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First planted tank- Upper Rio ***** Low-tech Biotope. Suggestions please!

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#1 ·
Wood Hardwood Still life photography Natural material


I've kept fish for around ten years. Now, as a present to myself, I've decided to start a bigger tank- my first planted one.

My goal is to do a strict Rio ***** biotope. I've always loved the colorful schooling fish that come from this region, and the blackwater ecosystem has always intrigued me.

I'm on a budget, so a lot of this is DIY work. If you see room for improvement, please let me know!

Hardware:
55 gallon tank
Hagen Aquaclear 70 HOB filter
StealthPro 200W submersible heater
Custom DIY hood

Lighting:
DIY 2 X 28W T5NO wired in parallel. One is 6700K, one is 10,000. Fixed to hood lid, roughly 4" above the water, 22" above substrate. No reflectors, but inside of hood is painted with high gloss pure white paint. I don't have a PAR meter, but I guess I'm in the 'low' light category, so I'm trying to plan accordingly.

Display device Television accessory Flat panel display Machine Television


The wires are hidden in the white aluminum downspout that the T5's are attached to.

Shadow Still life photography Transparent material


Substrate:
Mineralized topsoil taken from my garden in the early spring. 6 wet/dry cycles, cuttlebone shavings, KCL powder, and pure gray clay from the creek. Capped with sand collected from the 'beach' on the river near my house in Annapolis. About 3" deep.

Water: aged rainwater, treated with Seachem Prime
78 degrees F.
ph - 6.0
kH - 1 degree
gH - 1 degree
TDS- dunno. Probably 0 or close to it.
Still cycling, so N compounds in flux. One week in, and NH3 has to be replaced every day to 5ppm. -N02 is spiking. I don't have a -N03 test kit, so I'm just waiting for -N02 to go away.

Wood Aquarium decor Freshwater aquarium Aquatic plant Cable


Aquarium decor Freshwater aquarium Pet supply Aquatic plant Fish supply


Hardscape: Sweetgum (?) stump taken from same river. No rocks in keeping with biotope.

Plants: Few so far, as I'm still in the middle of a fishless cycle. Amazon sword (Echinodorus amazonicus), Cabomba caroliniana, Cabomba furcata, and three bunches of Brazilian Micro Sword (Lilaeopsis brasiliensis). Please suggest more if they are from South America!

Livestock: None so far, due to ongoing cycling. I'm planning on a school of 20-30 Cardinal Tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi),10-15 Corydoras habrosus, a Farlowella vittata, and possibly some Otocinclus if they're biotope appropriate. I love my bulldog pleco (Chaetostoma sp.), but I'm not sure if he's acceptable. Suggestions are welcome!

Thanks everyone. I learned a great deal from plantedtank.net about how aquaria can be much more than just fish!
 
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#2 ·
Man, I would get so sidetracked watching the tank, then the tv, then the tank, then the tv.... I'd go crazy :) That's a pretty awesome set up though. The only thing that immediately stands out is the furcata in the dark corner, back right. That plant needs high light in order to grow without the nodes being like 3 inches apart. Given the low light you are producing I would do everything I can in order to give them the most of what you have.
 
#10 ·
Agreed sevenyearnight. That'll be the first thing I do.

+1 for hiding the heater, I'd also suggest a background to hide the cords and such (black is a good choice, brown might look ok for a biotope like this)

I'm assuming the brick is in there to act a weight to hold the wood down? I'd either hide it behind some plants or get rid of it as soon as you are able.
I tried a brown and a beige background, but they really made the tank seem less deep horizontally. I'll either go with white, black, or none- in which case I'll hide all the cords.

Yeah, the wood wasn't fully waterlogged. I live close to a tidal river that's tributary to the Chesapeake Bay. This particular stump was towards the high tide line.

I love the big piece of wood! It gives the "sunken tree" feel that characterizes the deep blackwater portions of the river. (The smaller one would look better at more of an angle)

Here are a few comments regarding a "strict" Rio ***** biotope. Disregard them if you're fine with a "loose" one. ;)

Amazon swords aren't actually found in what people think of as the Amazon River. Crazy, I know.

In fact, while you might find a bit of Cabomba, submerged plants will be very rare in this biotope. Consider some South American floating plants instead, like Salvinia, frogbit, giant duckweed, or red root floater. Water hyacinth would also work, if you want something a bit more robust. My recommendation is to go with Salvinia and ignore submersed plants entirely. Floating plants will also be right under your lights, which means even your T5NOs will grow them nicely. Heck, double-strip T8s from Home Depot would.

Don't bother with any carpeting plants at all. You don't have the lighting for it, and they're not biotope-appropriate.

If you're cool with your giant awesome piece of driftwood being slowly nibbled away, consider a royal pleco - they chew driftwood to get at the tasty bacterial colonies inside, and they may even keep your glass clean in the process.

A school of cardinals would look fantastic in this tank. Other tetra species could work too, but cardinals are classic for a reason.

Substrate: yours will work, but some clean white river sand would be best, as the Rio ***** is known for fine white sand. Since I've just advocated removing all your substrate, I'll point out that for moving substrate out of a tank, nothing beats a small shop vac. You might add some dried oak or katappa ("indian almond") leaves to the bottom to improve the look. Skip cory cats - very few are found in blackwater habitats.

Those are my suggestions - good luck!
Thanks Kuni! BTW, which direction should I tilt the secondary piece of wood. Top to the left or right?

I actually got a few Salvinia leaves, probably attached to the Cabomba. I'm going to try to leave the submersed veg for now, and restrict the Salvinia to the left side where there's no SAV.

Won't a Farlowella be equivalent to a royal pleco?

I'm totally in agreement about the cardinals!

That's not true, we caught at least 3 or 4 species in the Rio San Martin, including tons of C. hastatus. At night they'd be schooling in the thousands in the shallows.
Laura, did you see any C. habrosus, or would C. hastatus be more biotope appropriate?


So it might be cheating, but there's a distributary of the Orinoco that connects it with the Rio *****. It's called the Casiquiare Canal. I just spoke to one of our visiting scientists from Venezuela, and she was pretty sure that the Casiquiare had a good mix of flora and fauna from both watersheds. Can anyone speak to this? A 'Casiquiare Biotope' would give me a little more leeway into plants and livestock.

Thanks all!
 
#4 ·
+1 for hiding the heater, I'd also suggest a background to hide the cords and such (black is a good choice, brown might look ok for a biotope like this)

I'm assuming the brick is in there to act a weight to hold the wood down? I'd either hide it behind some plants or get rid of it as soon as you are able.
 
#5 ·
Looks like the brick is holding the wood down. I think it's okay to stay in there as it will also prop the wood up on the angel that he has going.

Depending on the substrate I would probably make the area under the brick complete inert though (use just plane gravel under it) to avoid dead spots in the substrate.

After the plants come in the brick should be well hidden, I mean he has a sword there now so that brick is gonna get hidden, haha.
 
#6 ·
I love the big piece of wood! It gives the "sunken tree" feel that characterizes the deep blackwater portions of the river. (The smaller one would look better at more of an angle)

Here are a few comments regarding a "strict" Rio ***** biotope. Disregard them if you're fine with a "loose" one. ;)

Amazon swords aren't actually found in what people think of as the Amazon River. Crazy, I know.

In fact, while you might find a bit of Cabomba, submerged plants will be very rare in this biotope. Consider some South American floating plants instead, like Salvinia, frogbit, giant duckweed, or red root floater. Water hyacinth would also work, if you want something a bit more robust. My recommendation is to go with Salvinia and ignore submersed plants entirely. Floating plants will also be right under your lights, which means even your T5NOs will grow them nicely. Heck, double-strip T8s from Home Depot would.

Don't bother with any carpeting plants at all. You don't have the lighting for it, and they're not biotope-appropriate.

If you're cool with your giant awesome piece of driftwood being slowly nibbled away, consider a royal pleco - they chew driftwood to get at the tasty bacterial colonies inside, and they may even keep your glass clean in the process.

A school of cardinals would look fantastic in this tank. Other tetra species could work too, but cardinals are classic for a reason.

Substrate: yours will work, but some clean white river sand would be best, as the Rio ***** is known for fine white sand. Since I've just advocated removing all your substrate, I'll point out that for moving substrate out of a tank, nothing beats a small shop vac. You might add some dried oak or katappa ("indian almond") leaves to the bottom to improve the look. Skip cory cats - very few are found in blackwater habitats.

Those are my suggestions - good luck!
 
#14 ·
Thanks Kuni! BTW, which direction should I tilt the secondary piece of wood. Top to the left or right?

I actually got a few Salvinia leaves, probably attached to the Cabomba. I'm going to try to leave the submersed veg for now, and restrict the Salvinia to the left side where there's no SAV.

Won't a Farlowella be equivalent to a royal pleco?

I'm totally in agreement about the cardinals!
I'd tilt the wood left, but just see what looks good. You might try have the pieces of driftwood cross visually at the golden ratio point on the right side of the tank.

I wouldn't remove the submersed plants, but blackwater + T5NO lights means they probably won't get enough light, just like in nature.

My understanding is that Farlowella are in shallower fast-flowing water, in the middle of twiggy driftwood and overhanging branches. Royals and their close relatives are sort of unique in that they prefer hanging out in big driftwood snags to eat the bacteria growing on and in the wood. Your big pieces of driftwood suggest a deeper, siltier area of the river, so I think a royal would be more appropriate, but again, it's a question of how far to take the biotope, and how close is "good enough". :)
 
#16 ·
I'm probably going to keep the submersed plants (until they melt). I'll do the Salvinia on the left side, and maybe move it to the right side if the other plants die.

I'm worried about the potential size of a royal pleco. I want to do a strict biotope. Mongabay has Farlowella as a Rio ***** species.

I like the idea of crossing the driftwoods at the 'golden ratio'. I'll try that for my next few pics. Thanks Kuni!
 
#17 ·
I have nothing to add, as I am too new at this myself - I just wanted to say that that is the most magnificent piece of driftwood I've ever seen in a tank!
 
#18 ·
Tank is cycled today! Adding the first of my cleaning-crew (Chaetostoma). I will post more pics in a couple weeks when the stocking is complete.



Thanks driftwood hunter! It took me two days of paddling around the river to find the right stump. BTW, you ought to have nice driftwood in the New River. My folks live in Floyd, and all my cousins seem to go to Tech. Cheers!
 
#19 ·
Five days without electricity, compliments of Hurricane Irene. Once the power came back on, all the fish, inverts, and plants were still alive and kicking!

Current stock:
9 Black tetras
2 Sunburst platys
6 Ghost shrimp
3 Black-fingered mud crabs
1 barnacle
 
#20 ·
Added 7 Otos and 20 Pygmy Corys last weekend. So far everyone's doing fine. However, now I'm faced with another problem. My Rio ***** biotope has become a Rio Madeira biotope! Does anyone have any experience with Kerri Blue tetras? My LFS has some, and they're from the right area.
 
#24 ·
I'm in the process of beginning fert dosing to get rid of some BGA. I ordered some KNO3 (currently 0ppm). Once this is done, I'll post some new pics of my livestock and plants.

Currently:
9 Black skirt tetras (they've spawned 4X in the last 1.5 months, and I have 50-75 fry growing out), 15-18 pygmy corys, 6 otos, 1 rubbernose pleco, 8 ghost shrimp (5 berried), 3 black-fingered mud crabs, and ~40 Malaysian trumpet snails.

Current params:
all rainwater
0,0,0 (need to dose NO3)
kH 3deg, GH 3 deg
76deg F

I just started feeding this tank with the leftover BBS I use for my tetra fry. I think my pygmy cories should spawn fairly soon!
 
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