Maintenance advice for JUWEL tanks

[LoveArowanas]

Hi all. I have the Vision 180L

http://www.juwel-aquarium.de/en/vision.htm?cat=10

# Regarding the carbon filter. Instructions say to change that once a week. Now when i had lots of big fish it used to get very poo-ey after one week, so I would change it that often. However now I just have little fish it really doesnt seem to get manky that quickly. Are we changing this thing on the basis of how manky it looks? Or is the "once a week" thing carved out in stone by the fish gods? Can I buy this carbon filter stuff in bulk somewhere? Seems a bit retarded to keep buying these special little packs from the LFS

# I bought a blue fluro tube. Is that supposed to replace the tube at the front of the tank or the back?

# Also...ummm, is my tank a bit K-Rap? I mean ...in terms of quality/efficiency of the filter system specifically. Its my 1st one and Im not sure if its decent or not

Any unrelated tips on keeping this puppy running smooth will be loved and gobbled up

[Scottie841]

I have the 120L one and we done use any carbon in it. Just put the rest of the stuff in there and a little filter wool on the top to catch the chunks. I change the wool when the flow rate drops. The sponges and stuff got changed for the first time a little wile ago. It lasted a year with no problems and all the water tests have always been fine

[Morcs]

built in filters on all-in-one tanks are pretty average. if you have high stocking or particularly messy fish then upgrading to a canister is worth every cent.

[Floater]

I've got a rio 400. First thing I did was remove the internal filter and replaced it with a canister filter. Next thing I did was buy a jager heater as my juwel one is faulty and currently being replaced.

Other than that though the tanks are great. They look good in a public area, mainly why I went with Juwel.

My sister on the other hand has a rio 240 and she's been running it for a month and a bit and she's cleaned the filter out once, and just rinsed some of the media. Hasn't replaced anything and her sterbai cory are still breeding so can't be too bad.

**EDIT** Oh as far as lighting goes my tank came with 2x nature and 2x day (juwel brand) when I have to replace the tubes though I'll be getting 2x colour instead of nature.

**EDIT2** Seeings you only have 2 tubes in your tank I'd go with 1x colour and 1x day. But you can probably find cheaper tubes from a hardware store or something.