro sp Japan. I've got some baby needle leaf JF in another tank. Must get some superglue and stick them to some tiny rocks to drop in here and there. The L Aromatica will be trimmed soon and tidied up a little. It bounced back well fron the black stems with green buds I had.

Thanks for looking and a happy new year. :thumbup:

Oh and by the way Mark, we're not married but I think this one is a keeper :shh:
 
Its looking really great :) Do you have supports keeping your slope in the middle in place or is it just the stones that are achieving that ?
 
Thank's it's coming together slowly. Just the rock's, no supports. I lost a bit of height on filling with kitty litter running down. The 2 side stones are quite large, they help hold it together.

On a side note, I just snagged a Tropica pot of Hygrophilia Pinnatifida, fresh in from P@H by work. That will go in the front gaps between rocks. :thumbup:
 
Lovely tank Spyder, thanks for sharing :clap:

I will have to give the staurogyne a go!
 
Cheers guys.

jalexst said:
Lovely tank Spyder, thanks for sharing :clap:

I will have to give the staurogyne a go!
Click to expand...

I say go for it. I tried it 6 months ago in a 60l but it never really took off. This time around it seems to be doing well although I think my angels have started nipping at it.

Planted my Pinitafidia last night, nice bit of contrast when it fills out a little. Also thinned out the Vesuvius on the right. :D
 
Re: Rio 125 - Orphans Island. 7 or 8 week update.

Seems like months, a new hobby has taken over, yes, I'm hooked on making candles. :shh:

Anyway, I've been keeping up on maintenance, still waiting for my flexi brush from China do do my pipes but all is well.

The BBA on the wood got the EC and toothbrush treatment. It didn't seem to have affected it at all but then it just vanished. I hacked the Alternathera back after boxing day, and thinned out the Vesuvius. Yesterday during WC I just cleaned out some bad leaves, still some to get on the C Helferi (bits of fuzz). :( Trimmed the odd bit of Stauro that was a bit high and replanted tips and trimmed the longer stems of L Aromatica. I'm surprised how the tank is looking now compared to the last pic here. It just seems to have bulked up. The hygro in the corners helps I think.

Here it was Sunday morning just before WC.

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And this was taken about 20 minutes ago. Excuse misty co2, it goes off at 8pm ;)

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No added livestock all original inhabitants in residence. I may add another Angel soon :thumbup:

And just to follow the Starougyne on the left, this was taken before WC. The angels have taken a fancy to nipping at it, it's pretty well established so it may save me some trimmming. They seem to love pulling up what I have left of my Blyxa :mad:

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Cheer's. Been working this weekend. WC and pipe & filter cleaning tomorrow. I ran out of ferts and it took me a couple of days to get to mixing some. The tank seems to have enjoyed a couple of fert free days. Fighting a little BBA still.

Will snap and update next week and just update every 2 weeks from now on.

Cheers.
 
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