Oscar's Juwel Rio 125 (30g)

[Oscar17]

This is my Juwel Rio 125 (30g) tank. Juwel is a German company that makes great tanks. The lights are incorporated into the canopy (x2 28w) T5 technology, this was an upgrade I purchased to replace the (x2 18w) T8's that came with the package. The package also came with heater and filter (heater goes inside filter). Bad part is the filter is a big black box that sits in the back corner and is hard to conceal. I used "Dupla Root" under the gravel and some Latrite balls here and there.

Water changes: 20% every 2 weeks.
Micro Fertz: (1/2 the manufacturer's recommended dose) with water changes.
Macro Fertz: Just the fish food.
EasyCarbo: liquid carbon substitute (1 or 2ml every day).







Plants: Anubias nana, Bacopa aquatica, Bacopa amplexicaulis, Bacopa monnieri, Bolbitis heudelotii, Cryptocoryne walkeri, Cryptocoryne wendtii, Cryptocoryne x willisii, Eleocharis acicularis, Christmas Moss and just got some HC (not in pics).

I've been able to keep this landscape for some time now and I'm going to be taking the tree down (left center) soon and also putting in some drift wood pieces that will change the landscape some. So, I wanted to post pictures before it changes.

Comments welcomed.

[Oscar17]

O.K. time for an update. Got tired of the Christmas moss tree, it kept releasing small particles every time I trimmed it. Also, it created a big shadow under the tree. So other than that, most of the hair grass has died off and the HC is holding in there. Here's a FTS:



Finally found some Anubias "petite".


Also picked up two small Echino (?tenellus) just to the right of the guppy. You can also see the HC (hope it survives).


Thanks for looking, let me know what you think.

Oscar

[Oscar17]

Just thought I'd post a resent FTS. HC has grown a bit, but there is some hair algae growing between it. Trying not to mess with the hair algae so that I don't uproot the HC, but things don't look good for the moment. Any advice here?

On a postive note the Echino. tenellus has shot out 2 or 3 runners each. This might end up being my carpet plant in the future..

[Oscar17]

Some changes: Got tired of seeing all that hair algae mixed in with the HC and took out most of it. Unfortunately, had to take out most of the HC. Some tiny patches of HC remain, but there is still some hair algae on the substrate.

I've had a lot of fish die do to overstocking and the summer heat. That's one mistake I hope never to repeat again. I'm now down to 28 male guppies and 30+ dwarf shrimp. All the fish are more active and their tails are growing again.

[topfrog007]

Tank looks good, are you using c02?

[Oscar17]

Thanks Topfrog! No, I am not using CO2. I use 1ml of "Easy Carbo" everyday (should be 2ml according to the instructions). Recently I held back on the Easy Carbo and stopped using it for about 2 weeks to see what would happen. My Bacopa Amplexicaulis got a bit leggy and I noticed some slower growth.