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Juwel Rio 240l lighting

brads

Member
Joined
1 Oct 2013
Messages
75
Location
Co Down.
Hi All,

I have a Juwel Rio 240l with 2 x 54 watt Arcadia Plant grow J5 tubes (1047mm) with reflectors.

Is this enough lighting, for the size of my aquarium:

http://i.imgur.com/gbJPxJe.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ledmBwD.jpg




The Arcadia T5 High Output - Plant Pro is a T5 lamp that is ideal for use with tropical aquariums. It has been specifically formulated to combine the red and blue spectral peaks of the original tropical lamp to support plant photosynthesis, with the higher light output of the freshwater lamp. The result is a lamp which is noticeably brighter than the original tropical, making it ideal for more demanding plant species.
Specifications:
  • 54 Watt -42" 1047mm
At a glance:
  • Superior Plant growth
  • Enhance colours of fish and plant
  • Satisfy plant species with a higher light requirements

My Tank is heavily planted, Co2 Injection and dosing with All in One El, Lush Max

LUSH Max Aquatic Fertiliser 1 litre Aquarium Plant Food Fish Tank Fertilizer | eBay

Assistance much appreciated.

Billy
 
2 x 54w with reflectors is more than enough light it may even turn out to be to much, one thing ive learnt from this forum is that lighting is not the key to a successful tank, pretty much all plants will grow in a lot less light than we think by far the most important things are ferts and co2, co2 is where 99% of problems come from if you ensure excellent distribution of co2 then things will be fine, im far from experienced but when you set up the tank keep flow high, co2 high and light low, around 5 hour photoperiod to start and possibly without the reflectors, one thing I lernt quickly on my first scape, having less light is much easy to correct than having to much light then spending weeks or months trying to get rid of algae

Mark
 
Hi Brad! I have a rio 125 and am using the t5 tubes that came with the tank. Initially i was also using reflectors, but have since removed them. Initially I was supplying too much light and not enough co2, which resulted in me melting pretty much all of my carpeting plants. As mark says, i think you are better off starting with less light and concentrating on Co2 and ferts. My tank has really taken off since reducing the light and getting co2 and ferts right.

Lee.
 
Hi Lads,

Thanks ever so much for the input.

A lesson to be learnt. I put the same question to my LFS and they convinced me to buy another lighting unit, stating that I had insufficient lighting.
to that end I'm now £200 + out of pocket... well anyway they will do for spares when the other light unit burns out! so I've been told..

Thanks again for the input. I only wished I subscribed to Ukaps before I bought the Aquarium in July this Year.

Regards,

Billy
 
Just to add.......... I understand now why all my Annubias Nano 15+ of them for the second time now, have more or less died on me i.e the rhizome rotting away like a powdery substance, again all down to LFS, and to much lighting, poor Co2 distribution and bad flow circulation.

Could anyone out there recommend where I can buy Aquatic Plants from?

Assistance appreciated.

Billy
 
Im a bit bias but have a look at aqua essential (one of our sponsor) they are quite simply superb, great price and service is second to none
 
Brads,
I would be happy with the jest of the comments above, and I would say that if the driver burns out "as claimed" in short time for a T5 unit get in touch with Arcadia directly. Although I would be very surprised that this is the case, from my own knowledge.:) £200 for a T5 lighting unit seems expensive? What did you buy?:eek:
 
Hi Troglodite,

I bought the Juwel 240 Rio Lighting unit + 3 piece flap set with 4 x Arcadia plant grow pro T5s. The Light Unit came with Juwel T5s high lite day 9000K again was told that these tubes were no good for growing plants hence buying 4 arcadia T5s

I was told buy my LFS that the jewel light units have a tendency to burn out after 1 year.

http://i.imgur.com/ofhOpd3.jpg £175.00

http://i.imgur.com/fZBoJA4.jpg £25.00

Plus 4 Arcadia plant grow pro T5s. £25.00 each

Regards,

Billy
 
Hi Mark, I've looked at Aqua essentials and they are looking at £20.00 plus for delivery, because I live in belfast which is still part of UK.
£7.50 I think delivery in uk which I don't mind paying.. but £20:00 thats a bit steep.

Is there another, other than Aqua essentials !

Billy
 
Oh thats a bugger, you could try freshwater shrimp they to are a sponsor and have great reviews then theres the green machine there the only other 2 ive had experience with, failing that theres java plants and plants alive but ive got no experience with either

A google search has thrown up aquaworld.ie based in Ireland and stock tropica plants ?
Mark
 
Hi Brads,
Oh I see it is the Juwel T5 lighting unit. I am not sure it will burn out after only a year but I would be interested in hearing if it does. My brother (an electrician) repairs his Juwel units by cutting open the hood and replacing with a better (more reliable) starter unit. He then seals it all back down making it water tight again and has run these for many more years. Just a thought to minimise your outlay, if it does go.
I do not think the LFS will be trying to mislead you, however, it appears there may be some grounds to doubt the claim made by him. I have being doing some lighting spectrum and photosynthesis reviews and I am beginning to see where Cegs was coming from when he made his earlier thread comments on this subject. However I have more reading to do before, I myself, can make any further constructive contributions to this subject. Hopefully in the future though. :)
 
Hi Billy, I too can vouch for Aqua essentials, I understand the additional postage to be a charge levied by the carriers rather than the stores, it seems the couriers have zones where additional charges apply which are out of the stores control:-S
Another I have used are charterhouse Aquatics, they do have free delivery over £50 but you may want to check their t&c for any additional fees;)
Clive

Sent from my LT30p using Tapatalk 4
 
Off with the reflectors and will monitor over the next few weeks, will also concentrate on the Co2 injection.

Thanks again, all for taking the time out it has been a roller coaster so far, but with the help from Ukaps members i will eventually have some wonderful aqua-scapes.

Kindes regards,

Anyone interseted in buying T5s and a Juwel Rio 240l Lighting unit, :lol:

Billy
 
The Arcadia T5 High Output - Plant Pro is a T5 lamp that is ideal for use with tropical aquariums. It has been specifically formulated to combine the red and blue spectral peaks of the original tropical lamp to support plant photosynthesis, with the higher light output of the freshwater lamp. The result is a lamp which is noticeably brighter than the original tropical, making it ideal for more demanding plant species.
Which is complete load of steer manure.

Cheers,
 
Hi Ceg,

This is what is on Arcadia website,

I asked if these T5s were enough or to much for my juwel rio 240l, I'm new to planted aquariums and these lights were recommended by LFS

I Have very little choice with the overall length of my unit being 1047mm.

The choice I have with the current setup is Arcadia or Juwel high lite day being 9000kelvin which again told by LFS not to use as they are no good for planted aquariums.

Assistance would be much appreciated.

Regards
Billy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
Hi Billy,
Here is a special UKAPS tip: Ignore all advice about plants from LFS. If you have a question about hamsters and so forth, then I'm sure their advice will be useful, however, this is not the case with plants.

Here is truth:

You can use any bulb of any Kelvin and any color you want. The thing that kills plants is when you use too much light and not enough CO2 and nutrition. You will not find any correlation between the color or brand of bulb you use and plant health. Always use the color combination of bulbs that look nice to YOU, not to the LFS. If you like 9000K bulbs then use them. Your plants will not care.

I'll refer you to the chart embedded in the post Dymax Tropical 36 watt | Page 4 | UK Aquatic Plant Society
Have a look at the chart, measure the distance to the substrate, and try as much as possible to stay in the blue zone.

Pay much more attention to your CO2, flow and distribution techniques because that is what grows plants and has, by far the greatest influence on your success. Please navigate to the top of this Lighting section and read the sticky thread at the very top of the page. This will give you an idea of the different color combinations. None of them have any advantage in growing plants AND those bulbs are cheap, so you can affor to buy a lot of them and play around until you find a combination that you like.

Navigate to the Tutorial Section of the forum and read the article threads there.

Cheers,
 
Thanks Lee will give them a go.

Billy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk.
 
Thanks Ceg,
It's much appreciated, however because of the size of the light unit I have, I only have the 2 choices Arcadia or Juwel 1047mm T5 size


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