Juwel Trigon 350

[mzm]

Hi everyone. Need to see whether this is going to turn out into a journal. It all depends on the feedback I will be getting (if any) from you guys here.

This is my new Juwel Trigon 350 which I set up about three weeks ago. I always imagined a planted discus tank and set about experimenting with a number of plants in order to see how they grow, what lives and what doesnt etc. under the conditions that I have to offer.

After three weeks the plants seem to be plodding along together with an outbreak of beard algae which seems to have taken root and as everyone knows, is very difficult to eradicate.

I am willing to tear out as many plants as need be in order to get a nice scape and I hope that you guys will help me with your ideas, input and recommendations.

Here are some shots. Quality isnt grand, I still need to get a decent camera....

Let me know what you. What I should remove, add or change

 

[Piece-of-fish]

The tank looks nice.
You could write a more detailed description on your hardware, substrate, fertiliser used etc... For how long lighting is on... ir order to get more advice.
I see it in your signature but not all is covered.

 

[mzm]

The tank is a corner Juwel Trigon 350 which holds approx. 350l.

Here is a list of the hardware that I am currently using:

-Ferplast Bluemec 1500l/h cannister filter. The filter has four filtration levels of which three are sponges and one is ceramics.
-Juwel Biohome Filter 1000l/h internal filter. This filter also has four filtration levels of which three are sponges and one is ceramics.
-2 x 300W Heaters. One is a Juwel the other is a Jaeger.
-Pressurised CO2 system with an Aquatic Nature Tornado reactor connected inline with the Ferplast Bluemec filter controlled by a Weipro PH controller, bubble counter. The reactor is inside the tank. CO2 is on a timer and comes on one hour prior to lights on and switches off one hour prior to lights out.
- Eheim drop checker.
- 4 x T5 Juwel tubes, 1 x 45W Day, 1 x 45W Colour, 1 x 28W Day and 1 x 28W Nature on for 6 hours a day between 17.00 hrs and 23.00 hrs.
- Eheim automatic fish food feeder.
- Substrate Seachem Flourite covered by some fine gravel I cannot recall the name of the brand.

Water Parameters

- Currently KH is at dkh 4. I say currently because I live near a huge revers osmosis plant and the KH is that of dkh 2 - 3 out of the tap. I have been using bicarbonate of soda to increase this, however I have decided to stop doing this since this distorts a clear picture of the ph reading somewhat.
- GH out of the tap is that of 6 however I have been adding Seachem Replenish and increased this to around 12 because I had the misconception that a higher GH is necessary / beneficial for plant growth / health. I have now researched most of the plants I have and it seems that all would be rather happy with a GH of 6 so I intend to not add Replenish anymore in the future.
- PH controller is set to keep the PH reading at 6.45. This is very low however, in order for the drop checker to turn lime green, this is what the controller has to be set at..... Since I was adding the bicarbonate of soda, I stopped referring to the PH charts and have been going according to the drop checker for the past two days.

Hardscape, Plants and fish:

- 6 pieces of driftwood (1 large in the center, heavily attacked by BBA or BGA, 2 smaller ones left and right, 2 even smaller ones upright at the back with Christmas moss and riccia fluitans tied to them, 1 with Java fern).
- Cryptocoryne Parva
- Cryptocoryne Costata
- Cryptocoryne Grafitii
- Eusteralis Stellata Grof
- Anubias Nana Bonsai
- Ludwigia Repens Rubin
- Hygrophila guianensis
- Hygrophila Polysperma
- Bolbitis Heudelotii
- Echinodorus Tennelus
- Glossostigma Elantinoides
- Java fern on driftwood
- Java moss on driftwood.
- Red Tiger Lotus
- some other Lotus name unknown
- Riccia Fluitans covering 4 pebbles.
- Valisneria Torta
- some other crypts name unknown
- 15 Cardinal Tetras
- 8 Rummy Nose
- 3 Corys
- 5 discus approx. 16cm each

Next week I should have some Limnophila Aromatica and Blyxa Japonica arriving. I love these plants....

I think that is all..... As I said I am pretty much experimenting and am sure to want to take out a chunk of plants which will not do well for me.

Your advice and ideas are most welcome.

 

[mattyc]

I like your tank, planting and fish . and the equiptment you are using must have cost loads !!
the only thing i am not to keen on is the blue background things, black would look better or just nothing.

but looks good

 

[mzm]

Hi Matt, thank you for your comments. The equipment did cost a lot, never thought that this hobby could cost that much :?

As regards to the background, I was told that the best background for Discus colours to come out would be light blue, hence the light blue. Indeed I thought that less of it would be visible though....

The colours of the Discus do appear much better than in my previous tank though

Michael

 

[Piece-of-fish]

I would agree with Matt, that light blue background looks pale, i wonder how it looks in real, maybe its completely different. I'd put black myself. Black should give you the nice colors of discus too.
Havent got much experience myself but i'd turn co2 on the tank this big 2-3 hours before lights on. Thats what i did on my 180l tank few months ago, set it to go on 3 hours instead of 2 before the lights, noticed a little difference.
Your plants are nice, only you should decide what goes in and what goes to the bin As i am relatively new to the hobby myself, i now have a 180l tank where i have loads of different plants just for trying and seeing how everything grows, trimimng technics etc, no big attention to the scaping (tank looks beautiful however ) together with that i have couple smaller ones where i try to aquascape more to get some experience on that as well...
Anyway if you hadnt had any experience before that is an amazing start...

 

[mzm]

Thank you for your feedback.

The only thing which is near to impossible for me to change is in fact the background.... It is contact paper and in order to replace it I would have to empty the tank (its really heavy) in order to remove the contact paper and replace it with a black or similar background...

I increased the CO2 to come on 3 hours before lights on and I hope that it will yield results.

The idea of having a second tank to experiment on is great, especially if you have the space for it.

I get a feeling that the tank seems cluttered and as you said I need to decide what goes in and what doesn't this is precisely why I posted it hear to get every bodies help.

I really feel that I should have more of a theme in it if you get what I mean.

Michael