Need Help And Advice Please!

[fiskkeeperpro]

Hi,

I am going to be getting a juwel rio 125, i am hoping to make this an amazon biotope planted aquarium. I dont know what the difference between hi and low tech is so bear with me and please tell me what tech type my tank will be by the time ive finished with it please.

The lighting that come with the rio 125 is 2 28 watt t5 tubes, as the tank is 33 us gal, this will give me 1.69WPG, if i add a 18inch 15 wat t8 tube that i currently have, i wil have 2.1 WPG, will they both be enough? Reccomendation please.

I will hopefully be buying my stuff of this website, www.plantsalive.co.uk and <a href="http/www.aquaticplants.eu.com" target="_blank">http/www.aquaticplants.eu.com</a>

For CO2, i will hopefully get the "Tetraplant CO2 optimat kit" or the "Red sea turbo CO2 Bio System" (can be found here: <a href="http/www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?act...at&catId=22" target="_blank">http/www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?act...at&catId=22</a>
Has anyone had any experience with these two systems? Another option for CO2 is the nutrafin yeast system.

For my susbstrate, i will hopefully get some black gravel and this will be on top of some "Tetraplant complete substrate". This tetra substrate comes in wither a 2.8 or 5.8 kg tub. Which would i need for a 32x14 inch base? And how much would i need to put in?
There is also a number of different additives on this site <a href="http/www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?act...at&catId=21" target="_blank">http/www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?act...at&catId=21</a> , can somebody have a quick look at these and tell me which ones would be needed to make the tank look at its best?

Now we come to plants. I would like a carpeting plant that doesnt grow to quickly, can anyone reccomend?
On greenline there are sets of plants that can be purchased: [URL="http/www.aquaticplants.eu.com/acatalog/S...ollections.html"]http/www.aquaticplants.eu.com/acatalog/S...ollections.html[/URL] which set would be the best to purchase, bearing in mind the tank is roughly 50cm, 20 inches high.
There are also induvidual plants on this site: http/www.plantsalive.co.uk/index.php?act...at&catId=43 , would i need to buy any of these if i bought a set of plants?

For decor, i will be using wood (bog or mopani) which ever is best and i will also be using rocks and stones to create a natural riverbed look. Does this sound ok?

For filtration, i will be using the standard Juwel filter and i will also add a canister to get good filtration, does this sound ok?

For stocking, i thought about this:
10-15 cardinal tetras
6 rummy nose tetras
6 cory cats
2 german blue rams
maybe 2 angelfish (these would need to be added at a young age and small size along with the tetras to make sure they wont eat the tetras when fully grown)
1 albino rainbow shark, i have one currently and he is very gentle and not at all aggressive.

Right, sorry to create such a large post, i feel sorry for you aall reading it

Does this setup sound good to you guys? Is this high or low tech? Can you please try and answer most of the question i posted during the essay of a thread?


Thanks a lot (in advance)
Will

 

[pentazona]

The lighting that come with the rio 125 is 2 28 watt t5 tubes, as the tank is 33 us gal, this will give me 1.69WPG, if i add a 18inch 15 wat t8 tube that i currently have, i wil have 2.1 WPG, will they both be enough?

This really depends on the type of plants you want to keep. Do you only want to keep Amazon plants or is the biotope just the fish selection? Also what type of tubes do you intend using?

For CO2, i will hopefully get the "Tetraplant CO2 optimat kit" or the "Red sea turbo CO2 Bio System"

Haven't used either of these but have heard good things about the Red Sea Turbo system.

Why do you want a carpeting plant that dosen't grow too quickly? If you get a fast grower it will help to stop algae taking hold. Read this post for some carpeting advice. Carpeting Plants

Bogwood or mopani wood is good for an Amazonian Biotope and this may turn the water a wee bit tanned which is good but if you don't like add some carbon to the filter which will help remove this.

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

the fish selection is amazonian. The 2 28 watt t5 tubes are juwels daylight and nature tubes and the 15 watt tube will be juwels daylight tube. Should i go with a plant tube?

I don't know why i dont want a carpaeting plant tht grows too quickly. I think its because i want to be able to vac up the dirt in the gravel while there isnt a plant there so it kind of matures more. When it is a really stable system and i dont really need to vac up detrius then it wont matter about having a carpeting plant covering the whole floor. Do you get my point of view?

Thanks
Will

 

[pentazona]

If you have a fast growing carpeting plant then you won't need to vacuum the gravel where their planted as any muck that accumulates there will be used as plant food to help them grow. Anyway you should be able able to hover above and pick up any loose detrius on top of the substarte.

I'm not too sure about the "juwels daylight and nature tubes" so would wait until someone with a bit more experience posts.

Are you going to be doing a fishless cycle?

If so i wouldn't worry too much about the hoovering as long as you don't overfeed. The corys will like hover up excess food.

Trying to help,

George

 

[fiskkeeperpro]

i wont do a fishless cycle. I am going to put mature media into the filters so i can stock instantly.