Eco 100 Tank - 200L Project

Started planting yesterday (saturday)

Added the following:

Echinodorus mix
Alternanthera cardinalis
Bolbitus heudelotii
Pogostemon helferi
Anubias - (cutting from my other tank)

Im looking to add some moss and crispus when the lfs gets them back in stock

Looks great so far. I like the big and bold decor.

Scale wise you are identical to my own tank, and I note you've gone for an over-sized AquaManta 300 instead of the lesser 200, which is what I have on mine.  Displacement with my own decor is about 20ltr making the Roma 200 a 180ltr max, so still plenty of capacity.  Looking at the much bigger rock and very large wood pieces I'm going to say you'll be a lot closer to 150ltr. Have you measured the actual capacity with the decor in the tank to give you a baseline?

The drift wood is fairly substantia

Too right, I haven't seen anything that big for sale up my local area. Looks jolly heavy.

What style/bio type aquarium have you done with your Roma 200?

My thread is in the Plants section, last week's post is right here [click] with pics. Reminds me, I have to update it tonight too.

The drift wood was from maidenhead aquatics, they had alot of substantial sized pieces. I tried it stood upright (was too tall!) and up at an angle however it just didnt look right. The plants and moss (to be added) will hopefully soften the look . Had a look at your tank TigzFish and i like what you have done on the left corner, what rock type is that?

I use Maidenhead myself (Standish near Wigan), love the place.  They do have some wood, but I haven't seen anything that big, it looks fab.  Glad you like the left corner, that's the theme I'm changing too bit by bit.  The large rock is Ocean Rock, and by heck it's heavy 

That's looking really good!

Resa
 

The brown algae is usually diatoms. The reason it is common in new tanks is ammonia. Whether it's a fish-in or fishless, there is more ammonia in the water during cycling and this encourages diatoms.
Though you haven't menntioned doing either type of cycle yet...........?

Questions - have you moved the noodles into the new tank yet and if you have, are you feeding the bacteria on the noodles with ammonia/fish food?

It's just that you said

I have used some ceramic noodles

implying you've already put them in there, and

Im planning on doing a fish-in cycle

implying you haven't actually got any fish yet.

If there is no source of ammonia in the new tank, if you have moved the noodles the bacteria on them will starve. The noodles should be put in the new filter at the same time you get the first fish.

The other thing to bear in mind that even with mature media, you'll only be able to get a few fish. If you move a quarter of the media from the existing tank, you should get fish equal to just under a quarter of the amount of fish in the mature tank (just under a quarter because there will also be a tiny amount of bacteria on the other surfaces of the mature tank so a quarter of the media will have a bit less than a quarter of the bacteria population)

Abit slow due to the bank holiday weekend however here is an updated pic of my aquarium so far. Went out on Sunday 26th and bought some more plants (far left) as well as some crypt (very young plant far right).

I also decided to move my 4 buenos aires tetra's from the small tank in the kitchen to this tank to help cycle t rather than buy new young fish. They seem very happy with the new tank size

Still a little brown algae on some of the swords and rocks however just brushing it off, doing regular waterchanges, reduced the hours the lighting is on and monitoring the water quality with an API Freshwater Master Test kit: tested today -  Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20ppm

Hey Colin,

Thanks for the reply I had a look at the two fish suggestions and also noticed the Silver Hatchet (south america) as a possibility? Do you know if these guys shoal or do their own thing?

I didn't have to worry about re-decorating, just had to relocate the computer desk to another room to make space for the tank!

Hey Colin,

Thanks for the reply I had a look at the two fish suggestions and also noticed the Silver Hatchet (south america) as a possibility? Do you know if these guys shoal or do their own thing?

I didn't have to worry about re-decorating, just had to relocate the computer desk to another room to make space for the tank!

Good lookin' fish!

The hatchet fish are shoalers - and very good at jumping out of the tank, too. They had some at my local MA as well as Marbled Hatchetfish (link) which I think looked cooler.