Juwel Rekord 800

[Thomasino]

Hey guys, so after a few eyars of admiring my friends aquariums, making trips to the LFS with them, pricing things up, I finally decided to buy a 30L nano tank... the problem was the LFS didn't get it in time, so being in a aggrivated mood I made a trip to my other LFS who had also sold out, so instead I bought a Juwel Rekord 800. Its a 110L (roughly 30g) with internal spong filter (3 sponges) and heater. Two lights in the hood. Didn't need a stand as I had jsut bought a new bookcase (originally for the nano tank) so I got some chemicals, test kit, cleaning gear and gravel. I'm quite busy with Uni right now so it hasn't done much since I've got it, not even enough time to wash the gravel!

Here's some photos as it right now. I'll keep updating this thread as new updates come along.

I plan to have a decently planted tank with just a rock to start off with, but I think I might buy some drift wood and start soaking it. For stocking, A school of Neons, a school of Harlequin Rasboras, 5 or so BN catfish, 2 whiptail catfish, hopefully some cherry shrimp, and some angelfish. I know the angelfish aren't too friendly, especially with the shrimp and neons, but I'm not game enough to spend $70 for a young Discus. Hopefully introducing the Angels last will give everything else time to grow, find spots to hide etc. This list isn't final just yet, as I still need to cycle the tank, which will give me time to research.

Any comments or advice is very welcome

Thanks for looking, Tom.

 

[catfish4ever]

Hey guys, so after a few eyars of admiring my friends aquariums, making trips to the LFS with them, pricing things up, I finally decided to buy a 30L nano tank... the problem was the LFS didn't get it in time, so being in a aggrivated mood I made a trip to my other LFS who had also sold out, so instead I bought a Juwel Rekord 800. Its a 110L (roughly 30g) with internal spong filter (3 sponges) and heater. Two lights in the hood. Didn't need a stand as I had jsut bought a new bookcase (originally for the nano tank) so I got some chemicals, test kit, cleaning gear and gravel. I'm quite busy with Uni right now so it hasn't done much since I've got it, not even enough time to wash the gravel!

Here's some photos as it right now. I'll keep updating this thread as new updates come along.

I plan to have a decently planted tank with just a rock to start off with, but I think I might buy some drift wood and start soaking it. For stocking, A school of Neons, a school of Harlequin Rasboras, 5 or so BN catfish, 2 whiptail catfish, hopefully some cherry shrimp, and some angelfish. I know the angelfish aren't too friendly, especially with the shrimp and neons, but I'm not game enough to spend $70 for a young Discus. Hopefully introducing the Angels last will give everything else time to grow, find spots to hide etc. This list isn't final just yet, as I still need to cycle the tank, which will give me time to research.

Any comments or advice is very welcome

Thanks for looking, Tom.

Lol this was my first trop tank too. its 24 gallons btw. and also if you place it on any type of stand apart from juwel cabinets specifically made for it. it will invalidate the guarantee . Play it safe. Btw i found the filter very hard to get to the bottom of and clean.

 

[PyroBrit]

I have the 65L version of that tank. I hated that filter on the side. Tank is fine otherwise.

Are you sure your bookcase can take the weight? From the pictures, I don't think it will.

 

[azzaknight]

I plan to have a decently planted tank with just a rock to start off with, but I think I might buy some drift wood and start soaking it. For stocking, A school of Neons, a school of Harlequin Rasboras, 5 or so BN catfish, 2 whiptail catfish, hopefully some cherry shrimp, and some angelfish. I know the angelfish aren't too friendly, especially with the shrimp and neons, but I'm not game enough to spend $70 for a young Discus. Hopefully introducing the Angels last will give everything else time to grow, find spots to hide etc. This list isn't final just yet, as I still need to cycle the tank, which will give me time to research.

Any comments or advice is very welcome

Thanks for looking, Tom.

your stocking seems quite alot for that size tank, and bn catfish can get quite large and 5 might be to many for the tank, 2-3 would be a more suitable amount. also this tank isnt big enough for angelfish, they need a larger tank. id say 15 neons, 15 harlequins, 2-3 bns would be plenty if not to many. with 2 shoals of 15 they would shoal in their own species great together. not sure about whiptail catfish as ive never come across them but this tank wouldnt be big enough for angelfish or 5 bns. just suggestions and advice

Aaron.

 

[willowstwin]

eeeeee you bought the tank! looking very nice where you have it As previously mentioned, the guarantee is invalid if you place it on a non-aquarium speccific stand, but I think this is the same for all tanks TBH - mine is on my chest of drawers in my room (only a 48litre tank) and in reading the setup manual I noticed it said this too.

So BE CAREFUL

as for your stocking, I dont think that tank is big enough for angels? I might be wrong, but I'm sure they need a bigger tank.

Try 2 big(ish) schools and a few corys (get sand not gravel if you want corys). If you want feature fish, cut your schools by a couple of numbers and find some smaller feature fish, like gouramis maybe?

 

[Thomasino]

Thanks heaps for the advice, its exactly what I made the thread for! Maybe the tank is too small for Angels as well as my stock list, that was just a quick recap of what I wanted when I was thinking about getting a bigger tank, but its along the lines of what I want. I will be starting out with the smaller (cheaper) fish first, probably introduce the shrimp first and let the plants grow, then the neons and go from there. I'm just having trouble finding pure ammonia for a fishless cycle so (please don't hate me!) I'm thinking about doing a fish-in cycle, possibly with 3 zebra danios which I wouldn't mind keeping. As I plant to have plants, the cycling process wont be so harsh on them and I can get a small amount of filter media and gravel form my mates tank to kick start it. I also bought Seachem Prime water conditioner which isn't just a de-chlorinator but many other things to avoid stressed fish.

As for the stand, if only I knew the properties of the material Ikea used to make the stand, I could apply some of the stuff I'm learning at Uni to find out weather it will break or not Could always get myself and a friend to sit on it...

 

[Tizer]

that stand is perfectly capable or supporting that much water imo as long as it has a back support so it cant rock to the sides. With the wall there, it can only go one way.

 

[azzaknight]

if your going to fish-in cycle with 3 zebra danios then make sure once the cycle has completed you up their number to at least 6-8 as they can be nippy with only a few. just a heads up.

 

[Thomasino]

Finally got a bit of time to do something, with some help from a mate.

Thats about 6.5-7cm (2.5 inch) of gravel. 3mm.

Also, my mate recommended to buy this product. It works wonders on his tank. He said I might as well just put a dash in now because, well, why not. When I took the cap off the seal was partially open and had a bit of dried up residue around the thread. I poured two cap fulls in when he noticed the actual product was brown, and his was always clear! Gonna call the LFS and see if I can get a refund/exchange, but will the two cap fulls harm the tank/cycle at all? Obviously there's no fish or plants in it yet.

Tested pH just after putting the water in, was at 7.6 so I put some adjuster in to get it down a bit, we'll see how it goes in a bit of time.

 

[catfish4ever]

Finally got a bit of time to do something, with some help from a mate.

Thats about 6.5-7cm (2.5 inch) of gravel. 3mm.

Also, my mate recommended to buy this product. It works wonders on his tank. He said I might as well just put a dash in now because, well, why not. When I took the cap off the seal was partially open and had a bit of dried up residue around the thread. I poured two cap fulls in when he noticed the actual product was brown, and his was always clear! Gonna call the LFS and see if I can get a refund/exchange, but will the two cap fulls harm the tank/cycle at all? Obviously there's no fish or plants in it yet.

Tested pH just after putting the water in, was at 7.6 so I put some adjuster in to get it down a bit, we'll see how it goes in a bit of time.

If your not sure if it's ok do a water change and wait and see

 

[L_Plates]

The flourish you have is meant to be brown mate. The clear one you speak of is Flourish Excel(liquid Carbon)

But why would you want to add either now as you do not have any plants in the tank.

LP

 

[Thomasino]

Ohhh I thought the one I bought was the liquid carbon one, well, actually I didn't know there were two different ones.

I tested my pH with the API pH Test and Adjuster kit when I put the water in, it read darkish blue, so 7.6+. I put some adjuster in (about 40 drops of pH down) and read it half an hour later, still 7.6+. So I put a decent squirt in. This morning I read it again, still 7.6+. I am using the right bottle, right? pH Down? They don't give any decent instructions on how to adjust it, just say use it. Some people may think up must mean it goes up the chart, towards yellow (a low number, acidic), but I think the pH Up would raise the number, meaning it goes down the chart, more basic? I hope I didn't just make my tank extremely basic!

 

[willowstwin]

my pH is that and I have no problems with my fish or shrimp. They're all shiney scaled and healthy looking. That's practically neutral so I don't think that would be a problem for many (any?) fish.

 

[Thomasino]

Unfortunately I had to speed some things up today. I stopped by my LFS to ask a few questions about cycling and to possibly buy some plants. I ended up buying a bit of drift wood with an Anubius (forgot what type) on it. When asking what fish I should cycle with, quite randomly one of my good mates just happened to be in the store and heard me ask. He was there asking if he could unload a few fish to them while he fixed some lighting issue on his tank, so he offered his fish to me. He only had a few; two BN catfish (about 8cm), a red tail shark, and 1 neon. I figured this won't overload my 110L with ammonia but I really would've liked the water to run through the filter for a week or so before adding fish.

I am a little worried about them, I'm not too confident that they'll survive but I will be very happy if they do. The drift wood from the shop should already have some bacteria on it since it was in their tank, so hopefully that helps.

 

[Tizer]

i am confused, you started this thread off well but it appears you dont know how cycling of filters works? have you had a read through the beginners resource section for information? you should really be doing a fishless cycle by dosing with household ammonia to get your filter functional, which could take a few weeks even months. The last thing you want to do is put fish in the tank then start doing daily water changes especially if you have the choice. Im confused. Plus driftwood with bacteria on it? what? ^^