Rhy's Juwel Rio 125L Tropic To Marine Attempt!

[seffieuk]

Don't worry its just your naughty school boy leather sheading its mucus

Are you running carbon as you now have a couple of hard corals and the Leather? And, do you have enough light for that 'stick'?

Seffie x

 

[GGtank]

Yup running carbon and in the process of getting more T5's hopefully I'll have 4 before the end of the week. so the mucous kinda cleared a bit and then I went in to reposition stuff and all of a sudden there was LOADS more! AND it seems to all be coming off the orange zoas. Could it be coming off the zoas or is it definitely the leather?

My cleaner shrimp has now taken to guarding the feather duster, everytime it opens out he starts picking away all the food particles it's managed to collect, what a cheeky shrimp!

 

[seffieuk]

You might have a worm or something that is in the zoas, which is giving off the stringy stuff - i wouldn't worry to much, as long as you are running the carbon

Seffie x

 

[GGtank]

Cheers Seffie!

Slime is gone now (re-adjusted the powerheads) and orange zoas are opening out.

I have a question about lighting. I have 2 T5's (Juwel High lite marine and Juwel high lite blue). What would be the best additions to the hood that I have to keep corals like Monti's? I bought a string of blue LED christmas lights (LOL) and tacked them to the hood but the blue glow isn't impressive at all!

I want lights that enable me to keep monti's but I also want lights that can give me the LED effect for an hour or so before lights out. Any suggestions?]]

I find the whole LED thing confusing!!! Are they just for the effect or can they actually support reef life and replace T5s


Rhy

 

[sorgan]

Goodness that torch is a stunner! Loving the tank so far.

 

[seffieuk]

The great LED debate - well, LEDs like the TMC range can support corals, but they are very expensive! Why dont you just get some blue moonlights off ebay and a couple more T5 tubes?

Seffie x

 

[GGtank]

Thanks Sorgan! It's opening up much more now that I've moved the flow! I'll post pics during the week! The guy in the LFS saw me eyeing it in his display tank, and then I told him I was gonna buy a 'not so attractive' torch from the coral section and he kinda sighed and just pulled out the torch from the display tank and gave me it LOL!

Seffie, I swear this aquarium lighting thing is mad confusing. There's such a discrepancy in prices and function, im trying to wrap my head around wattage and colour temperature etc (and im failing miserably lol). I bought a strip of 80 blue LED christmas lights that are on the tank hood right now, but they are hardly doing anything (even when the main T5s are off lol!) So i decided to buy these

http/www.ultraleds.co.uk/waterproof-blue-strips-metre-p-1754.html


Think that'll be enough to give a nice flourescent glow to my zoas/cloves/torch?


Rhy

 

[GGtank]

So today was an exciting day!

After much discussion and reading, I bought two TMC LED lights *yikes*, they are reef blue (5 blue LEDs per strip) and create this crazy shimmer in the tank. I've only installed one on the hood today cause my Deltec MCE 300 also arrived today! I had NO clue it was soooo big! Pictures sure are deceiving! Anyways it can't fit on my tank! At least not as it is, so I did some modifications.

It's been running about an hour now but still releasing lots of large bubbles, and it's quite loud. Any suggestions?

NEW LEDS

Out of the box

Skimmer!!!

As you can see here, the outflow pipe is almost directly on top of my reflector!!!! And thats without the triangular gas exchanger thingy!

So I cut it and it fits now!

But the bubbles are CRAZY! I opened it out to the 2 o'clock position but still lots of bubbles, less large ones though and more tiny ones. Hope it clears up!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Rhy

 

[seffieuk]

If you think thats big you should see the mce 600

It is very usual for the skimmer to be a little noisy and to have bubbles to start with, takes a while to bed in but also for you to tweak a bit (however, they are never the quietest of things

And look at those lights, very flash, can't wait to see some photos of the shimmer

Seffie x

ps I take it you now have the TFF salties, Money tree can I have it after you please?

 

[GGtank]

Cheers Seffie!

Wish I still had that money tree, seemed to have lost it, hope it finds you next!

Heres the tank with the skimmer at the start, it's now not making much bubbles at all! I just had to open the air valve to the exact minute position to get the bubbles to stop!

Here's Bingo, he's smalled and shy

Here's Harpo with his/her incomplete stripe! So cute!!!

Harpo and Bingo

They haven't hosted anything in the tank yet but im hoping they go for the torch coral!
Enjoy

Rhy

 

[jameshughes1989]

It all looks ace mate. Them lights must of set you back a bit. What lighting have you got on the tank now? I thought you was planning on getting more t5s?

That skimmer is what im running on nano. As Seffie said, give it a few days to bed in, although mine seemed to be fine after hours. I too had to cut the outlet pipes, otherwise they would have come out to the middle of the tank not a good look.

Loving the clowns mate, wish my tank was big enough for a pair. Im sure the tank is really starting to come together now. what have you got planned for your next addition?


James

 

[GGtank]

Thanks James,

The LEDs definitely set me back a bit! LOL! But after calculating it, they are a huge money saver in the long run (lasts 10yrs as opposed to yearly bulb changes, cost 10 times less to run a year, and also they don't affect the water temperature one bit [which to me is the best benefit, cause I was dreading having to buy a fan or having to raise my lid etc]).


Been staring at the tank for close to 2 hours now, it's actually fascinating how things look with the LEDs in! And the box didn't lie, there's an amazing shimmer effect with rays of light visible coming into the water, very pretty altogether.

I currently have my ORIGINAL Juwel Rio 125l lid and I have 1 T5 Juwel Blue, 1 T5 Juwel Marine (in the original fittings) and then on to the back and front lids I've attached the Aquabeam 600 Ultra (both are reef blue). I did want to get one that was reef white but went for all blue instead. Each of the Aquabeams is a rod with 5 LED lights in it, and each one gives about 33% more light than a 24W T5. So I'm hoping I'm around the 4-5WPG range now (and can get a plating monti! I'll take pics of the lights and stuff later this week. I didn't have to remove the centre bar or anything on the aquarium, just screwed them in.


Tank is fascinating under the LEDs, unlike the cheaper LEDs all the corals actually stay open with the LEDs on so you can see all the fluorescing, it's like watching Avatar the movie! The torch, the orange zoas, the rainbow zoas, the clove coral all fluoresce. I also noticed a little thing that looked like a slug with fat spines that fluoresced orange!!! Not sure what it is yet though... any thoughts guys?

Will post pics, they don't do the effect justice but i'll post them anyways


Next I'm thinking either
- royal gramma
- goby/pistol shrimp pair ... really want this
- 6 line wrasse
- Bangaii cardinal fish

I can't make my mind up, so many I'd love and I'll probably eventually get all of the above lol. Not sure what other fish are suited to a peacful tank my size though...

Coral wise I'm gonna defo get a trumpet I think and perhaps later on, a monti plate. I was gonna pick up a bubble tip anemone as well but decided to let the tank mature for a few months first. I'd love to get a coral that likes strong light to go on the plateau rock in my tank next to the toadstool, but can't think of anything that would be suitable. Any suggestions???


Rhy

 

[simonas]

looking good

I;m loving other peoples journals now not much ischanging with mine lol

I like the blue coral you have is it doing well?

 

[GGtank]

Cheers! Yeah the gorgonian (purple whip) is doing great. Fascinating to watch, one second it looks completely fluffy with all the polyps out and then u turn your head and all of a sudden it looks like a purple stick!

SO today I found out exactly how weak I am. Went to a different fish store, just to 'have a look', came home with three new friends lol!

Trumpet coral, which I LOVEEE

Sixline wrasse, amazing to watch, zooming out of every hole and nook and cranny, picking up all the little bristle worms etc! So pretty! Finally a fish that appreciates my aquascaping lol! The clowns just never cared to swim in between the caves etc! On very close inspection, she has the tiniest white fleck on her tail, I'm praying its not white spot. I should really REALLY get a quarantine tank...

Might need an ID here as now that its home, i'm not sure if I bought what I had researched. Is it a Lobophyllia, Trachyphyllia or Wellsophyllia?

And a new guy that I found when the LEDs were on by themselves last night, He glows Orange under LED! Anyone know what he is? is he good? Bad? Food for the sixline???

FTS, its a bit cloudy (just epoxied on the Trumpet, but will settle in an hour or so, I'll retake one then!

Rhy

 

[seffieuk]

Looks like a berghia to me, you lucky chap

Seffie x