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Old but new :)

nry

Member
Joined
23 Oct 2007
Messages
1,225
Location
Cumbria, UK
Hey again all, after a huge break of 5 or 6 years, my life now has space again for another aquarium :)

Pretty much stemming from babysitting a neighbours goldfish in a 'lacking' plastic tank and the kids have loved it, I'll likely be going for a low-tech 80cm tank next week to set up with the kids over the summer holidays.

At the moment it's looking likely to be a Juwel Primo 110 LED - I've looked at loads and my old Juwel Rekord 54L was a good buy and as much as I prefer external filters, the Juwel internals I feel are some of the better ones for filter volume.

I'm planning to stick with the inbuilt lighting, probably put some substrate down beneath some sand and stick to lower light planting, but I will be dosing light levels of fertilisers, not sure on Excel but I don't want this one to become CO2 or EI based, the workload to maintain that isn't what I'm after, just something that looks good, the kids enjoy and is easy to look after.

It's going in the kitchen well out of direct sunlight which was always an issue with my last tank - we've moved house since so in the future, there is plenty of space for a super massive aquarium in the living room once we start to furnish it, somewhere around 5-5.5 feet in width..,.for now, a smaller 80cm which is still nicely bigger than my old 60cm!

I'll start a new setup thread once it all gets going :)
 
Thanks :)

All ordered today, aquarium, substrate (I'm a fan of Tetra Complete so that topped with dark sand) and some generic filter foam and wool as I'm not going to be touching the carbon or nitrate removal sponges that are supplied with the aquarium.

Went for the AquaEssentials NPK and liquid carbon fertiliser, still not sure on hardscape though. I have some nice rocks which I kept from my old setup, so I may use these, and add some Manzanita wood but I'll see how the current rocks are for size and placement one it is all here so I can play with it devoid of water for a while.

I have some favourite plants in mind, I love the Windelov fern, rotalla and though I am unsure how well it may do, I am wondering on trying some HC but maybe not, certainly a tank more suited to java ferns and some anubias on the wood.

The kids will have some input on the fish, but some oto's and shrimp are likely a necessity, they loved the shrimp last time around :)
 
Things have clearly moved on in respect of lighting in new aquariums :)

Very impressed with the upgrade options on the Primo 110 - it comes with an LED light tube but you can add at least another 3, if not 4 more, as it has the mounting holes in the lid to screw them into. Way easier than my old Juwel Rekord which needed major surgery to do the same thing! Juwel supplied nitrate and carbon sponges removed, and replaced with cut to shape generic sponge and some filter wool instead of the tiny thin wool pad Juwel supply. Vague possibility the filter outlet will take a spray bar but I think it may instead go for the easy option of pushing water out of the filter box slats instead...so may not work too well even though the water flow would be better.

The back of the tank will be painted black.

I'm not planning to add any more lights, though the standard tube ends up around 7 watts per litre which is pretty low so who knows, even for low tech I may be better with at least one more tube in.

Substrate is in, still playing with the original rocks I had in the old tanks, and I have some wood and all the plants ordered from AE which are due Monday. Plants are a mixture of:

Anubias nana Bonsai
Pogostemon helferi
Cryptocoryne parva
Hemianthus callitrichoides - serious gamble :)
Eleocharis acicularis
Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala green
Microsorum pteropus Windelov

I've had all of them before and these are my favourites, though I suspect the HC is a severe gamble but time will tell.
 

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Hello Buddy, good to see you back. Thought I'd spotted you sniffing round the forums lately. You maybe don't remember me but I bought a Reg off you many moons ago and at the time I think you must have been knocking the hobby on the head as you threw in a load of bits and pieces. Not sure if you are still living in the same area after your move but if so give me a shout if you need anything and I'll return the favour. I have all sorts of bits and bobs lying around in my aquarium spares cupboard, as you do :)

Regarding the HC, I have quite a good carpet of Monte Carlo going at the minute which may be less of a gamble as well as various other plants so if you are still around my neck of the woods just give me a shout and I'll drop some cuttings off when you get ready. ;)
 
In fact thinking about it, we never actually met. You weren’t in when I picked the reg up and you left it round the back of the house with various other bits including a tank so I'm either the guy who bought a reg off you or the guy who pinched your fish keeping equipment out of your garden :rolleyes::D
 
I'd not paint the aquarium back, easy to use a self adhesive backing & you can remove if you decide to do a backlighting strip - you can also set a blue or whatever color card behind the tank - Mark Evans journals have some outstanding photos with backlighting & various card colours

Rotala green really does prefer CO2 & higher lighting
C parva as well, C petchii is a lovely small crypt that can vary from greens through pink(ish) & does very well with light etc you're planning
Go for M 'Monte Carlo' rather than the HC - it tends to have a small leaf in low tech & has a decent chance of growing
Pogostemon erectus is more likely to thrive than P helferi

Growth in general is much slower so it's good to use the liquid carbon for its algicide properties (small daily dose)
 
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I'd add in an extra LED to start - seems more economic to me than possibly losing plants for lack of sufficient light (though ambient lighting can be a decent supplement) - Charterhouse lists it at 32 £ & will price match
(no idea how this compares to tank cost so far)
 
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