Category Archives: General

Juwel automatic feeder with a red flashing light

Posted by on January 8, 2011 21 comments

We had to buy a Juwel automatic feeder for our Juwel RIO tank. The feeder is very simple to setup and use. When I turned the feeder on for the first time, I got a the red LED indicating that the device was on as described in manual. But after some ten seconds the red LED started flashing. I was surprised to find out that there was no mentioning about a red flashing indicator in the instructions manual, so I searched for a while on Google and found this forum and thread.

It turns out that the red flashing indicator on the feeder means that the drum is in the wrong position for it to be able to spin. Let me just say that the drum was in this position when I took it out from the package.

If you have this red blinking indicator on the Juwel feeder, gently spin the drum manually some degrees towards you or so that the text “Juwel aquarium” is pointing towards you. Then you can try by pressing the ‘M’ button to manually spin the drum. And for example test the amount of food it will dispense.

This is absolutely something that Juwel should have included in the instructions, but I hope this blog post will help you with the issue.

Our freshwater aquarium 30.10.2010 – Or how I made my freshwater aquarium beautiful.

Posted by on October 30, 2010 No comments

Below in an image of our aquarium taken 30.10.2010.

Our freshwater aquarium - 30.10.2010At least to me the aquarium looks more or less like an aquarium I would like to have. Recently I have been more focusing on good plant growth since to me that is the basic for any good and beautiful aquarium. Good plant growth without algae shows immediately that the aquarium is healthy and to me at least showing nice looking, healthy plants is to show that I keep good care of my aquarium in the long run. Anyone can drop in a few fish and buy some plastic boats that will spit air bubbles, but having healthy plants requires some effort.

I have also had some troubles with the fish in the past, especially in the beginning of our new tank. I had some issues with the N-cycle but it is looking all better now. I haven’t changed the water in three weeks and my readings look good: pH: 7.0, NO2: <0.025 ppm and NO3: 10 ppm. To add to this, we are also having guppy babies in the tank. We got five of them and they are all still alive. They are now two weeks old and about 1-1.5cm long and it looks very promising for them to reach full growth. People say that this is not a big deal for guppies as they give birth so often, but to me this tells that my aquarium is healthy!
Especially people that are new to aquariums and getting their first tank, I think they start wondering shortly how they can achieve these results and a healthy looking aquarium. I will give you my advice below so you don’t need to wonder what are the secret to have a good looking aquarium. Read more »

Joined Aquarium Advice community

Posted by on October 16, 2010 No comments

I’ve been looking for sites on the Internet that would gather freshwater aquarium hobbyists together and also give advice to beginners. This hobby is so changing that you just can’t do it by only reading a book (but it of course helps a lot). Just as I have been writing about on this blog, there are many people giving different kinds of advice and in the end it all depends on your tank and what you have in it. So it is good to have someone to ask or share and exchange your own thoughts to others.

So today I today joined the Aquarium Advice community at http://www.aquariumadvice.com. I been a member for only a few hours, but already my initial post got many replies from people who really seem to understand this and know what they are saying. It feels nice to have a place to ask questions from and also share good moments. Already from this first day in the community I have to say that I changed again my opinion about water change frequency. It really makes sense to change the water quite often since in the nature the water is flowing and changing naturally, while in an aquarium it’s you who have to do the changes – so why not change it as it would in the nature. It really seems there is no harm in changing the water too often (that is, if you are not doing it daily – that would cause unnecessary stress to the fish :)) if you are careful with vacuuming the gravel too intensively. So I will probably follow the following pattern in water changes from now on: change 10-20% of the water weekly with light gravel vacuuming and once a month 30-40% water change with intense gravel vacuuming.

From amateur tank to pro tank

Posted by on September 19, 2010 2 comments

For the past six years I had a 100 liters aquarium tank, which I would like to call an amateur tank. You know – it’s one of those kits they sell you at the local pet store with everything included and really one of those you normally may recall as a “normal” tank. Still, a 100 liters tank is big enough to really get excited and get enough plants and fish to appreciate this hobby. And it was a high quality tank made in Finland. So it was a great way to get started. As you can see from the picture, there were quite a few plants which in my opinion did well. And the fish as well.

My primary principle for this hobby is that everything costs, and if you are about to take this seriously it’s worth spending an extra 10 euros or so to get the best items you can. As you can see from the picture, I had a bigger filter than required. It was graded for 120 liters to 150 liters. This kept the water clear and the water flow high enough. I also use Easy-life ProFito as plant fertilizer and Easy-Life Carbo for extra carbon.
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My freshwater aquarium

Posted by on September 19, 2010 No comments

Hello, and welcome!

Let me introduce myself. I am 31 years old, I live in the city of Turku, in the Nordic land of Finland, earn my living from writing software but find aquariums as a great hobby in contrast to sitting in front of the computer. I’ve had my freshwater aquarium for six years already and never really thought that this would be a serious hobby of mine. Until last month, August 2010, my wife and I bought the Juwel RIO 180 tank instead of our previous 100 liters aquarium. After that I realized that this hobby went to a next level. This is our aquarium as of today.

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