George's Journal

[zig]

With regard to the critique of the Juwel tanks you have to put them in perspective. For the money they're bloody good tanks in terms of construction. Of course its a major ball ache to convert them for a high tech planted tank, the two main issues being the uncompromising hoods they have and also the huge internal filter. But as a jack of all trades tank you can't really beat a juwel.

One exception to this is I've seen some great ehiem tanks, very simple classy design and they give you their external filter with the package too.

Sorry oldwhitewood not to nitpick but i cant agree, these boards are littered with the dead bodies of crappy Juwel tanks, when you take away the crappy filter (IMO) the crappy heater (which in my Juwel tank allways overheated) the crappy hood which cannot be easily modified, the crappy lights the tanks come with, what exactly are you left with, what are the redeeming qualties about these tanks.......5 pieces of glass stuck together with black silicone (which personally i dont like either) anyway just the opinion of someone who is just going to set one up as a planted tank with modifications.......off course

 

[WendyinWichita]

I think I am going to copy you in the placement of the spray bar! I have struggled with the position of mine, getting it deep enough first, (to hide it behind plants) then which direction to point it. I ended up pointing it at the back wall of the aquarium so the flow doesn't disrupt the plants, but I know I run the risk of things going stagnant.
Do you have yours positioned near the intake, but pushing water away from the intake? Or at the opposite end of the tank as the intake, pushing water towards the intake. I am also intriqued with the idea of painting the green hoses and what not black.
What type of paint did you use that would stick to plastic? Sorry for the dumb questions, but I guess dumb questions are the prerequisite to learning!

I am looking forward to the new tank shots!

 

[simonbrown403]

Personality I'm a fan of juwel tanks i like the quality of the finish, theres few companies around that can match it for quality and neatness, and most of the hand made tanks made by small local firms just don't cut it.
But i have to agree with you all about the filters they are an eyesore, may be there could be a future market for a special juwel for planted tank.
With a modified hood and a external filter

What product did you use to paint the in and out let george, is it something you can buy anywhere.

 

[oldwhitewood]

With regard to the critique of the Juwel tanks you have to put them in perspective. For the money they're bloody good tanks in terms of construction. Of course its a major ball ache to convert them for a high tech planted tank, the two main issues being the uncompromising hoods they have and also the huge internal filter. But as a jack of all trades tank you can't really beat a juwel.

One exception to this is I've seen some great ehiem tanks, very simple classy design and they give you their external filter with the package too.

Sorry oldwhitewood not to nitpick but i cant agree, these boards are littered with the dead bodies of crappy Juwel tanks, when you take away the crappy filter (IMO) the crappy heater (which in my Juwel tank allways overheated) the crappy hood which cannot be easily modified, the crappy lights the tanks come with, what exactly are you left with, what are the redeeming qualties about these tanks.......5 pieces of glass stuck together with black silicone (which personally i dont like either) anyway just the opinion of someone who is just going to set one up as a planted tank with modifications.......off course

I agree with you I also dislike black silicone, I have it in my tank at the moment but I didn't really have a choice in the matter. But it is awful and again its something I dont understand why tank manufacturers use it! The tank is glass! Why is it glass because it's clear! Make everything clear plastic and develop some technology that makes it affordable and does not discolour, you could have internal filters then in clear plastic, make the insides of them look light grey or something and you wont notice them as much. That is my idea. Why ehiem dont do a clear plastic version of their inlets and instead use that stupid green colour is beyond me.

I have had a rio 125 for a number of years and am fond of it, it's been through a helluva lot of different changes! I think the build quality and the finish and siliconing is very good, for the price they're a good all round tank, they have to include the lights in that way etc because they aren't pitching them specifically at planted tank people. Most people buying juwel tanks are going to have a tropical community tank or something like that. I would have bought a juwel tank for my new setup but I knew I would have to remove the filter, lights woudn't be right and there as no chance of having it open topped so I decided against it.

 

[hunterm8]

ehiem stupid green??? i have just got a 2224 and the inlet/spray bar are a semi opaque gray colour

 

[oldwhitewood]

ehiem stupid green??? i have just got a 2224 and the inlet/spray bar are a semi opaque gray colour

You're kidding me seriously? Have you got any pictures

Ah no I figured it out, you must have these ones....

If these made these...

Out of the same material that would at least be better than the green ones!


Sorry for hijacking the thread george with the finer points of external filter asthetics

 

[hunterm8]

aye them the ones! sorry george

 

[paulioo]

I can't wait to see the new pictures. I'm sure you'll have a few copy cats afterwards

On the juwel tank front. I have a Rio 125 and the only thing i have left from the original package is the heater. I've replaced everything else. If i was starting again, i'd just go for a simple open top tank and buy everthing else i needed separately.

Anyway, cant wait to see the pics!!!

Paul

 

[RYO]

Must admit on the juwel front all that's left of my record 120 is the glass. The filter was in for around a week and i got really peed off with it .
With the coloured plastics your on about i couldn't agree more. Rena's are light grey, fluval give you that corrugated s*@t and my ehiem has that stupid green stuff. Pity the glass fittings cost more than the tanks.

 

[jimbooo]

errr i like juwel tanks.. and i think the filters are great, all the gunk and muck is in the wet bit. on my cube i have a Fluval external and although the theory of space saving is great in reality i have never even switched it off let alone heave it out of the cabinet, struggle to take the lid off and slop brown sludge all over the floor. i do feel that maintenance is more of a major job with externals. in my juwels i just sort out the filter every time i do a water change. just lift the sponges and vac the filter box before i do the tank. takes 2 mins and saves all the problems.

having said that i'm sure your tank looks much better with the filter out with more space to play with. great idea with the spray bar, i was thinking only the other day that a filter output on the back botton would be ideal but could't get my head around how to do it.

 

[kenneth_kpe]

hey george, its a long time since i last checked on this, did the glosso rise by itself or did you rip it off ? im having similar problems right now and im about this > < close to ripping it off and throwing it in the bin too ! its taggin my elatine triandra with it too

 

[George Farmer]

Nice to see a bit of debate on the Juwels.

Personally I like my Rio 125. The black silicone works well with the black trim and black everything else. One advantage with black silicone is that it doesn't stain. I understand that it does look a bit odd on the Beech models though.

From a lighting point of view I like the supplied "I" bar and the tank's central bracing bar allows very simple fitting of extra tubes (to the Juwel Rio range at least).

The supplied filters (again I can only speak of the Rio range as that's where my experience lies) are very effective and house loads of media, it's just an eye sore if you want to have some open space planting as I have.

Another advantage of replacing the internal with a big external is that there's less hands-in-tank and mess. As I'm slightly overfiltered with a Fluval 204 in a low stocked 125litre I can get away with only cleaning the filter every couple of months or so, much less hassle than the weekly Juwel poly-pad clean/replacement and regular powerhead cleaning.

The Juwel heater was ideal for the filter but not anywhere else so I've replaced it with a 100W Newatt. These are the latest generation of internal heater/stats and are made of an "indestructable" polymer, no glass that can shatter - and it's black! If the thermostat does stick it always sticks "off" rather than "on" like most other heaters. It also automatically switches off if it's removed from the water - ideal for my 50% water changes when the water level drops below the heater's minimum level. I highly recommend them.

Another thing I like about the Rio 125 is the dimensions, being 81cm (32") length and 50cm (20") high it is almost the perfect ratio (0.618), ideal for creating triangular or mound compositions.

All this said if I knew what I know now when I bought it I would have gone for a custom built glass tank and equipped it accordingly. Now I have just done the best job possible with what I have - and it looks ok.

Photos to follow soon.

 

[George Farmer]

Apologies for the lack of photo update - I've lost my USB cable!

 

[badis56]

I thought i saw a ram in your aquarium and i was wonderin if they are hard to take care of(german blue ram) Cuz i read on a couple of internet sites that they need the water stable and o bytheway i have a planted 20g tall with driftwood and some rocks. my fish are 2 dwarf gourami 1 dwarf gourami powder blue 1 candy stripe pleco 2 badis and 1bosemani rainbow
so tell meall you know about the rams



P.S. How did u get your bosemani rainbow to have so much color??

 

[George Farmer]

so tell me all you know about the rams

How did u get your bosemani rainbow to have so much color??

Rams prefer soft, acidic water to thrive. Water quality needs to be excellent i.e. undetectable ammonia and nitrite with low nitrates. They like a lot of plant cover and also enjoy peaceful, shoaling fish for added security. Unfortunately a lot of Rams these days are the result of poor quality, overbred stock so choose your specimens wisely. Post any furthur questions on the New World Cichlid forum.

I have never owned Rainbow fish but understand they prefer harder, alkaline water so may not suitable tank mates for Rams.