• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Stus Rio 125 re-plant journal

Stu Worrall

Global Moderator
UKAPS Team
Joined
7 Sep 2008
Messages
2,000
Location
Flintshire, North Wales
Hi all

This is my first journal on here and im currently cleaning the gravel out of my rio 125 tonight in prep for putting in some ADA amazonia I picked up from TGM on Friday. Im stuck on whether to do an Iwagumi with some schist rock I have or do a combined rock/redmoore as I also picked up a nice piece of this wood the other week from TGM which ive had soaking. I definitely want a carpet of HC though so have been giving the forum a thorough read!

This is the tank as it was before i let it fell apart. It looked quite messy compared to some of the posting here!

275489796_b3012abba4_o.jpg

Im also not sure what to do with the back as I have a juwel black bumpy background siliconed in but they seem quite out of favour these days so i would welcome some comments when I post up some test layouts tomorrow

Equipment at the moment is;

Sera fil external 900 filter (juwel filter was remvoed at purchase time)
Sera internal co2 reactor (may be changing this for a rhinox 2000 or similar once funds allow)
Aquamagic drop checker (in the post)
Rio 125 with 18l of ADA Amazonia
2kg c02 FE with sera valve
Juwel 100w heater
3 * 18w T8 sera tubes (not sure if this will be enough for the HC?)


Im undecided what to do with the lighting at the moment as I find the inbuilt juwel lights a pain. Ive got an Arcadia luminaire 60cm 2*24W T5 from my other tank with a T5 compact (18w i think?) bolted onto it. Im not sure whether to shift this onto the rio but obviously the 60cm wont fit on the 80cm Rio. Any ideas on this?

Ideally i'd like to buy an 80cm 4*24W but cant afford it at the mo as the next pay packet will be going towards ferts and plants.

Lots of things have changed since I was last doing this through Allisons Aquarium (which sadly closed due to emigration). The Sera PH controller is going on ebay, the pump is being set to full flow and the ferts will be TPN+ for now (not sure if I can combine it with Sera florena which Ive got loads of?)

Any pointers on the above would be great, thanks :D


EDIT: tank after 5 months

3329806738_474183ba46_o.jpg
 
stuworrall said:
3 * 18w T8 sera tubes (not sure if this will be enough for the HC?)
Don't think this will be enough, the Rio is pretty high so light doesn'«t get to the gravel that easy, with 4x24w I have never managed to grow HC.
Good luck mate looking good ;)
 
The tank looks really promising!

On the lighting: if your budget affords it, you might want to consider buying a Juwel T5 "I bar" sold separately as a spare part for your tank in most shops that have Juwel stuff. You can than boost that with reflectors and add one or two additional T5-s with reflectors using mralgae's solution from PFK:

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/f ... hp?t=14735
 
LondonDragon said:
stuworrall said:
3 * 18w T8 sera tubes (not sure if this will be enough for the HC?)
Don't think this will be enough, the Rio is pretty high so light doesn'«t get to the gravel that easy, with 4x24w I have never managed to grow HC.
Good luck mate looking good ;)
thats not so good news :( I may have to have a re-think then but theres plenty of time for that. have you grown glosso ok in the rio as I definately want a carpet in there.

@keymaker: I kind of already so the same as whats in the link except its with 3*18w T8's with reflectors. I think for the cost of the high light ibar plus extra T5 ballast I'd go for a second hand 4*24w luminair.

just painting behind the tank at the moment as it got missed at the last decoration due to the tank being full :lol:
 
aaronnorth said:
Run your CO2 high to get HC started off, and also leave it floating in the tank for a few days.
ta for that, i was thinking of planting the carpet while there was no water in there to amke it easier. Ive got a 60cm tank going so could leave it floating in there as its got co2 running on it
 
old tank has been ripped out now and Ive been playing around with the schist rock and redmoor over the last few nights. Ill post some pics up later for some opinions on which way to go. While the main tank has been doign nothing ive also stripped out my 60cm clearseal "spare" and put the recovered bogwood, crypts and java fern from the main tank in. Ill post some pics of that too later but its going to be the holding tank for any plants I gradually buy to go in the main tank
 
Hey Stu, I have a rio 125 and I am using "hagen glomat twin unit 20W" with reflectors and balanced on the center brace along side the original juwel 18w light unit, I pinched the idea from one of George Farmers tanks and I am currently growing HC, Glosso and Hairgrass and all seems to be doing very well, the unit itself is £20 I got mine from here http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue/fluorescent-light-control-units.asp.

good luck mate, hope to see some pics soon.

Vito.
 
Vito said:
Hey Stu, I have a rio 125 and I am using "hagen glomat twin unit 20W" with reflectors and balanced on the center brace along side the original juwel 18w light unit, I pinched the idea from one of George Farmers tanks and I am currently growing HC, Glosso and Hairgrass and all seems to be doing very well, the unit itself is £20 I got mine from here http://www.aquatics-online.co.uk/catalogue/fluorescent-light-control-units.asp.

good luck mate, hope to see some pics soon.

Vito.
funny you should mention that as ive got one of those on my 60cm tank in the 36Watt version and was thinking of moving it to the Rio. That would leave the 60cm with an arcadia which has 2*24w T5's in which should be ok for a low light tank of that size (i think!)
 
stuworrall said:
thats not so good news :( I may have to have a re-think then but theres plenty of time for that. have you grown glosso ok in the rio as I definately want a carpet in there.
Glosso grows fine with 4x24w, so if you add a couple more tubes you should be fine, just attach them to the flaps if you don't want to get a luminaire ;)
 
sorry vito, i just realised ive got an interpet t5 compact and not a hagen. - http://fluidwebs.co.uk/just4/product.php?productid=824 it will probably still fit though so may try it out.

Paulo, its not that i dont want a 4*24w luminaire, just that I cant afford one! :) am still checking out your german ebay supplier for auctions but they only seem to be doing buy it nows at the moment for £110 :arghh:
 
ive been messing around with stones again tonight and came up with these although they are pretty much the same. any opinions and am I doing anything majorly wrong? Ill put some more pics up with the redmoor ive got tomorrow but im having trouble fitting this in with the rocks at the moment and getting them to "balance" together if you know what i mean.


1.
img36841sf6.jpg


2.
img36872ol6.jpg


3.
img36893ua5.jpg


4.
img36914lv5.jpg


its all the same rock by the way, it just has varying amounts colour from some being new and some from my old tank setup
 
Back
Top