Oops Forgot About The Lighting Part

[Renate]

Seems I could just use an undercounter black light and place it on top of my aqurium.

 

[SuperColey1]

If you mean the counterfeit note checkers then No. They are UV light and damage living cells. In a UV they are sealed in a tube that blocks the light. Above the tank they will harm the fish etc.

AC

 

[Mikaila31]

As per above post kelvin ratings are not important, WPG is inaccurate, lumens is more accurate but going a little over the top really. $15-20 sounds very expensive to me. If you already have the ballast unit and reflector the actual tube should be available somewhere for $8-10. No need to buy one that has the word aquarium printed on the packaging.

Ooo! Where do you get your lights then for $8-10! Basically your standard 55wat PC bulb. When I bought 3 bulbs for around $50 I thought that was a good deal.

I put the blue cathodes on my tank too. I really like them, but my camera hates them for some reason and won't focus when they are on. I put 6 of them into my car in the footwells and some LEDS hiden under the visors and added some sound modules so they all blink to the music . Cost $50 total and the car lights up like a blue christmas tree.

 

[SuperColey1]

I can't remember if the 55W was 2 or 4 pin. Got rid of it in September last year. Here is a link to some 55W 4 pins in the UK though. there should be a site in the US somewhere with similar prices. (These are 6500K daylight)

http/www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tub...-865-Daylight_8

$50 for 3 sounds a good price to me. I was still buying aquarium lights at the time and mine were probs $25 each back then.

My old camera didnt photograph the nightlights at all. It didn't pick up that low light. This camera is the Casio Exilim EX-Z700 10mp. Its great for things like this. Its only weakness is macro close ups.

AC

 

[andyfitz]

I can't remember if the 55W was 2 or 4 pin. Got rid of it in September last year. Here is a link to some 55W 4 pins in the UK though. there should be a site in the US somewhere with similar prices. (These are 6500K daylight)

[URL="http/www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tub...-865-Daylight_8"]http/www.lampspecs.co.uk/Light-Bulbs-Tub...-865-Daylight_8[/URL]

$50 for 3 sounds a good price to me. I was still buying aquarium lights at the time and mine were probs $25 each back then.

My old camera didnt photograph the nightlights at all. It didn't pick up that low light. This camera is the Casio Exilim EX-Z700 10mp. Its great for things like this. Its only weakness is macro close ups.

AC

I would like to add That I am now completley confusued also I just want a simple lighting systyem that my plants will benefit from can some one sum it up for me please?

 

[SuperColey1]

What lights do you have at the moment and what is your aim. fast growing, carpeting, long term, easy maintenance etc.

AC

 

[Renate]

What kind of plants do you want to grow? Crypts and mosses or bunch plants or plants with a lot of color? That is low light plants or high light plants?

Check this link out.
330 Liter (87 gal.)- "Lower Maintenance Expenses (LME)"
120cm 50cm 55cmh
http/www.pbase.com/plantella/330hnlme

 

[aaronnorth]

well any ube that produces light in the visible spectrum wil befit to plants, it is all down to what Andy said above

what is your aim

 

[SuperColey1]

Exactly. I don't beleive in the low light/high light plants theory. They will all grow under low light. The only reason for wanting higher light is to achieve different results from the plants.

i.e. If you want to carpet and you want the carpet to remain low then high light is needed. With low light the carpeting plant will still grow perfectly well and healthy but will grow taller.

Also some plants may turn a desired colour under high light. They will still grow under low light just not reach intense pinks and reds.


AC

 

[aaronnorth]

low light/high light plants theory

i do to a certain extent, for example you wouldnt have a chnce at growing rotala macranda in a low light set up! a better way to describe it is tolerance of low light.

 

[SuperColey1]

I'll get some and try. lol

AC

 

[Renate]

SuperColey1 you didn't mention, as is in your profile, that you use pressurized co2. That is why you can get anything to grow with low light. I have seen this same set up in several tanks. It is the injected co2 that compensates for the low light.

 

[aaronnorth]

would like to hear the results lol

SuperColey1 you didn't mention, as is in your profile, that you use pressurized co2. That is why you can get anything to grow with low light. I have seen this same set up in several tanks. It is the injected co2 that compensates for the low light.

CO2 is impossible for it to compensate for light, the plants use carbon, and expire the oxygen (aka pearling) if you had a tank withno light, run the CO2 sky high, your plants wouldnt grow would they

one thing i dont think he has told you is that he uses HO T5, which basically doubles the wpg rule, plus his takns are failry large.

 

[SuperColey1]

SuperColey1 you didn't mention, as is in your profile, that you use pressurized co2. That is why you can get anything to grow with low light. I have seen this same set up in several tanks. It is the injected co2 that compensates for the low light.

Aaron is right. Light is the driver of the system. High light makes the plant want to grow faster. Carbon enables it to grow faster at which point it needs the other nutrients to feed on. One part of this chain goes missing then algae takes a hold. This is why it is proven that excess nutrient isn't the cause of algae. When excess of everything is added and the system is adequate (good filtering, good diffusion etc) then plants thrive and algae doesn't.

Therefore I may be adding pressurised CO2 (and excel by the way) but this only provides the C for the plant to use. The light will determine their growth rates. If I upped the lighting then maybe they would start to run defficient on something.

If you had 5WPG and I have 0.9WPG (call it 1 for easy adding up) and the rest of the setup is completely identical. We both add pressurised CO2 until our dropchecker goes green. Are we adding the same amount of CO2? No. The drop checker signifies the water concentration. If my plants are growing slower than yours due to the light then they will use less CO2 and therefore less CO2 is injected to maintain the 30ppm.

Remember Lights control the whole system. The rest facilitates the plants needs according to the light.

Aaron is wrong about something though. I told you all I used T5HO in the earlier posts. lol. And I have 1 tank which is 125Ltr/33USG Tall. This is about the average sized tank

AC

 

[aaronnorth]

Aaron is wrong about something though. I told you all I used T5HO in the earlier posts. lol

i will have check nextime