External For Rio 180

[rabbut]

I also rate the Juwel internals. At one point, my Record 98 was stocked to arround 4 inches per gallon with messy fish, and the Juwel internal supplied was the only filter running... It coped remarcably well, needing a floss change every week only to keep it going. Waterchanges every other day of 50% to keep the heavy stocking going though was a bit of a nightmare mind...

With the Fluval tanks, you want to watch them a bit, as if they are bottom drilled, they will need modifying to take anything other than a Fluval exturnal apparently. The bulkheads in the holes are apparently a Bas?#!@ size such that only Fluvals ridged pipe can be used on the bulkheads. This would mean new bulkheads to change from the leaky, low-performance, noisy and potentialy electrically dangerous Fluval exturnals to something more reliable, quieter and easier to use... The swap is easy enough to do if you know how, and will only cost like £5 to do, but it is a faff you could probibly do without You could also try leaving the bulkheads in and just pushing the new exturnals pipe over with some brute force and heat, but that could be iffy if it gets knocked...

The AquaOne tanks are built like, well, Tanks and are good quality units Their exturnals are good according to the reviews I've read, but I have no direct experience with them The cabinets are rubbish, but otherwise, good tanks

All the best
Rabbut

 

[Truck]

aqua one do make very neat tanks but ive had 2 and they have both leaked

 

[cor2008]

Just picked up my new rio 180 (they wouldnt have the aquaone tank in for at least a month). Gotta say its a cool looking tank. I actually think the black box looks way better in the rio 180 compared to the record 800. It seems to be around the same size which now looks way smaller in the 180.

Thanks for the advice on the external rabbut, was just about the purchase the fluval 205 when i remembered the advice and quickly put it back . They didnt have the teratec range so will have to order the EX700 from the net.

All thats left is the big move. Guessing ill somehow try and slide the 110 litre(its on floorboards so should be able to move it slowly) out of the spot for the 180 and leave it running for 24? or 48? hours to get the temperature right.

I was thinking of doing a water change tonight or tomorrow on the 110 litre and then the day after transfer the full 110 (clean) litres along with most of the gravel into the rio 180. I was also thinking i could put the filter media into a bucket of tank water with a airstone running during the move. One of the things i do hate about the juwel filter is it will only run on a full(ish) tank. I could then net the fish when it gets to 1/2 empty and float them in the rio.

Anyone got any advice on whether this would be the best plan or would it be better to transfer the fish into my 60 litre quarantine tank (contains 2 appistogramma borelli that i have had for about 2 weeks now). Just worried about moving them twice in one day as the 60 litre would be way way overstocked.

Thanks again for all the advice, looks like asking paid off today

I'll post some pics when i get it up and running.

 

[rabbut]

Well, the water in the existing tank isn't needed as it has plenty of un-disireables in it that would be nice to get rid of... This said, it is at temperature already, and if you can store it all, it would make life simpler... If you can heat like 150l of water to tempearture in under an hour, I's set up with all fresh, otherwise do as below;

Store as much water in buckets and other containers as possible, and catch all the fish. Ideally you want to bag them up, so you don't have issues with fluctuating temperature on re-fill. If the fish are bagged, you can just remove the old empty tank (after draining an removing gravel. It cannot be moved with anything in as it could crack the base pain...), slide in the new one, add decor and throw all the water from the containers back in. Top off to nearly full with fresh and float the bags to equalise temperature again... Transfer across all the filter media into the new filter and away you go

All the best
Rabbut

 

[foley69]

my fluval 200 is a top tank with the fish i have in it but saying that i have a fluval 205 and a fluval 4 plus so the filtration is an overkill i rate the fluval filters just when setting it up the pumping action to get it going is a nightmare

 

[rabbut]

You might find this thread useful, re:moving and upgrading tanks

linky

All the best
Rabbut

 

[cor2008]

Excellent man, thats exactly what i need.

2 quick questions though. I am still pretty new to fish keeping but thought that keeping the water was vitally important. I have read threads about moving house and they advised to put all the water in containers to transport it?, even though I read in other places that it doesnt contain any bacteria. Also I thought the gravel contains loads of important bacteria, wouldnt washing it kill it.

Thanks again for all your help rabbut, that tread is going to make it much easier


Oh and foley i have seen the fluval roma tanks and they look really good, I would of definitely considered one if only it had t5 lighting.

 

[rabbut]

2 quick questions though. I am still pretty new to fish keeping but thought that keeping the water was vitally important. I have read threads about moving house and they advised to put all the water in containers to transport it?, even though I read in other places that it doesnt contain any bacteria.

The reason why you would store the water when you move house, is because the pH, GH and KH of the water at the new house is likely to a lot different to the water that your fish are used to. By moving the water with the tank, you are lessening the changes of those values during the move, as the fish are already stressed by being caught and transported, and a sudden move of pH, GH or KH could make the difference between success and failure. When you are moving a tank within your own home, you are using the same water source as you were when doing waterchanges e.t.c on the set-up before the move, so the difference in pH, Gh and KH will be so small as to be insignifficant, if a difference exists at all

Also I thought the gravel contains loads of important bacteria, wouldnt washing it kill it.

The gravel would only hold bacteria, if you were running an Under Gravel Filter system (UGF) as the filter bacteria are airobic - need a supply of oxygen. The gravel bed is only airobic if there is water flowing through it, like there is in a UGF set-up, at all other times it is anairobic - low-to-no oxygen within the bed

Oh and foley i have seen the fluval roma tanks and they look really good, I would of definitely considered one if only it had t5 lighting.

Most tank's have had issues with the T5's supplied since relese. Juwel and Fluval have supposidely got these faults sorted. Working in an LFS though, I still see more of these units in for repairs under warrenty than I would like to... Whether this is a hang-over from the first round of dodgy units, or a sign of the now ones being Iffy too, is hard to say...

All the best
Rabbut