Juwel Rio 125 Tropical To Marine Conversion

[seffieuk]

Get it now and then uou never now the cycle may be over by the time you get back woo hoo. Nothing to be done whilst cycling except testing and pet rock watching and both of those can be don upon your return

Seffie x

ps just make sure you hae heat and flow

 

[dannywrc]

Get it now and then uou never now the cycle may be over by the time you get back woo hoo. Nothing to be done whilst cycling except testing and pet rock watching and both of those can be don upon your return

Seffie x

ps just make sure you hae heat and flow

change of plan, trying not to rush it so gonna do it when i get back. got rid of most of my fish today. found new homes for them from a user on here

still need to empty the tank and give it a really good clean. whats best as theres a bit of algea on the back. think i read vinegar does the job? is this right?

need to paint the back of the tank aswell.

my mates got an eheim external canister filter sat around that he said i can have really cheap. would this be of any benefit if i was to use it in the setup?

 

[-Nemo-]

Yes. Vinegar, water and a little elbow grease

As per the canister, you don't really need it as the live rock will essentially act as a filter for you. The only benefit from the canister would be if you want to run carbon or phosphate remover in it.

 

[dannywrc]

Yes. Vinegar, water and a little elbow grease

As per the canister, you don't really need it as the live rock will essentially act as a filter for you. The only benefit from the canister would be if you want to run carbon or phosphate remover in it.

i was hoping the vinegar would make things very easy as some of that old old algea is a right pain to get off.

what sort of benefits would i see if i ran the carbon or phosphate remover?

 

[-Nemo-]

Carbon can help to make the water crystal clear and phosphate remover can help to keep your phosphates lower therefore keeping algae under control (hopefully).

 

[dannywrc]

Carbon can help to make the water crystal clear and phosphate remover can help to keep your phosphates lower therefore keeping algae under control (hopefully).

sounds good to me. just rang my mate and hes done me a trade for my airstone pump, all of the rocks and a couple of fish

do i just put the activated carbon in the filter? im not sure how the phosphate removal works. iv found phosphate remover on ebay but im not sure how it would work. theyr sold as 100g sachets, 500ml bottles etc.

as the filter has a semi transparent canister could i illuminate it and use macro algae on top of the carbon instead of the phosphate remover?

 

[Harry1996]

i would get rowaphos and rowacarb.
http/www.reefstore.co.uk/shop/Rowaphos-100ml.html

http/www.reefstore.co.uk/shop/Rowa-Carbon-500ml.html

you can just put it in a filter bag or something.

 

[dannywrc]

i would get rowaphos and rowacarb.
http/www.reefstore.co.uk/shop/Rowaphos-100ml.html

http/www.reefstore.co.uk/shop/Rowa-Carbon-500ml.html

you can just put it in a filter bag or something.

thanks harry, iv just bought some already in a bag today. got the carbon and the phos remover for just under a tenner. not this brand but ill keep it in mind for when the tanks established. trying to keep costs down for now.

emptied the last of the stuff out of the tank before work this morning so its looking like this.

when the wife returns from her hairdressing and relieves me of baby duties ill empty the tank and start the cleaning.

heres a few pics of the stuff iv got so far. need a koralia 2 and thats it i think. pick up the canister filter next week for the carbon and phos remover. theres 2 600lph powerheads in the tank that ill be using aswell

anything else i need?

 

[dannywrc]

got the tank emptied. there was loads of really hard to shift algea on the sides and back. tried vinegar but it wasnt getting the tough stuff off so had to resort to a stanley blade. done the trick.

i then removed the filter from the corner, had the scraper and hairdryer ready to go to work on it but it just fell off as soon as i touched it... nice

decided to jetwash the tank to get all of the crap out of the corners and rinse the last bit of sand out of there.

the tanks looking really clean now.

time to fit the t5's to the hood

 

[dannywrc]

just fitted the t5's the the hood. managed to find some tiny screws that i could screw into the lid to attach the brackets without them coming through the other side.

i made a bracket and attached it to the centre part of the hood to support the wires.

the end result

have to say im well impressed with the light output. they put the t8's to shame.

cut out a hole in the hood and fitted the skimmer.

the contents of the stand. not as messy as i thought it would be with the retro fit ballast. heater and powerheads are dumped in the bottom for now.

just need to paint the back of the tank black and put in the heater, canister filter and powerheads.

 

[Harry1996]

nice thats going to help me fit my extra 2 t5s to mine
is that tin foil?

 

[dannywrc]

nice thats going to help me fit my extra 2 t5s to mine
is that tin foil?

no its mylar. its only around £3 a metre at the local hydroponics shop. done mine and 2 of my mates tanks with 1 metre. just glued it to the hood. i did try looking for an adhesive film but there wasnt anything out there. i think the mylar reflects something like 80% of the light back in. If your wanting some and cant find it at a decent price i dont mind popping back in the shop to get some more.

 

[Harry1996]

im sure i can find some

found some online but the the postage is high. its £2.50 a meter but postage is almost £5 i will keep looking

 

[seffieuk]

It certainly would be better than the reflectors although they are supposed to reflect back a 100%

I only see two test kits? And no refractometer?

Seffie x

 

[dannywrc]

It certainly would be better than the reflectors although they are supposed to reflect back a 100%

I only see two test kits? And no refractometer?

Seffie x

theres 2 boxes with 3 test kits in. one does nitrite and the other does ph and alkalinity. do i need any more.

iv got a hydrometer but have no idea what it does yet. is that to measure the salt? what does the refractometer do?

was just thinking about what fish im gonna put in there. would like a pair of clowns, a few chromis and maybe a tang. from what im reading tangs need a bigger tank. are there any smaller species of tang that would be happy in my tank?

what about boxfish and triggers? could they go in there?