Can You Upgrade Astock Tank?

[robodan]

I have had a juwel rekord 96 tank now for about 8 months and it has been a brilliant buy.

Just wondering as i feel like i would like a stronger flow of water at the top of the tank and the pump seems a little week now. I have no air pump in the tank at all. Are they a worthy purchase or are they purely for astheics?

Also would it be worth the large expense of going with a external flter? and if so how do you create water movement on the top of the tank?

I also would like a stronger light i think, as I have a fair amount of plants now and have room for more and want more. Some plants go yellow fom time to time and i presue the standard light tube is not the best.

Would you be able to change the hood at all to accomodate to lights maybe, say one bright day light and a soft moon type light for night time viewing?

Thanks for your help in advance, this place was great when i was setting up.

 

[shroob]

I have had a juwel rekord 96 tank now for about 8 months and it has been a brilliant buy.

Just wondering as i feel like i would like a stronger flow of water at the top of the tank and the pump seems a little week now. I have no air pump in the tank at all. Are they a worthy purchase or are they purely for astheics?

As long as there is some surface movement of the water, usually from the filters outflow, then there's no real need for an airpump. Just point the Juwels pump 'nozzle' towards the surface and that will provide enough oxygen for the fish.

Also would it be worth the large expense of going with a external flter? and if so how do you create water movement on the top of the tank?

Depends on the fish you stock and your maintinance regime, if its lightly stocked with small fish then I don't see a need to get an external filter if the one you have can cope. If you did get an external then to create water movement have the return hose at surface level or have a spray bar to agitate the water.

I also would like a stronger light i think, as I have a fair amount of plants now and have room for more and want more. Some plants go yellow fom time to time and i presue the standard light tube is not the best.

Would you be able to change the hood at all to accomodate to lights maybe, say one bright day light and a soft moon type light for night time viewing?

I'm not sure about the last two, not into plants myself so I'll let someone else answer this, though if I remember there might have been a thread in the DIY or planted section where someone added more lights to a smaller Juwel tank.

Thanks for your help in advance, this place was great when i was setting up.

 

[robodan]

There is surface movement on the water surface so i suppose there is no need to change the pump, it is a medium stocked tank i would say and the filtration system is coping well.

Only change i may make then is the lghting, dont fancy doing any DIY on it so maybe get a higher wattage tube??

 

[OldMan47]

Each fluorescent fixture will only accept one size bulb. No matter who makes the bulb, it will be the same wattage in the same length. What that means is that if you want to upgrade lighting you do need to either get a new fixture, do a DIY or get a lighting upgrade kit. What a DIY or upgrade kit will do is let you get a different kind of light that fits into the same space. What are called compact fluorescents are much brighter for their size than the straight tube type. A typical T-8 or T-12 bulb will be about 10W per foot but a 55W compact fluorescent is only 22 inches long including the end cap that they attach to. They are small diameter U shaped bulbs so can fit more into less space. The thing to watch out for is that the higher wattage means more heat under your hood which of course requires better venting of the hood to remove the heat build up.

 

[Shrimper]

As it is a Jewel tank there may be a couple of off the shelf options to upgrade it.

Jewel Internal filter boxes only come in 3 (i think) sizes but have different power pumps depending on the size of the tank. I don't know if there is a more powerful pump to fit your exact filter as i've not looked but there is for mine

Depending on how old the tank is it will either have T8 lighting on the older ones or T5 lighting on the newer ones. The T5's are more powerful, giving approx 30% more light than the T8's. You can buy a new light fitting to replace your existing one that will swap really easily.

Have you got reflectors fitted to the bulbs? These are a really cheap way to make the lights a bit brighter.

I can't think of anything else at the moment...