Newbie After Some Advice

[aaronc]

Hi All

Just signed up to these forums and I am very impressed, has been very helpful so far.

I get my new tank tommorrow, a Juwel Rio 125 which I intend to plant quite heavily. I have kept fish before and have dabbled with live plants, however I want to try and get it right this time As such I would appreciate any nuggets of wisdom you guys could offer.

The tank comes with 2 x 18w bulbs, giving me a very low WPG, just over 1. This is not ideal for plants from what I have read in George's articles. I am not really in a position at the moment to add to much more to the cost of the tank. What cost effective and neat ways are there of adding more light? Are there any tubes that will fit into the exisiting lighting system and improve the situation?

Also, I have ordered some Tetra Plant Complete substrate. I have read that this is best applied in a 2cm layer to the bottom of the tank and covered with a further 2-3mm of pea gravel. Does this sound ok?

Thanks in advance for any feedback

aaron

 

[SuperColey1]

First of all get some reflectors. they clip onto the tubes and you angle them the best way to give the most light. about £5 each.

I bought an Arcadia Freshwater and Arcadia Orig Tropical tube £11.49 and £7.99 (24 inch 18W). much better than the AquaGlo and SunGlo (24 inch 20W) that were in the tank originally.

Theres a start on the lights. Just buy some easy to grow plants that don't need too much light i.e. one of the cheapo plant packs like you get off ebay 75 plants for £12, then research them when they come and plant as suited. If any die throw them they only cost you 20p each.

Nutrafin DIY CO2 kit £20 inc postage off ebay and then use the DIY CO2 instructions pinned in the planted section.

Lastly you will need plant food/nutrient of some sort. Not the best to give advice on these as I just buy what Tropica because I was told was the best and I worked out that 1 pack would last for a year, so not bad value.

All in all on my 125 tank. I have spent £80 this week to setup for my planting + some new bogwood, a few new fish, UV sterilizer, spray bar etc. Don't get carried away like I did. lol

I'm sure there are cheaper ways, I'm just lazy and couldn't be bothered searching for cheaper options.

 

[nry]

Be aware that eBay is not always the cheapest, and that many of the plant sellers bundle in some non-aquatic plants like dracena etc.

Many websites sell a pack of plants with numbers/choice suited to different sizes of tank:

www.tropical-aquarium-plants.co.uk
www.aquaticplants.eu.com

are two I have either used or know a lot of people who speak very highly of.

My tank is sitting at a shade over 1WPG, I have a similar substrate setup (JBL AquaBasis Plus instead of Tetra Plantamin), and my plants are doing very well. I do use ad-hoc CO2 but also use SeaChem Flourish Excel which is a carbon additive, said to be 60-70% as 'useful' as true CO2 addition. Seems to work well for me, alongside SeaChem Flourish as a general fertiliser. They seem expensive but they are used in such small amounts that they work out cheaper than many more popular brands.

 

[aaronc]

Hi Supercoley

Thanks for the feedback.

I know what you mean about getting carried away. I was only going to get a Rekord 96, now I have ended up getting a Rio 125, and all sorts of extra bits and bats and I am no where near getting fish

I didn't think that you could get higher wattage tubes? Ie, all 24 inch tubes are 18w? Would be good if I was wrong

I think I am going to have to splash out on some more additional tubes. I have been looking at a 55w double T5 starter kit. Its been a while (4 years) since I last had a tank and then I just used the standard tubes, so its all a bit new and confusing to me

Aaron

Hi Nry

Thanks for that info. From what you are saying I think it might be wise to have a dabble with the existing lighting units before spending a small fortune on additional tubes and starter units.

What tubes are you using?

Aaron

 

[SuperColey1]

Mines a 125Ltr too, 36W Light over 29G so I am either a shade over 1WPG or 1.8ish if you count water displacement for the ornaments and bogowwd and equipment etc.

I think IMO that its best to start with what you have like me and get the simple things right first, then you can make the decisions on upgrading to higher lighting, and plants that require this once you're up and running and have some confidence built up.

The lights that were in said 20W but they weren't as bright as the Arcadia ones I bought and they didn't give out the same spectrum as I now get (i.e. fish colours look much much better, plants look greener)

Don't take too much notice off my advice because I have only started on this path in the last 2 weeks, and I intend to follow the slower route and make use of the time ahead of me to get some experience instead of plunging in, breaking my bank, and falling flat on my face (Which my wife wood love because she says that the tank is my TV. lol)

I am also overstocked at the moment due to rehoming someone elses fish and also I have 2 8" common Plecs that have 2 more days in my tank before being rehomed themselves so at the moment I am having to be careful not too get too much CO2 into the tank because there aren't a huge amount of plants in there yet and I don't want to GAS my fish.

 

[nry]

I have a single Realux Daylight Plus which is a T6, it replaced a T8 tube that was supplied with my Juwel Rekord. You get little washers for £1 that let the tube fit and stay waterproof. Very bright, my plants have certainly not complained though if I run beyond 7.5 hours of lighting per day then hair algae goes mad....

 

[SuperColey1]

I got a cheapo 9V UV sterilizer first off before I started on the advice that it would stop a lot of the algae growth, and also kill a lot of the causes of fishy disease, and touch wood so far I haven't had any algae probs and my old aged Balloon Molly who was wounded in a power struggle, is healing very quickly. So although I can't vouch for anything technical 'it seems to be doing exactly what is says on the tin' (it came in a box though. lol

 

[aaronc]

Would I need a CO2 unit with my lighting being so low?

Can anyone recommend some different tubes for my Juwel lighting system?