Recent content by johnhutch2000

Well seeing as I can't find a genuinely negative review I've ordered 2 of them. No one seems to have drawn a conclusion on them at the minute. Hopefully tomorrow or Saturday I'll be able to say what they look like first hand. If they're not suitable for plant growing I will find out the hard way...

Having been looking today I think I'm going to try 2 of these units: Arcadia Eco-Aqua LED Tropical 19w   The 19watt version looks like the best fit for a Rio 180. I'm going to do some review searching but so far these appear to be the most suitable direct replacement. The main reason is the...

I'm not currently CO2 dosing or any daily fertiliser additions but the latter due to a relatively new substrate that reckons for 6 months you shouldn't dose ferts. I digress.. The T5 option is certainly much cheaper, I can get a full T5 hood and bulbs for the price of a single LED T8...

Totally by coincidence I am also looking for LED lighting for a planted Rio 180 tank. (My T8 hood just died for some reason, old I guess). I'm about to go ask Steveo what he can do.

Yep lots of live plants in my tank. Ideally I'd like to go for LED's for the power consumption but I could go T5 if it would look better. Ideally I'm after keeping the original style hood (where it sits inside the tank top). I can spring for expensive LED's if they are going to be the best...

Hiya folks, I'm looking for some opinions, advice on replacing my Juwel 180 92cm T8 bulb lid lights. They've literally died on me today. I've tried new spare bulbs, fuses and the switch and nothing. So I want to change up to something better.   Has anyone got any good LED or T5 replacement...

Hiya, thanks for the heads up. I'll remove the Dracnea as you say. Do you know what species it is as you seemed to know it :) If I know I'll try to accomodate it as a terrestrial plant instead and see if it will survive the transition. Cheers, J

Hiya, yeah I was wrong, it isn't limestone or sandstone apparently it's something called Derbyshire grit stone. No clue what it does to water quality so will have to do water tests and see what the outcome is. If the chemistrys all clear in a week or two Ill add some of my mollies as a test...

Hi well it's all planted up now. What do you think? Still time for adjustments. Bare in mind a black background is going on it too. :) Just after planting After 2 days + a few more plants Hope these work ;)

Done, thanks. And planted up too now. Will upload some photos when on the right kind of gadget. Now time to play the waiting game...

That I shall do, I'm aiming to start planting today or tomorrow but just borrowed a canister filter temporarily until I move my lot out and change back to my filter. Problem is it used to be n a reef so it's going to need so much cleaning and I soaking until its free of all the salt. Hey ho...

Sorry didn't see this before. That 5 foot looks really nice! I agree with you, now I've seen the qualit difference between Fluval 125 tank I have and the Juwel I'd never buy another brand I think. Unless I went for a mental 400 gallon or something ;) Maybe when I win the lottery!

Thanks Fanatic, I might give the left hand side a re-arrange if you think it'll get buried. (no point in having em if you can't see them!) Maybe pull them forward a bit, what would you do? I thought about that, but now it's leant on the one behind it feels pretty solid. I'll see what it feels...

Yeah I was a bit concerned about the the tall rock on the right. If that fell over I think there would be a small leakage problem. It seems sturdy at the moment though I hope that roots of plants will hold the subtrate together a bit too when it's planted up. Fingers crossed.

Just so I don't double post anything. This is a seperate thread I started to try and get opinions on the current layout. It has pictures of the current state of the tank if anyone is interested: Hardscape placement so far