Journal 100x40x40 Nivliw's Planted Tank

[nivliw]

Hello everyone,


Today I finally moved from my old aquarium, a Juwel Rio 180, to a new optiwhite tank built by Genesi Acquari.


I decided to make this change for two main reasons. First, I never really liked the aesthetics of the Rio 180, and its plastic frame made it somewhat limiting when it came to using lily pipes and other cleaner-looking hardware. Second, I had been dealing with persistent staghorn algae issues, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to start fresh.


For reference, this was the Rio 180 before I dismantled it today:





Most of the plants in this new setup were taken from the Rio 180 before dismantling it today. I trimmed healthy tops from the old plants and replanted them in this aquarium, hoping they will establish themselves properly and grow much better under the new conditions.


And here is the new tank on day one:

Tank Specifications​

• Tank: Optiwhite aquarium by Genesi Acquari
• Dimensions: 100 × 40 × 40 cm
• Volume: 160 L
• Lighting: Chihiros WRGB II Pro 90
• CO₂: Inline diffuser with refillable cylinder
• Filter: Oase BioMaster 2 Thermo 600
• Substrate: Dennerle Black Gravel 1–2 mm
• 
  
• Additional equipment:
• OaseSkim (which I will likely remove soon and replace with glass lily pipes featuring an integrated surface skimmer),
• Neo Flow Reliever
• Hanna's digital testers For no3 po4 and fe

Water Parameters​

• pH: 7.1 → 5.8 with CO₂ running
• KH: 0
• GH: 5–7
• TDS : 120 ppm
• NO₃: 6–7 ppm
• PO₄: 1.25 ppm

Setup Date​

June 3rd, 2026


Some additional shots of the new setup:

Questions​

What do you think of the setup so far?


At the moment, the Monte Carlo looks a bit "lifted" rather than hugging the substrate. Is this something I should be concerned about, or will it naturally settle and develop into a proper carpet as it adapts and produces new growth?


As mentioned above, most of the plants were transferred from the Rio 180 that I dismantled today, so they may need some time to adjust.


Thank you all for stopping by, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions!

 

[Unexpected]

Following.

 

[CincyScaper]

Looks great, what is your PAR at substrate ? Is this an active substrate ?

 

[nivliw]

Looks great, what is your PAR at substrate ? Is this an active substrate ?

Thank you!


Unfortunately, I don’t know the PAR values at the substrate since I don’t have a PAR meter.


Before the move, I was running the light at 75% intensity over the old tank. Since replanting everything into this new setup today, I’ve reduced it to 60% to give the plants some time to adapt and to hopefully avoid encouraging algae while the tank settles in.


The substrate is inert. I’m using Dennerle Crystal Quartz Black Diamond (black quartz gravel), so there are no nutrients provided by the substrate itself. All nutrients will be supplied through the water column.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

How do you dose macros/micros?

 

[nivliw]

How do you dose macros/micros?

At the moment, I’m still fine-tuning the dosing strategy.


For macros, my main goal is to keep nitrate levels stable throughout the week by dosing only what the plants actually consume on a daily basis. Right now, NO₃ is sitting around 6–7 ppm, but I’d like to gradually bring it up and maintain it closer to 10 ppm.


As for micros, I’m currently dosing around 0.30 ppm Fe per week.


One of the things I’m curious to test is whether keeping micros a bit lower will help me reduce algae issues on Alternanthera reineckii ‘Mini’. In previous setups, it always seemed to be one of the first plants to attract algae, so I’m interested to see how it responds under slightly leaner micronutrient dosing while still maintaining healthy growth.

 

[Naturescapes_Rocco]

What micros are you using?

 

[nivliw]

What micros are you using?

Masterline 1