your choice of tube

[jimbooo]

ok i have a Juwel rio 180 with 4 tubes. over the past 2 weeks i've bought more tubes than i know what to do with and cant decide on a combination.

if you had 4x30W ballasts (120W possible total output) what tube's specifically would you use.

i currently have 2 arcadia fresh water tubes, 1 original tropical and 1 marine white.

i bought 2 more on the weekend assuming that all 36" tubes had the same output only to install them and then read on the box that they are only 25W so 110W total in tank.

it's a bit dim and i dont like it.

so if you had 4x30W ballasts to fit 36" tubes and money was no object what tubes would you install.

NB. i have red plants in with the usual swords, vallis, wysteria etc so need the best available. please give brand names etc. as your replies will be printed out as a shopping list.

thanks

 

[Silly me]

Uhm , you are where I was 8 months ago..

I'm now replacing all my Hagen lights with a normal hardware store brand 6400K lights..

but I increased my total wpg from 3.1wpg to 5.2wpg. I was always unhappy with my growth rate.. and the only real way to increase the growth rate is Co2 and more lights, I had every light the lfs sold but the growth rate only increase when I started increasing the amount of lights..

in the end there is no real difference between brands, as long as the light is in a usable spectrum the plant grow equally well..

you don't have a heavily planted tank yet.. to much light will not have a positive effect on the growth rate yet..

 

[jimbooo]

thanks silly me. What would you do with the tank.

by the way that long tank pic (sig) is 6 weeks old. had a lot more growth since then (plants and hair algae) but not added any plants. i have also added rowaphos to remove some of the phosphate (assuming there is some in there hence the algae, but i have not tested for it)

 

[George Farmer]

I've just read your PM so I'll give you a quick hardware list of my tank.

Lighting - 1 x 25W Dennerle Special-Plant (3000K)
2 x 18W Dennerle Special-Plant
1 x 20W Hagen Life-Glo (6700K)
1 x Arcadia Freshwater Lamp (7500K)

10 hour (5 on 2 off 5 on) photoperiod

I like this combination of colour temps, it gives a nice mix of warmth and natural brightness. Obviously the plants do OK with it too. I have the single 25W Dennerle stay on last thing at night for an hour to simulate dusk, the warm orange/yellow tinge looks great and because the tube is situated at the front it gives a real depth to the tank.

CO2 - 2 x Nutrafin units - DIY recipe

Substrate - 1 to 3mm gravel with laterite and 25W Rena-Cor heater cable

Fertilisers - Dennerle S7, E15, V30. Waterlife Tropiflora. KNO3.

Water - pH 6.6, KH 3, GH 6, NO3 5 mg/l, PO4 0.1 mg/l. 30% weekly water change 60:40 RO/tap

I would strongly recommend you buy "The Big Dennerle Guide" book if you want a tank based on the principles I follow. It is an excellent read with a great plant database too. I bought my copy for about £15 and I can safely say that my tank owes a lot to its contents.

Good luck and feel free to PM furthur if you wish.

edit - I've got a Fluval 204 external filter supplementing my Juwel. That's where my 250ml RowaPhos goes and I don't use carbon, just loads of bio media.