Juwel Rio 180

[johnny70]

Hi

Don't have time to do a full refit of my juwel lighting, at the moment they have standard juwel lights in, what can I replace them with, any links would be great, would reflectors help too, any ones that aren't as expensive a juwel ones? just looking to help my planting along.

Links and sites would be appriciated.

Thanks
J

 

[Maximumbob]

Hi

Don't have time to do a full refit of my juwel lighting, at the moment they have standard juwel lights in, what can I replace them with, any links would be great, would reflectors help too, any ones that aren't as expensive a juwel ones? just looking to help my planting along.

Links and sites would be appriciated.

Thanks
J

You can upgrade the bulbs and ad reflectors and you will notice a massive difference - the lights which come with the juwel are pants.

This will cost ~£10 per bulb and ~£5 per reflector... worth every penny.

The interpet triphosphor ones have a good reputation and can be found here also richard at AE has got some new cheap T8's in which are specifically for planted aquariums - I havnt heard a report on them yet though. Its a foreign brand called Zoo

 

[Kevstir]

1 arcadia freshwater tube at the back and 1 interpet triplus at the front will make a big difference m8, i did that with my vision 180 and was well chuffed ..

 

[johnny70]

Thanks for the replies, what size would i be looking at ? t5, t8?

Cheers

JOHNNY

 

[Maximumbob]

the 'T' system is for measuring the diameter of the tubes. It is done in eighths of an inch - T8 is 8/8 = 1 inch , T5 = 5/8 = 0.625 of an inch or 5 eighths of an inch.

You need a different light fitting to put T5 tubes in. I would stick with T8's for now.

 

[johnny70]

Thanks for that, I never remember to look at the light size when I get home from work.

So I'm right thinking I need T8 tubes for a 36" tank. Are the lamps standard 36"size or do they differ?

Are they easy to take out and repalce?


Sorry for the dumb questions!

Cheers
JOHNNY

 

[Maximumbob]

Thanks for that, I never remember to look at the light size when I get home from work.

So I'm right thinking I need T8 tubes for a 36" tank. Are the lamps standard 36"size or do they differ?

Are they easy to take out and repalce?


Sorry for the dumb questions!

Cheers
JOHNNY

There will be T8 tubes of varying lengths. (remember the T only refers to diameter) You will need a 36" tube (please measure your own to confirm this as I changed my Rio lights to T5 6/12 ago). The tank itself measures 39 3/4".

So for example if you were going to get interpet lights from Aquatics on-line. You would buy 'Interpet TriPlus 36 inch 30w £10.29' at this link.

They are easy enough to remove. Just disconnect the power, dry away any condensation, unscrew each of the end pieces. If I recall rightly, you may have to rotate the tubes through 90 degrees to line up the pins with the exit notch, then pull out.

Before choosing exactly what type of bulbs you are going to buy, its worth checking George's post on lighting. You will get a lot of info there.

 

[DevUK]

You could consider adding a second Juwel light bar to give you 120w of light. Theres a guy selling a light bar and flap set (small flaps to fit between 2 light bars) on ebay at the moment. I'm sort of tempted my self, as I have a rio 180 too

 

[johnny70]

Thanks for the replies, all very helpful

Thanks
JOHNNY

 

[Rob.S]

You could consider adding a second Juwel light bar to give you 120w of light. Theres a guy selling a light bar and flap set (small flaps to fit between 2 light bars) on ebay at the moment. I'm sort of tempted my self, as I have a rio 180 too

Can't quite see how that works Dev. Are the two light units placed together in the middle, with the new (short) flaps placed front & rear? Or is it Flap/lights/flap/lights?

 

[DevUK]

You could consider adding a second Juwel light bar to give you 120w of light. Theres a guy selling a light bar and flap set (small flaps to fit between 2 light bars) on ebay at the moment. I'm sort of tempted my self, as I have a rio 180 too

Can't quite see how that works Dev. Are the two light units placed together in the middle, with the new (short) flaps placed front & rear? Or is it Flap/lights/flap/lights?

Not actually sure, but I assume its flap - light bar - flap - light bar - flap

Or maybe even flap - light bar - flap - flap - light bar - flap due to the way the flaps latch into the lightbars? Would be interested to know

 

[Rob.S]

Or maybe even flap - light bar - flap - flap - light bar - flap due to the way the flaps latch into the lightbars? Would be interested to know

Yes, it makes sense. The problem with that is, that the edges of the "flap-flap" (which would run down the centre of the tank) would be unsupported along their length - and we both know how flimsy these are .
Apart from that, it would look quite neat, the flaps would be about 51mm wide.

Another idea would be to use just 3 flaps - one front & back, and another in the middle of the two light units. Though this would need some clever sawing to link them (the lights) together.

 

[Jimb0b]

Saw a post a little while ago about this subject which caught my eye as i have a rio 180.
juwel light upgrade
The op has vision 180 but another user jimbooo posts about doing 4 tubes in a rio 180 a little way down.
HTH