George Farmer
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Here's a photo of my Juwel Rio 125.
After a big problem with cyanobacteria (blue-green slime algae) I decided to strip the tank down and change a few things. You can see my original setup
http
/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8391
The Changes
The first thing was to sterilise the gravel as this was the main source of the slime algae. I did this with boiling water and diluted Dettol. With the gravel out of the tank I installed a 25W Rena Cor heater cable on a timer. This ensures the gravel wouldn't go anaerobic and boosts plants growth. I then mixed some API Pure Laterite into a third of my clean gravel and layered this in the tank over the heater cable. The laterite provides constant micro-nutrients (iron) for the plants. The remainder of the gravel was then added. That's the substrate sorted.
The next step was improving filtration. In my opinion the Juwel filter alone isn't great, especially with a high bio-load like my Angels and Rams. So I bought a Fluval 204 External Power Filter to supplement the Juwel. Since I use fertilisers I removed the carbon from both filters and added extra biological media. The filter outputs were positioned to cause minimal surface movement as this removes the beneficial CO2 needed for the plants. The flow rate was also reduced on the Fluval. Rowaphos was added to the Fluval to remove algae promoting phosphates.
I wanted a more natural look than the plastic tree roots I had previous so I bought three pieces of natural bogwood and installed them vertically. All new plants were bought from my local LFS.
My final addition was CO2. This is the cheap but effective Hagen/Nutrafin fermantation type. I turn up the flow rate on my Fluval at night to prevent the CO2 and carbonic acids from dropping the pH too much.
Conclusion
My fish and plants seem a lot happier with the new improved setup. Maintenance is now a lot lower except the constant pruning of plants and my algae is virtually non-existent. My Angels and Gold Rams are spawning regularly which can only be a good thing!!
After a big problem with cyanobacteria (blue-green slime algae) I decided to strip the tank down and change a few things. You can see my original setup
http
/fish.orbust.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8391The Changes
The first thing was to sterilise the gravel as this was the main source of the slime algae. I did this with boiling water and diluted Dettol. With the gravel out of the tank I installed a 25W Rena Cor heater cable on a timer. This ensures the gravel wouldn't go anaerobic and boosts plants growth. I then mixed some API Pure Laterite into a third of my clean gravel and layered this in the tank over the heater cable. The laterite provides constant micro-nutrients (iron) for the plants. The remainder of the gravel was then added. That's the substrate sorted.
The next step was improving filtration. In my opinion the Juwel filter alone isn't great, especially with a high bio-load like my Angels and Rams. So I bought a Fluval 204 External Power Filter to supplement the Juwel. Since I use fertilisers I removed the carbon from both filters and added extra biological media. The filter outputs were positioned to cause minimal surface movement as this removes the beneficial CO2 needed for the plants. The flow rate was also reduced on the Fluval. Rowaphos was added to the Fluval to remove algae promoting phosphates.
I wanted a more natural look than the plastic tree roots I had previous so I bought three pieces of natural bogwood and installed them vertically. All new plants were bought from my local LFS.
My final addition was CO2. This is the cheap but effective Hagen/Nutrafin fermantation type. I turn up the flow rate on my Fluval at night to prevent the CO2 and carbonic acids from dropping the pH too much.
Conclusion
My fish and plants seem a lot happier with the new improved setup. Maintenance is now a lot lower except the constant pruning of plants and my algae is virtually non-existent. My Angels and Gold Rams are spawning regularly which can only be a good thing!!
And if they start out quarter size, how long until they get big enough.
