Juwel Rio

[Smalleyboy]

Ok guys, first ever post.

I kept tropicals (community tank) for a few years but had to give it up because of several house moves. Anyway planning on getting back into it and I am thinking of buying a Juwel Rio 300 which is quite a bit larger than my previous tank. Just wondered if anybody had any strong views on the Juwel Rio which I should consider before parting with the cash?

 

[loachy]

Hey

I'm thinking of getting that tank too, i really wanted the rio 400 but it would look to big in the lounge.

I don't know what price you have found it for but check out special offers on the link below.

goldfishbowl

 

[Galaxy]

Thanks for that!!

Looks like I paid £25 too much for my Juwel Vision 180 a couple of months ago!!

 

[Little cherub]

Loachy-
Have you been to the gold fish bowl i live in oxfordshire and am looking for a good supplier and have been unable to find any i really like, but i've read the web site and they seem really good. If you have been there could you let me know what they are like. I'd really apreciate it if you could.

 

[loachy]

Loachy-
Have you been to the gold fish bowl i live in oxfordshire and am looking for a good supplier and have been unable to find any i really like, but i've read the web site and they seem really good. If you have been there could you let me know what they are like. I'd really apreciate it if you could.

I visited the goldfishbowl a couple of weekends ago; first up i was surprised about how easy it was to park. They have space right outside the shop!!!!

The only way to describe the shop is very big with lots and lots and lots of fish. I would say that they probably have more saltwater fish than freshwater however there freshwater range is still huge.

They also had an excellent range of books, tanks, lights filters etc etc.

The occelot ray looks mad and has a mad price tag aswell - £800

They had a number of what i think were amazonian cichlids retailing at £1500 ea.

The only thing i didn't see were zebra plecos; i might have missed them - there was just sooo much to look at. Definately worth a trip just to look at the fish.

Once i found the cash i'll be there to by my rio 300 - yipee

Little Cherub - Let me know what you think; if you visit.

 

[Smalleyboy]

The prices quoted by Goldfish bowl are very good. Unfortunately as I live in northern ireland there are only 2 or 3 shops over here stocking Juwel so I will be paying at least £100 more. The Rio 300 comes with a single powerhead and I was wondering is this is enough given the size of the tank although based on Juwels figures it turns over the whole tank 2 times per hour.

 

[loachy]

The Rio 300 comes with a single powerhead and I was wondering is this is enough given the size of the tank although based on Juwels figures it turns over the whole tank 2 times per hour.

Thats what i thought when i looked at the tank.

I posted a while back to see if anybody had any problems with the pump/filtration; people only said good things.

If it didn't clean the tank well enough they would go out of bussiness

The downside is that it takes up space in the tank, when i looked at the rio 400 the pump was huge!!!!!

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I have a Rio 400 and in the most part I am happy with the tank. There are a couple of problems as far as I'm concerned.
Firstly the lighting unit failed after six months. I got it replaced under warrenty but the short life is not a good sign. The lighting is also pretty poor. For a 400 litre tank I have only 76 watts of light. Not enough to grow many plants. There are aftermarket T5 replacement units available now but these will set you back a fair bit of cash (£170 in my case). Something to think about if you plan having live plants.
I have also heard that many people have the heater fail on them, and sometimes the powerhead. I have not experienced this though. The heater I got with the tank is, in my opinion, too small for the tank. Although the temp is stable one 300W heater is put under a lot of strain during the winter months. One day I'll get around to getting another 300W heater.
The tank runs quietly enough, looks great and allows me plenty of room for my imagination to run riot (if only I had as much money as I have imagination!).
You will pay a bit of a premium for a Juwel tank but I would buy another without much thought A well made tank in my book!

WK

P.s.
Just looked at the prices on Goldfish Bowl. At those prices you just have to get the 400! You wont regret it! I thought I got a bargain when I bought mine. I paid over £100 more than that price!

 

[Smalleyboy]

WK,

Cheers for the feedback. I thought of going for the Rio 400, but the 300 suits my space better. Interestingly, I think both tanks come with the same heater unit and filter. So I hoped that in the 300 tank it might actually be slightly over speced. My only worry is that everything comes in the one package. I often think that if they come in package you might not be getting the best individual components. However, Juwel is well known and spares are readily available.

On the lighting issue, have you fitted the Juwel reflectors that are available?

Smaleyboy

 

[nitro]

Yeh the juwel filters do have a slow turn over rate. however if you look at the sizes of the filter media you can see that they are very big which is good. If you compared the size and amount of filter media to a Fluval internal the Juwel media would win by a long shot but then again they do have higher turn over rates and are probably twice as small.

IMO any Juwel tank would benefit from an external filter aswell.

Which i will be doing to my Rio 125 near xmas.(hopefully)

HTH

 

[Waterloo Kid]

I have used reflectors but their use coincided with a bad algae outbreak. I might not have been the cause but part of the solution was reducing lighting to a minimum. The reflectors definitely make a difference though!
The all-in-one thing isn't quite true. Although the powerhead and heater are housed in the same box they are completely separate components. I'm pretty sure you could fudge a differnet heater into the unit (I might run two heaters in the filter unit if I can find one slim enough) if desired or use a differnet powerhead (that fits!).
Good luck with the tank anyway.

WK

 

[rvm]

If you are looking for an all-in-one tank/stand/filter combination like the Juwel tanks, I think you'd be better going with the Rena range. Similar sort of tank sizes, but instead of the filter being an internal powerhead type, you get an external cannister, and they are comparably priced and in my opinion look better than the Juwels. Only problem is finding a local stockist!!

 

[Little cherub]

Loachy-
Have you been to the gold fish bowl i live in oxfordshire and am looking for a good supplier and have been unable to find any i really like, but i've read the web site and they seem really good. If you have been there could you let me know what they are like. I'd really apreciate it if you could.

I visited the goldfishbowl a couple of weekends ago; first up i was surprised about how easy it was to park. They have space right outside the shop!!!!

The only way to describe the shop is very big with lots and lots and lots of fish. I would say that they probably have more saltwater fish than freshwater however there freshwater range is still huge.

They also had an excellent range of books, tanks, lights filters etc etc.

The occelot ray looks mad and has a mad price tag aswell - £800

They had a number of what i think were amazonian cichlids retailing at £1500 ea.

The only thing i didn't see were zebra plecos; i might have missed them - there was just sooo much to look at. Definately worth a trip just to look at the fish.

Once i found the cash i'll be there to by my rio 300 - yipee

Little Cherub - Let me know what you think; if you visit.

Loachy Thanks for the info i will be going there as soon as i get back from hols next week, It sounds really good. I need to find a good one round here thats for sure. I'll post you when i've been.