fertilizer advice please

[AbbeysDad]

Lucky turtles! Can you explain your setup (pipe, hose, lighting)? Looks interesting.
Sorry BeckyCats.

There are two kiddie pools, one inside the other for strength and rigidity. Since it's in my unheated basement (NE US), there's a sheet of styrofoam under the pools as a thermal break. The sunning platform is an 18" round paver stone that sits atop concrete bricks. Under the stone is an Ecoplus 396 submersible pump that pumps water up to a 2 bucket, 4 stage DIY drip filter (Sponge, fiber floss, pot scrubbies, and pumice bio-media. There is a UVB light and in winter a heat lamp, both on 12 hours a day.

 

[BeckyCats]

Lucky turtles! Can you explain your setup (pipe, hose, lighting)? Looks interesting.
Sorry BeckyCats.

I don't mind! I love turtles!

 

[BeckyCats]

I'll confess that I just got lucky with the Finnex Planted Plus 24/7. I was lured by the dawn to dusk to twilight feature as it better simulates natural light. Now having 'said' that, except for some lakes, the canopy shades the water ways much, if not most of the day. So lighting in the aquarium is more for our viewing pleasure and to support plants....as the fish do really well in low light!
Now my 60g is referred to as a "low tech" tank in that I don't use CO2, requiring high fertilization and bright lighting. The plants I have typically grow slower, but do well with medium light. And floating plants (and every tank could use fast growing floating plants) do well in almost any light because of their distance to it.
LED lights are the future in the home and the aquarium. They're bright, cool, and use far less energy. Yes, they cost a bit more until you add up the energy savings over time. I have 2, 4' LED shop lights over my 110g stock tank supporting water sprite and duckweed. But I have florescent tube lights on a 29g and a 10g. So if you have a T8 or other florescent light, I wouldn't run out and buy a more expensive LED light...but if you're in the market for aquarium lighting, I think LED is the way to go.

So, I got an LED light strip that dims and brightens gradually over 30 minutes each morning and evening. This much I like. What I am not crazy about is the shimmering that is happening from the light hitting the water from the filter flow. It is a HOB filter, so the water flows into the tank at a fairly good rate. The bamboo shrimp loves it and it's never been a problem before. In fact, I like the "white noise" from it. But with the LED lights, it is creating a shimmering effect that I absolutely hate. It reminds me of the auras I get when I get migraines. Seeing it out of the corner of my eye is very disturbing because of this association. I see flickering, I think pain. Is there any way that you know of to stop the "shimmering"? I looked it up online and people said to put a white plastic light filter over the glass. I tried with a piece of white paper (not for a permanent solution, just as a test) and it did nothing. Will a plastic filter help more than the paper? Am I doomed to have shimmering if I keep the LED? If so, sadly, I will have to return it.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I've never seen what you describe with my LED light. I wonder what happens if you use a baffle for the HOB? You can make a simple water bottle baffle by cutting an empty water bottle.

 

[Byron]

I'm wondering if the "shimmer" you are seeing is what I have seen with many LED fixtures--and wish I had! Flourescent tube light will not do this because the light is spread out the length of the tube. But the LED diodes do create a light pattern (not sure how to describe it) that is natural like sunlight. It was the one aspect of LED I wish I had.

 

[BeckyCats]

Most of what I found online was people saying they liked it, so apparently I am in the minority on this. For most people, it reads as sunlight filtering through water with waves. I can see that, but I really don't like light reflections, especially flickering/moving ones. As I said, there is too strong an association with migraines and therefore pain. Stupid I know, but, you know, Pavlov's dog and all. I will try the proper light filter and see if that helps. I actually need one for a broken light fixture in my kitchen anyway, so it won't be money wasted even if it doesn't help the tank. I really do like the gentle on and off. Also, the color is great. The greens are green, reds are red, and the browns are so much more detailed than they appeared before. But at the same time, it isn't overly bright. There is an option to dim it, which I did just a notch for the benefit of the fish, until the floating plants get more established and can create a bit of shade. My son commented tonight how great the shrimp looks. He doesn't know I have a new light, he just thought the shrimp is doing exceptionally well all of a sudden. Ha ha.

 

[Byron]

Most of what I found online was people saying they liked it, so apparently I am in the minority on this. For most people, it reads as sunlight filtering through water with waves. I can see that, but I really don't like light reflections, especially flickering/moving ones. As I said, there is too strong an association with migraines and therefore pain. Stupid I know, but, you know, Pavlov's dog and all. I will try the proper light filter and see if that helps. I actually need one for a broken light fixture in my kitchen anyway, so it won't be money wasted even if it doesn't help the tank. I really do like the gentle on and off. Also, the color is great. The greens are green, reds are red, and the browns are so much more detailed than they appeared before. But at the same time, it isn't overly bright. There is an option to dim it, which I did just a notch for the benefit of the fish, until the floating plants get more established and can create a bit of shade. My son commented tonight how great the shrimp looks. He doesn't know I have a new light, he just thought the shrimp is doing exceptionally well all of a sudden. Ha ha.

My attempts at finding a suitable LED (five of them) were all failures and the units went back. From what you say, the fixture you have may be good plant light on its own and I would like to explore it. Can you post the name of the unit, or a link to its data? I know about the Finnex that others have been happy with, but it is (or was) very expensive.

 

[BeckyCats]

My attempts at finding a suitable LED (five of them) were all failures and the units went back. From what you say, the fixture you have may be good plant light on its own and I would like to explore it. Can you post the name of the unit, or a link to its data? I know about the Finnex that others have been happy with, but it is (or was) very expensive.

I got the Aqueon LED OptiBright Plus LED Lighting System 48-54". I got mine from petco as I was able to get the best price by buying online and picking up in the store. I saw prices ranging from $108 (which was what I paid) to $140. Amazon has it currently for $114. Still not cheap, but fewer places are carrying the fluorescent tubes and they are in the $20 range anyway. I thought the sunrise/sunset feature, combined with electricity bill savings (so folks say), could make it worth the upfront cost. There are obviously much more expensive systems out there, but I'm not dropping $200 on lights.

Several years ago, I bought the Finnex 24/7 but didn't care for it. I returned it and have used fluorescent ever since. I didn't like that it changed the light color throughout the day and also that it has a "moonlight" feature. I don't think the tank needs blue lights on at night. There is only about 3 hours of darkness in the tank with the Finnex. Some reviews said they put a timer on it to make shut off completely, but I still didn't like the color changing. My tank is a room that is above-ground, so has natural sunlight. Not direct light, but there is natural light in the room. I thought the changing light colors were distracting and unnecessary. Plus, it did give that shimmering effect that I don't care for.

I am still undecided whether to keep it or not. I will try the light filter and see how that goes, although I suspect some of the color brilliance may be lost if I do that. All I can do is try. Actually, I should see how it looks when I have only half the tank filled, in case I do decide to go to a fiddler crab tank in the future. The little spots of light may be really annoying when the tank is only half full.