(1)Disable one of the 2 lights.But i like the idea of having 2 bulbs.Distribution of light etc
Agreed 2 lights means you are able to uee a combination of colours to give a better appearance to the tank.
(2)Change 1 or both bulbs for lower wattage.They don't seem to do T5's in my size (895mm/36")in anything apart from 45W
He, he. Whilst following the myth they also decided to use their own specific measurement so you would have to buy premium tubes
There are T5s out here to fit but not sure where.
(3) Get some floating plants.How much light will they block out?
This is both the cheapest(*) option and most commonly suggested/used method
(*) = I am not one who would suggest it. Yes if you want floating plants in your tank for a reason then go for it however consider that whilst floating plants are cheap. wasted energy isn't, nor environmentally friendly. You will be paying for electricity that you aren't needing and that cost will catch up with the saving by not 'downgrading'.
(4)Decrease the time period.Started with 8 hours, now down to 5.
Will help a little but you are still pushing high light for that shorter period!!!
(5) other options i haven't considered
Buy a T5NO (normal output) or T8 controller with leads and then you are lower
If you are handy with DIY, want to gain efficiency plus lamp life you have 2 options:
You can either recycle the lamp holders in the tank but DIY them to a slightly different distance apart (i.e. screw 1 end cap or both a cm or so further out) and buy standard tubes, then buy a suitable electronic ballast from ebay, remove the old one from the I bar, replace with the new and voila. T5NO instead of T5HO.
Or you could repeat the above but with suitable T8 ballast and buy some lamp leads to fit T8
If not confident with DIY then buying the external controller (basically a ballast with leads attached that fits somewhere outside the tank). If confident then take a look at the sticky thread in Hardware and DIY at the top of the subforum on 'replacing Juwel I bar ballasts)
(6) Buy reflectors and install inverted.(just found this after searching)[/size][/color]
I've never heard anything so silly. This is suggesting that you redirect all the light towards the hood
Who thought that one up? Firstly you are pushing a load of heat at the top of the canopy and it WILL warp over time. Secondly you are wasting a whole heap of energy (and money)
The trade off if you are staying with the same lights is to waste some energy by not using the reflectors at all therefore not redirecting the light that reflectors 'retrieve'. Pointing the reflectors the opposite way is just a ridiculous thing to do. You have 30% of the output into the tank without reflectors. 70% with reflectors. I know lets burn 100W knowing 95W of it is bwing totally wasted. Someone who suggested that needs to stand back and do some serious thinking!!!
Who's the bigger plonker, Juwel or me for buying it?
You are not, Juwel are. Juwel are a manufacturer. they will do things that consumers want however there are 2 ways to look at this:
Just as the community had started to understand we don't need great amounts of light, Juwel wack more light on. The old reasoning (and you saw this where I put the quote you've added in your post) was that under 2WPG and you couldn't grow anything properly. Therefore you could say that Juwel succumbed to consumer desire and added more light to satisfy planted people's needs. They may well not have been up to date with current thinking.
The second way of thinking (and the one I would suggest is more likely) is that they did understand all this but just as many fert companies know N&P doesn't cause algae they follow the old myth because more consumers think the myths are true than know the actual truth. So like the fert companies who know N&P does not cause algae yet leave N&P out of their fert detailing the absence of N&P as a sale point. Juwel have now made their tanks 'plant friendly'. The larger consumer base is still the one that follows what 'word of mouth' or 'experienced' or the man in the shop tells them. The majority of these people regurgitate things year on year and do not update their beliefs. Therefore the companies market their products on outdated myths/theories knowing full well they are untrue but then they are just supplying what the uninitiated want
At the end of the day they have to make their products as attractive as they can to sell the most and if that means adding light when it is not needed then it makes perfect business sense if that makes their product more attractive to the majority that believe they need the higher light
And no you're not a plonker. My first tank (only 5 years ago) had 1.1WPG. I read the planted forums and found out I needed to upgrade. So I packed nearly 3WPG above and couldn't control the algae even with pressurised. 3 months later I downgraded to 0.9WPG. Never looked back since
Might sound strange but it was only 4/5 years ago that EVERYBODY accepted you at least needed higher light to grow certain plants. With lower light limited to a small section of 'low light' plants. We have moved on a massive amount in terms of understanding of light since then however 4-5 years is not a long time and therefore those who have been in the hobby for a long long time pass on their beliefs and it runs along the chain. Will be a long long long time before the majority is not on the myth side. Takes years to alter 'long understood facts'.
Its like Grandma believed you got a cold if you were out in the rain, she told mother that, mother told you that etc. Takes generations to work through before those who are left know it ain't the truth
Andy
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