Staffylover's Two 200s (Pantanal/Catfish kingdom)

[Staffylover]

Time for an update on my Rio180 Pantanal theme tank
I am not very good at posting general updates but if I change something it reminds me to do it, in this case I changed the whole tank!

Firstly I like Jewel tanks and filters and I have enjoyed this tank, I like all the fish but kept think the Hatchet fish need more space, plus I would like to get more Festivums,
Then I have had a lot of problems loosing fish in the filter, 3 before I managed to get a proper filer guard on it then a further 2 until I worked out it was too easy for them to jump over so dropped the water level, those were all Rathbuni Tetra and only 2 weeks ago a Hatchet fish which must have been spooked into jumping over,
I was just going to change the filter for an external, but I was out browsing as you do and fell in love with the Fluval Sienna, I had not considered them before as I did not like the colour but now they have a grey colour that I quite like, also the drilled base was a little off putting but only because I've never had one before, all marine tanks have drilled bases for sumps I believe? Anyway I did it, and today I set it up.
Here is a pic of the Jewel tank just before change over

[Staffylover]

Well it was essentially a straight swop using same sand, plants and fish though I bought a nice new piece of wood for it,
The fish were in a 20l holding tank for a few days and that worked well, took the stress out of it as I could take a few days if needed
The under tank easy fit system was as bad as I feared it took me ages, it was easy as in not complicated but physically quite difficult, I don't have much strength in my fingers so found the under tank connections quite hard, now it's all done though I expect it will be easy to maintain.
Once that hard stuff was out of the way the rest was easy, spent some time trying to get the hardscape right I took some pictures but the reflections were awful



Once I was happy I put a thin layer of sand down under the wood so they didn't scratch the base, then filled behind with some bags of gravel that I've had sitting about from a previous tank, that gave it some height, then I added some bags of compost, normally I use pond compost but someone recommended John Innes no1 so I am giving it a try, then I reused my sand and added on a little more to cover the extra ground, added my plants, filled her up and that was it good to go, it was pretty cloudy but here is a couple of pics straight after the set up,

[Staffylover]

This one was taken a few hours later it is starting to clear so I am hopeful it will settle on it's own



It has been great to see the Hatchet fish using the extra floor space, they also appreciate the extra flow from the filter, it's nice to see




Picture of my Corydoras and Festivum out exploring







I will post a few more pics in a few days once the tank has settled, but at the moment I am super happy with it, I sit on the sofa directly opposite so it's pretty distracting

[Sarah]

Once cleared that's going to look great. (Your cories look huge!)

[Unalome]

Look forward to seeing it once cleared! Your festivum is stunning!

[Staffylover]

@Sarah They are not as big as it looks on the picture, I was zoomed in They are about the same size as my Emeralds (splendens) but not as chunky they are quite slender fish, tank is still cloudy and they are not helping digging about in all the fresh sand! might have to deploy some fine filter floss after all.

@Unalome Thanks! I am on the look out for more but I don't see them often and when I do they don't look anything like as nice so it's difficult, they really don't seem very popular, at least now I have a tank big enough so if I do see some I can grab them

[Staffylover]

Quick update on the Fluval tank, all fish are happy and recently I had to transfer some Glowlight Tetra from the 100l they look good in here, but BBA suddenly gone a bit mad, it's increased in all my tanks which I think is a combination of low sun and changing from EI ferts to a complete brand, also it does not help that I have the tank lights on all evening, this tank is by far the worst affected, I have cut back on the ferts and am trying to cut back on the tank lights, still the fish are happy and that is the main thing

[Staffylover]

Short video on the Pantanal inspired tank, it's still settling in really but managed to find some Ulreyi Tetra I was happy and frankly surprised about this I think they look amazing, what a shame they are so hard to find, I hope they do well, I've had them about 5wks, they seem to be enjoying things so far,
I rehomed the Ancistrus as I got fed up with their plant munching tendencies far worse than my standard BN, I have put in my 2 L012 pleco instead, these are not strictly correct but they are lovely pleco's and needed more space, I am undecided on the Phantoms lovely fish but Widows might be a better fit for this larger tank, I will see if the new Tetra encourage them out more, @Stephen thought you might like to see this as I think you suggested Ulreyi Tetra for this tank some time ago

[Stephen]

Hemigrammus ulreyi are a lovely, peaceful tetra. Quite difficult to find though, so well done.

[Staffylover]

Bit of an update pic on the Pantanal tank, the stem plants have gone a bit mad which is great, I am trying some Echinodorus as they look so good but they normally require more ferts than I can provide, I do use root tabs this is not normally enough, worth a try though, the hair algae is also on a mission to take over I did have this issue with the last tank as it's in front of a window, but eventually I got it under control, hopefully it will be the same with this one,
The other 200 is ticking along, I must take an update pic later then I will update the thread again