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Thanks everyone a ton! Please no apologies for advice given, seems to me things were learned and that's great...thank you!

I haven't a chance to look at watts (major excavation, it looks like...it is not readily available on the casing of the light. I was puttering around in there a lot tonight to build a new "cave" for one of my Kribs who seems awfully out of place and wants his own cave in the corner he's chosen ( :( ) so was easy to take the light apart, but absolutely not apparent on the device itself. Perhaps there is a type of light that would be better for my tank? Very open to suggestions and help, and would like to purchase what is right for tank and plants, rather than work around what I have. I will say I DO like tint (blush lighting?). ;)

In the meantime, will cut down on the light and see where that gets us. I will also look for a timer as that WOULD allow the lights on when I am home v. when not...I don't know if I'm just lucky, or it's common, but I have a VERY active and friendly tank and love hanging out with them...but hard if I can't see them! ;) They are very excited for their dinner and very friendly about interacting with humans...I like to be able to visit with them. :)

As an aside, I DID accidentally overfeed today...never given frozen before and put more in there than I thought I'd actually portioned for them. Live and learn, but I'll be interested to see if it has any affect on the algae.

Thank you again for the ideas and suggestions and interesting links and info as well! I have learned a lot here and my fish are better for it...much appreciated!!
 
yeh i give TFF the credit for not losing one fish since I started! :) (apart from the one that jumped out the silly sod)

Ive just cut down on my photo period too, I did have them on for 11 hours :crazy:

saratogaslim what size tubes are your lights? if you google t5 or t8 flourescent. If they are t8's and you can measure the length of them, you can work out the wattage as certain lengths give different wattages (or i might be wrong again :rolleyes: )
 
The standard bulbs are easy. The T number refers to bulb diameter in 8ths of an inch. A T-8 is one inch, a T-12 is 1 1/2 inch. Once you know the diameter, the wattage is easy. A T-12 is 10 watts per foot, A T-8 is slightly less but is more efficient so the end result, in plant terms, is to treat it as 10 watts per foot. It is really 9 watts if I remember correctly.
 
...And the newer tubes that are coiled up for regular globe lightbulb size or are doubled back in a U-bend sometimes in aquarium hoods... I seem to remember that they actually put out less light per foot but that they are typically sold in configurations that amount to more total length and therefor more light output, right OM? Do you remember the output figures for them and/or the diameter of those little tubes??
 
If you are referring to the screw base compact fluorescents, they are T-4 or T-5 but the wattage is marked on them quite clearly There does not seem to be as much of a standard on them and I actually compare shapes when trying to fit a lot of power into an incandescent hood.
 
I was really just thinking of the T-5 diameter (5/8") in general. I was remembering a post by someone that mentioned that they give off less light per inch than a T-8 or T-12 but that since they are frequently sold in various folded formats like coiled up or u-tubed, they can give off more light from a given space volume... BUT, just taking a look at wikipedia's entry for "Fluorescent lamp" quickly reminds one that a given lamp that an individual might happen to have over their aquarium could be "all over the place" in terms of real light given off or spectrum or efficiency. Its really probably become -harder- to generalize these lights by saying they are this or that wattage or size/shape rather than -easier, hasn't it? (or perhaps I'm wrong - I'm just thinking out loud here - its not something I've looked at much, recently) WD
 
If you cut the light down to 4 hours per day won't that be too little for the plants that are in there?

Sorry if that's a stupid question!! :blush:
 
Fair dos. Just wondered that's all - cuz I was recommended to have lighting for 8-10 hours per day so 4 hours sounded like they'd be deprived.
 
Many of my tanks are at 4 to 6 hours a day to start Cazzie. As Truck said, you adjust based on what the plants do. At first, all plants needs some time to settle in before they will grow actively anyway so there is no need for a lot of light at that time. In an NPT you end up with 2 wpg for about 12 hours and never use artificial ferts or CO2. I am sure the high tech plant people would say it is an invitation to algae growth, but it just doesn't come out that way after the first few weeks. I am no good at the high tech approach but keep trying to use it on one tank. That one gets daily doses of water column ferts and pressurized CO2. Although it grows plants OK, I think the NPT actually works better in the long run.
 
Stay away from Wikipedia, WD. It is the fastest way that I know to get half truths and bad information.
 
It is a method that uses dirt covered by a thin gravel layer as substrate, uses a ton of fast growing plants and has moderately high light with a floating plant cover as well. When you look into a NPT with the lights on, you see a diffuse greenish glow throughout the water, plants growing and fish undisturbed by the bright light you might see in a high tech tank. It sounds idyllic but takes a lot of thought and preparation to set up. Once it is running properly, it is a relatively low maintenance approach.
 
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