Juwel Rekord 70l Lighting upgrade.

This was a thread I wrote many moons ago. The light tube used was only to illustrate the actual build and validate what could be achieved. Light tube technology has moved on a pace since this article but the principal would still remain the same for anyone wishing to add more light to a standard Juwel Aquarium canopy, given its constraints.

Many Aquarists are familar with the Juwel brand of aquariums, Whilst these are fab kits, with all you need in one box, there is one major drawback with the hood if you want to grow aquatic plants, there is only one tube and not much room for another. Here follows a bit of a walkthrough on how I installed another within the limited space. see picture below..



Unless you want to remove the internal ballast box (messy and unsightly when done), The only room left is at the front, right before the feeding hatch so that choice has virtually already made for us.



Here is a picture of all the equipment that you'll need to complete the upgrade. It consists of fluorescent light tube (your choice) starter unit, standard Juwel reflector, 2x thin threaded bolts and 2x black plastic screw-cups with caps.

A few tools are also needed and most people will have access to a drill & drill bit, screwdriver and a pair of pliers.

I started by carefully drilling two small holes in the reflector at each end, now place the reflector evenly in the front of the hood where you want it to go, using this as a template drill through the hood from the inside out. Now insert the bolts (mine were a bit long and needed to be cut to size, easily done with a junior hacksaw) through the holes in the reflector, through the hood and through your screw cups. Tighten the little nuts,snap the caps over the cups and you almost done.



A close-up of the bolts and screw-cups and caps.(available at any DIY store).

Fit your tube into the clips in the reflector, connect your starter unit to the tube and switch on. Job done!!!!



Here is a picture with the new tube inserted..



Here is a view from the top after modification (detatched from the tank)



Here is another view from the top (back on the tank) notice I have retained the space for feeding...



Here is the overall view.

I hope this will be of some help to owners of this type of aquarium setup who wish at some point to grow aquatic plants. This can be adapted to any of the Juwel range simply by purchasing the correct length of reflector. The whole project cost under £30.
Any comments, queries or additional useful info will be greatly appreciated.
Regards
C

Very good post.
Could you add how many W is the new tube and also if you have the picture before upgrade?

good idea i like it!
Al

Could you add how many W is the new tube and also if you have the picture before upgrade?

The new tube was 18w but you need to get one which will fit the canopy. 18w was 15 inches long. I believe you can get 20 inch tubes somewhere with a little more intensity and wattage. I was going to use power compacts but they give off too much heat and would have melted the plastic canopy. This all needs to be weighted against achieving a proper light spectrum for the plants to flourish and not encourage nuisance algae.
I'm sorry I have no saved images of pre-modification.
Regards
C

Thanks a mill for that C, mods and upgrade details are always welcome, if only the suppliers of Aquaria could see the benefit in equipping their product with good quality lighting or making different types of Lighting available as extras, like optional extras on a new Car for instance.

There have been quite a few people looking for mods using LED lighting but end up hacking their setups to bits trying to fit things in places they weren't made for, it's always a case of trying to make things fit instead of properly matched kit.

Thanks again,

Kev.