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My planted Juwel 400 project!

Brian Murphy

Brian Murphy

Member
Joined
20 Oct 2012
Messages
592
Location
Omagh, N.Ireland
I started this blog on 8th August ......

Ok folks, never done this before but it has always been my dream to create one of those Planted tanks you see all over the interweb, so I really wanted a bigger tank than the 3ft that I already had. After months of searching for a 6ft x 2ft x 2ft and not getting one, I eventually re-thought the idea of having to buy a tank and buying this and that and building a stand etc so I went for a happy medium .... a Jewel Rio 400 with all included. So last friday I eventually bought one :)

I also wanted to do a blog of the project so no better place than here. It is costing me a small fortune aswell so I really hope I fulfil my dream!

Here is a pic of my current 3ft tank that I have had since February, I done a fishless cycle for around 4 weeks WITH plants and then decided to add ammonia to speed up the cycle and near burnt all my plants .... you live and learn lol .... alot of them came back though and have done really well ..... I know I didn't plant them in the right places but I know now what I want to do. I will be taking alot of cuttings from this tank as I can and some do need a trim!

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In this tank I had -
1 Pleco
2 male & 3 female Swordtails
Pair Kribensis and 30 3 month old fry and 13 3 week old fry
4 zebra danios
4 Bala/silver sharks

Fluval U3 filter, 25w powerglo, root tabs, daily dose of easycarbs, weekly dose of API Leaf Zone, fed twice a day with flake plus every other day frozen live food (brine, bloodworm, daphnia) :)

My new juwel 400 still has 4 marine T5's. I have ordered 4 new T5's online so expecting anyday now. Here are a few pics of the tank so far ....................

Trying out a few layouts
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I got the bogwood on gumtree and the driftwood root from a beach on Lough Melvin, Co.Fermanagh, I had previously picked up some small pieces there for my 3ft
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Wednesday 8th August

........I had to do this on the cheap after forking out more than I thought I would have on the tank so I decided to go with the allponds 1400 uv. I have used Tetraplant complete substrate and black gravel.

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Alot of work rinsing 50kg of gravel lol but eventually I got it filled and last night and added some quick start this time to see how it goes .... today I even put in the first of a few cuttings from my 3ft.

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Hi Murf, nice big tank you have there! Just one thing if I may: I'm not an expert but I think four T5 produce quite large amount of light and you could run into trouble especially if you are going to use only Easycarbo like in your previous tank (which was lovely by the way).
Good luck, I will follow your progress,

Cheers,
Mario
 
Saturday 25th August

.......Update on my tank is as follows ..... I have added 3 panda corydoras and moved a few plants over from my 3ft ..... tbh Im waiting on payday at the end of the month before I can do anything more dramatic regards the plants .... gonna make a visit, maybe next saturday to my local lfs to pick up more plants and some rock. I also got my new tubes from iquatics ... 4 x 54w Tropicals ... pretty good value :)
 
Saturday 5th September

.......So I took a wee trip up the road today and went to Maidenhead Aquatics in Belfast but I didn't really think much of the plants they had for sale .... some sort of gunk floating around the plants and some leaves brown. Decided to move on and try Grosvenor Tropicals, Lisburn and they had much of what I needed and of course they stock Tropica plants so there was no real doubt as to what to go for. I also picked up 4 shrimp, 6 Rumynose Tetras and 20 orange Tetras.

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The plants I picked up today were ....

Staurogyne Repens x 5
Bacopa Caroliniana
Hydrocotyle
Hemianthus x 2
... and a nice Anubia on bogwood :)

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Wednesday 26th September ....

Co2 is now flowing everyday and is around 30ppm so looking good for optimal lucious plant growth :)

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Also planted some Eleocharis acicularis as my 3rd carpeting plant (doing this to see what comes up trumps and is easiest to maintain)

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My Staurogyne repens are starting to sprout new shoots for the first time since planting, even seen a runner

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Friday 5th October ........

I have started using the Easylife Profito and no it wont harm the shrimp especially if you spread the weekly dose out into daily doses. Having problems with Black Beard Algae at the moment in both my tanks .... Im hoping the Co2 and the ferts can sort it out but at the moment Im just trimming the worst affected leaves off. Im also losing the bottom leaves of my Bacopa plant on the left :td: Heres the latest weekly pic of the tank ........

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Friday 5th October ........

I have started using the Easylife Profito and no it wont harm the shrimp especially if you spread the weekly dose out into daily doses. Having problems with Black Beard Algae at the moment in both my tanks .... Im hoping the Co2 and the ferts can sort it out but at the moment Im just trimming the worst affected leaves off. Im also losing the bottom leaves of my Bacopa plant on the left :( Heres the latest weekly pic of the tank ........

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mario said:
Hi Murf, nice big tank you have there! Just one thing if I may: I'm not an expert but I think four T5 produce quite large amount of light and you could run into trouble especially if you are going to use only Easycarbo like in your previous tank (which was lovely by the way).
Good luck, I will follow your progress,

Cheers,
Mario
Click to expand...

Thanks Mario, I haven't had any problems regarding too much light so far. I am dosing now with 8ml easycarbo and 6ml Profito daily. Want to get a better understanding of EI dosing and maybe start that. Had to stop my Co2 over a week ago and waiting for a new setup to arrive during the week. My hairgrass isn't really growing at all .... a few strands have grown up but now runners as yet which is disappointing.
 
October 27th ....

Sorry for no update in a while. I had to send my Co2 system back because the adjustment knob for flow of Co2 was far to hard to adjust and set just right. I've taken skin off my finger trying to open it in the morning and it took near 10-15mins to get it set a 1 bubble per sec or whatever I wanted it at. Then when I left it for 10 mins it would either stop or start gushing out! Too unreliable and risky to use. Just got my money back and ordered a new sodastream version. Just arrived on thursday but still to install it as I havent had the time. Plan to do it on sunday. Will get pics up then :)
 
October 29th .....

Having nothing problem after problem with the Co2 system. My new one came with 15mm hose and had to try and get it attached to my filter which had 20mm hose attached, so that was a no go no matter how much I tried to make the hose malleable. Ive ordered some hose connectors so that should make it easier as long as it doesn't affect the flow rate. Going to order a 2nd filter for my tank (if anyone has one for sale? ) aswell cause Im thinking I need one for water clarity and water movement. Got some new plants aswell so hope to get the Co2 going soon. The plants I got where Ludwigia Arcuata / Needle Leaf and Alternanthera Reineckii / Telanthera, Rosaefolia, really nice too :)
 
Tuesday 6th November ....

Finally got the Co2 going :drinking: .... what a melt that was. Leaks everywhere but after lots of trials and errors I finally got it up and running without any leaks. I have lost some plants due to melting because of the strong light and not enough nutrients and co2 injection. I have the Co2 and lights on timer now and also EI dosing everyday and a rest day on saturday plus a water change day (sunday). Thats what you call High tech lol .... now lets see the rewards (hopefully). Here are the latest pics ......

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Drop Checker

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The Sodastream Co2 system

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My only concern at the minute is the flow rate and and the oxygen levels as the spray bar used to sit slightly out of the water but when the plants get going oxygen shouldn't be a worry. I've ordered a new allponds 2000L/H filter anyway so that should be up and running by the weekend so that will take care of oxygen (not too much as oxygen pushes Co2 out of the water) and mainly water flow around the tank and obviously help with biomass. My drop checker has a green tinge now so happy with that as it indicates between 25-30ppm of Co2 which is ideal for lushious plant growth.

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You can sort of see the Co2 mixed with the outflow from the spraybar

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REDSTEVEO said:
Looking great mate, the Juwel RIO 400 in Black is a lovely looking tank. Do you mind if I ask how much you paid for it and where you got from? PM me if you don't want to tell everyone :)

Cheers Steve
Click to expand...

Thanks ..... yeah the black looks sooo much better than the beech finish imo .... I bought it through Gumtree 2nd hand for £550. You could probably pick them up cheaper and when I was looking for one, I found great offers in England but was no good to me over here in N.Ireland
 
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