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	light temp?
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	so thats together 66 watts total, and like 300+ watts fake? wow, your tank must be real bright. and just a suggestion for cheap reflectors... go to any art supply stores and buy a sheet of their metallic sheet, i think they are only like 10 bucks for a piece thats 24 x 36 in... right now, i use small tissue box as my compact bulb relfector with foil interior, looks so stupid, but its on the very top of the tank, so i dont even see it unless i get up there. i wanna be able to get plants without co2 if possible, thats why i am aiming to get at least 3-4 wpg, so far, i feel cheated [span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-07 04:28][/span]
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	i just built my bottle, waiting for silicon to dry, i bought amazon sword, java fern, crypt wendit, red temple, g cabomba, hardy spon bulbs(wal-mart), i hope they'll do good, i am going to put the co2 in tomorrow. and falstaf, i noticed you put yer lights horizontal, i built my own reflector box, and i let the bulbs stand vertically(b/c space conflict), is that less light intensity?
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Falstaf Fish Addict Posts: 785 Kudos: 1211 Votes: 196 Registered: 12-Feb-2004	Well it could bring your ph up once you stop using it, but that's only if you discontinue it's use from one day to another, mine is a DIY and it slowly runs out, so the ph slowly rises and then when I hook up the new mixture it lowers in the same rate, so my fish don't really recent it.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	hmmm, thats cool. hey so i should use co2, what if i get tired of it, and wish to stop co2 after a few months? that will be bad?
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Falstaf Fish Addict Posts: 785 Kudos: 1211 Votes: 196 Registered: 12-Feb-2004	Remember that WPG is only a thumb rule, you can provide or add your tank with lighting with numerous values, i usually go for light temperature instead of wattage.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	when you add up your light temp to 15000k, is that valid? i thought each light temp is independent, adding them up is a way to calculate the total light temp?? i thought you can only add wattage, not temp. correct me, so confused
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Falstaf Fish Addict Posts: 785 Kudos: 1211 Votes: 196 Registered: 12-Feb-2004	That's true, i have co2 in this tank and no algae ever but i also have fast growing huge plants in there so they are way big, which i love, but if you are not going to use CO2, then aim for 3WPG or less, you wo't be needing all that light, or you can let it light for less time, which i think is pointless to have a beautiful planted tank with now light Yep that's right like 70Watts more less but all together i have like 15,000k of light temperature. which make plants so so happy
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Babelfish Administrator Small Fry with Ketchup Posts: 6833 Kudos: 8324 Votes: 1570 Registered: 17-Apr-2003	i wanna be able to get plants without co2 if possible, thats why i am aiming to get at least 3-4 wpg, so far The problem with doing that is that the plants will suck up only so much of the light. Once they've consumed all they can then it's up to the algae to make use of the remaining light. CO2 esentially allows the plants to consume light for longer making it harder for the algae to make use of it....least I'm pretty sure anyway :%). I'm not sure I'd run that much light on a non-co2 tank especially if you have a lightly planted tank. I was running about 4wpg on my 10 and ended up with a lovely([/sarcasm] ) BGA problem. ^_^
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
jake Fish Addict Posts: 594 Kudos: 875 Votes: 2 Registered: 21-Mar-2004	Greenfootbal - http://www.thekrib.com/Lights/reflectors.html#0
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	do light temperature matter a whole lot? cuz i just bought the compact bulb, and its only like 3000k, while the tubes are 5000k+ and when they say the bulb is good for 60 watts using only 13 watts of power, should i go by the 60 watts? or the 13?
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Falstaf Fish Addict Posts: 785 Kudos: 1211 Votes: 196 Registered: 12-Feb-2004	and this is how it looks when on. Falstaf attached this image: [img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/391018.jpg"]
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Falstaf Fish Addict Posts: 785 Kudos: 1211 Votes: 196 Registered: 12-Feb-2004	I got mine at home depot they are 20W of light consumming and they light as a 100W regular bulb, but they are 6500K and i have 2 and 2 blue ones (plants love them!) blues i think they are 13W [span class="edited"][Edited by Falstaf 2004-07-07 04:12][/span] Falstaf attached this image: [img]http://www.fishprofiles.net/attachments/391017.jpg"]
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	i just checked online, to get some serious wattage in small areas and not heat up your tank, the compact bulbs are the way to go. except like mentioned earlier, only 13 watts are truly counted, while outputting super bright light. and i saw this one thats 105 watts which is great to increase light with limited surface area. but the 105 watt one outputs 400WATTS of light!!!!! wouldnt that upset the fish a little? especialy my pleco, its moved its usual spot now even under rocks and wood pieces are bright as heck now
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	so where do u get the true good compact bulbs??
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Falstaf Fish Addict Posts: 785 Kudos: 1211 Votes: 196 Registered: 12-Feb-2004	Don't feel bad i fell for the same the first time i bought those bulbs, now i drive cleks crazy looking in catalogs on the light temperature do it as a vengance!
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
greenfootball Fish Addict Posts: 613 Kudos: 360 Votes: 0 Registered: 23-Jul-2001	wow i feel cheated ]:\| thought my tank is bright as heck, its actually not doing crap... i am glad i didnt get another one of those. thanks
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42
Babelfish Administrator Small Fry with Ketchup Posts: 6833 Kudos: 8324 Votes: 1570 Registered: 17-Apr-2003	You go by the 13 watts, it's as bright to the eye as a 60 watt bulb, but for aquatic usage you use the 13. Kelvin matters, plants prefer a minimum of 5000K to 6500K and up for better growth. I personally prefer the 65/6700K range. HTH a bit . ^_^ [/font]
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:42


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