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New Jewel Rio 300 Setup

870 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  dshuld
Good Morning!

I am new to the forum and would consider my self a noobie in the fishkeeping world!

I have had a 150l (30 Gallon) tank for about 2 years now. For the past year i have been looking after discus using a 300l external filter, submerged heater and attempted to keep some java fern ( Not very experienced ). Keeping discus i am very aware of my water parameters and it has if anything made me more knowledgeable than i would be if i was to keep other fish.

I have enjoyed my journey in the fish keeping world and have decided to upgrade to a 350L (77 Gallon) tank. Obviously i have done a hell of a lot of research and won't be changing over until the new tank has been setup and fully cycled. But before i even think about cycling my tank i would love to get some advice in what i am trying to achieve.

I would like plants as they are a great asset to the tank providing oxygenation, compete with algae, absorb nitrates and fish love them. So i would like to start with plants such as anubias which require no substrate however i would like to lay some substrate in place for additional plants to be added in the future.

The questions i would like to ask:
Would a submerged flowpump be a good way to create flow to distribute the injected co2 around the tank or would that create oxygen which would let the co2 escape or is it even necessary to do this in this size tank?

What is a good substrate to be added under sand (Ideally i would like to create a sort of uneven terrain)?

With the lighting mentioned in the equipment below would that be sufficient or too much?

Equipment for the new tank so far:
Juwel Rio 300 (Tank)
2x T5 Lights with reflectors
2x T8 Lights with reflectors
Oase Bio Master 600
Heater
co2 injection ( not yet purchased )
2 x 25kg Silver Sand
Aqua Medic EcoDrift 4.0 (Was the pump i had in mind for water flow)


Any additional suggestions would be appreciated as i am very open to advice and criticism! I look forward to your responses and would love to keep everyone updated on my new project.

Cheers,
Nathan
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I use a mj1200 run through a spray bar currently for my co2. Works well as far I can tell and I think some others here use powerheads/ circulations pumps too. That being said, I am looking at making a griggs style reactor for my c530's to move the extra stuff back out of my tank when I change to bdbs from pfs in the next week or two.

As far as under your sand, are you wanting to go dirt or just looking to add something "hard" under the sand to build up the area?
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Firstly, thanks for the response!

Okay great so i will look into getting a pump do you recommend a size for a 300litre/75 gallon tank? The pump is used purely to move the water around and it doesn't create any additional oxygen does it?

As for substrate, I don't know really. Would something hard prevent the build up of gases, as I've heard a thick substrate can be dangerous for fish?
The mj1200 is rated at 295gph and when placed under my center brace (75 gal too) pointed at the front glass it was making "dunes" in my tank from moving my pfs. I didn't want it on one end so I went with the spray bar choice. What few co2 bubbles make it up and out before dissolving make it about halfway across the top before sinking into the spray bar flow on the front glass from the c530 I'm running on it atm. If I went side to side with just the mj1200 it would probably be about right for what I like but I don't like the bulk of it hanging from the side in the open lol.

If it is gas build up you're worried about get Malaysian trumpet snails. They burrow through the sub releasing any pockets they run into. When I first started I went what I would now consider to be to thick of a sub with dirt (4 or 5 inches roughly) and the mts I think helped with my "mistakes" back then and I now keep them in every tank I set or reset up, even my yellow tail acei tank with its shallow sub. The hard stuff (egg crate light diffuser, rocks, acrylic border etc.) is only going to help shape the features you're after.

To give you an idea on how thick, I put a full .75cuft bag of topsoil in here (55 gal) and used the gravel/ sand the tank came with when I bought it off craigslist as the cap. I didn't see many bubbles back then even with hundreds of mts in the tank but occasionally they did hit a pocket. It was kind of cool to wake up to them all over the glass when the tank was dark and disappear not long after lights on.


ps: you're welcome for the reply :)
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