Juwel Rekord 96 *Salt Water Setup*

[Neil_Orr83]

Hi all! I just discovered this forum yesterday and reading some of the other posts you guys seem to really know what you are talking about, so I thought I would ask for some advice.

I have just bought a used Juwel Rekord 96 aquarium and really want to have a salt water setup. The tank is 96 litres (25US Gallons) and comes with standard lighting, heater, filter and airpump. Dimensions are 81cm long X 36cm deep X 46cm high. Ideally I would love to have some live rock, coral, clownfish and a couple of other fish (undecided yet).

I understand that this setup would require a lot of hard work and patience, which I am more than willing to do. I would really appreciate some advice on what additional hardware I would need for this to work, such as a protein skimmer etc.

Thanks for reading my post.

 

[Chac]

Hi there Neil

Not completely sure if I have already spoken to U, but if not my suggestions are as follows

Skimmer : - BIOSTAR FLOTOR - really good Skimmer for you size of tank

You will also need -
Hydrometer or Refractometer
Salifert (Best IMO) Test Kits (Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, pH, Phosphate)
RO Unit or buy RO water from LFS

I would add say between 15 - 18kg of Live rock to this tank (depending on Aquascaping)

Have a read of this post (sorry I am being lazy) that I replied to this has links to a lot of products that you may need, this will also give you an explination of the benifits of Live Rock

Read Me

 

[Neil_Orr83]

Thanks for the reply, really appreciate your advice. I have been doing as much research as I can over the past week so that I can make this a success.

Do I continue to run the normal Juwel filter system alongside the skimmer? I was going to buy new fine and coarse sponges and also a nitrate sponge to use, additional filtration couldn't hurt could it?

I have found a really good marine fish shop not far from where I live. They sell Live rock from Brazil @ £10.95/kilo and from Fiji @ £9.95/kilo. They also sell loads of different types of coral.

 

[Aussie_Star]

I have found a really good marine fish shop not far from where I live. They sell Live rock from Brazil @ £10.95/kilo and from Fiji @ £9.95/kilo. They also sell loads of different types of coral.

in luck then, make sure you get heaps of pictures for us

 

[Chac]

Do I continue to run the normal Juwel filter system alongside the skimmer?


IMO I would remove the internal filter as they are rubbish, a hot knife should cut throught the silicone holding it to the tank

I would use only the Live Rock for Biological Filtration it is the best, most natural & TBH easist way of maintaining a reef or FO tank

 

[maestro]

You will need to change the lighting for a marine bulb which wil lbe fine for fish only but when it comes to getting corals you need more powerfull lighting, something like T5 power compacts, 2x55 watt starter unit and bulbs which works out around £60 I think so not overly expensive,

 

[bryce]

Hi,

Do I continue to run the normal Juwel filter system alongside the skimmer?

I have a Juwel Rio 180 tank and have kept the orginal filter but have no medium in the enclosure, just the heater and powerhead. I also have 2 external filters and 4 other powerheads for movement.

Really it's your choice, I have kept mine (but not as a filter) just because it's easier and keeps the heater out of harms way. I have stacks of live rock but I think you will need some kind of mechanical filteration to work alongside this, if you have the outside space an external filter will take up little space in your tank and allow more room for "pretty" things! But you will need a couple of powerheads in there somewhere.

You will need to change the lights to T5 min. if you are intending keeping anything other than fish. I have just bought an Arcadia Luminare light unit and the difference is amazing.

Good luck!

Bryce.

 

[Chac]

something like T5 power compacts, 2x55 watt starter unit and bulbs which works out around £60 I think so not overly expensive

Do I continue to run the normal Juwel filter system alongside the skimmer?

I have a Juwel Rio 180 tank and have kept the orginal filter but have no medium in the enclosure, just the heater and powerhead. I also have 2 external filters and 4 other powerheads for movement.

Both Meastro & Bryce make good points, the Internal filter would make a good home for any heater and powerheads therby keeping the heaters safe & the powerheads away from sight.

Meastro Suggested T5 Power Compact lights - If you check out the Link I added you will find a UK supplier of these lights

You also said "additional filtration couldn't hurt could it?"

IMO opinion the answer to this is YES, I persoanlly would only use Live Rock as Biological Filtration, IMO you wouldnt need any other Bio Filtration as long as you have the right amount of LR in the tank

 

[Neil_Orr83]

Thank you so much for all of your advice, I am really exited about setting up my saltwater aquarium. It is going to take me a while as I can't afford to buy all the equipment at once. My girlfriend insists we must save every penny for a deposit to buy a house, she doesn't share my enthusiasm in fish

I think I will keep my filter but remove the media so that it can still distribute the heated water around the tank. I am also going to buy as much live rock as possible and place powerheads around (pointing at the LR) to filter the water.

Cheers for all the help guys

 

[Chac]

Your powerheads dont need to be pointed directly at the LR (They may strip it of Life), they just need to pass water continually over the rock

You will need a minimum (IMO) of about 2000lph (20x tank volume)

& 0.5kg of Live Rock per gallon of water (so going on my thought that you are UK based I would say about 10 - 12 KG of Live Rock

 

[treeboa]

only new to this forum, i used to run a rio 96 as a marine, the big problem is the hood does not lend itself to adding lights or a hang on skimmer, i used the internal filter without problem and i still do with the 180 i have, i also used a big external filter with ceramic rock only as a filter ( plus the live rock in the tank), the one advantage of the jewel is you can hide the heater and one power head, also you can add a bag of carbon with ease, i had a 10k corallite in there in place of the std tube and also managed to hang a 36 watt daylight blue power compact, personally i would advise if your going to use the tank then consider building your own hood so you can easily add the lighting

 

[j0rzeh]

I run a rekord 96 at my shop as a SW setup and they do quite well with afew mods even as a reef tank, I will list mods we made to the tank to make it very easy to keep your marine alive with little problems and fewer water changes.

First mods is mainly for reef tanks is the lights
We use 2 interpet T5 twin (36W - use the 55W if you can afford the extra cash for the starters) outlet starters fitted with a 1 bule moon and one triplus light on each starter with modded jewel reflectors bare is mind you might have to buy another hood or mod the hood to get the lights to fit.

Next mod is the filter we left ours as it was only with marina carbon bag inbetween the course and fine sponges in the filter to keep your KH up

Next mod was an external filter we use a fuvel 404 reason is the water is filtered very well and it also keep alot of movment in the tank which is ideal for reefs pls not this is fed to a 25 W UV before being returned to the tank via spray bars

Protain skimming
Prizm Deluxe Protein Skimmer with the surface skimming since the tank is very small you will want this minium for the tank, as you will not be ableto rely on the volume of water to dilute the nirate (NO3), however the genrel rule is for skimming is have a PS that does 4 times the water amount of the tank so the rekord is 96L this skimmer does upto 400L perfect...

sera 275R air pump mainly for affect but also to help mix the salt into the water on first setup and put oxygen into the water.

finally use a RO water and a good salt mix never use tap water in your marine tank even if you have used a water condationer PO4 can wipe of inverts in your tank so invest in a RO unit (around 90 quid) or buy RO water from your local shop,

Use poly filters thease things are handy they soke up all types of evil crap from the water buy it in a sheet and cut it into strips leave it 2 days then add another strip untill you remove all the copper, alu ,etc.. from the water ur RO wont allways get every thing out and its handy to keep one in at all times as peace of mind

Good thing about this setup if you ever upgrade the tank u can the lights will do upto a 200 Ltr tank with little problems or no problems and you can allways add more lights

I hope i have helped you out.