Some new visitors... (updated family pics)

[Proteus]

Just picked up 4 Juvies from Oxheart (RSG's Turq's)

They were meant to be only a stopover en-route to someone else, but someone else thinks differently...

they are the first occupants of the all new 6x2x2 (just stripped down and re-graveled yesterday) (all aged water of course and the sump has been re-circulating so it is fully seeded)

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=299

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=298

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=296

[Proteus]

... having that they have only been in the tank less than 20hrs, they are extremely active, and are very curious at there new LARGE open environment

[kalebjarrod]

HOW MANY TANKS DO YOU NEED!

greed is one of the seven deadly sins you know, so how about you pack them up and send them up to me!

oh shit! i just realized so is envy

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

[Merrilyn]

Tank and babies look awesom. How about a wide shot of the tank?

[Proteus]

These pics were taken just after planting, so excuse the extra AC500 strapped to the front, and the background has not been attached completely yet.

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=300

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=301

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=302

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=303

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=304

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=305

[Mattzilla]

where did you put all your other fishes mate?

[Proteus]

More tanks... (considering there are 12-13 empty tanks in the garage)

:wink:

[kalebjarrod]

send em to me

send me to me

send em to me

[Merrilyn]

Thats beautiful!

[Proteus]

More pics... (after adding 17 other Discus from other tanks as well as 10 Juvie Congo Tetras)


21 happy friends sharing 180g of water (filtration turnover is 8x per hour)

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=314

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=313

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=312

:D

[Proteus]

1 more

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=321

[kalebjarrod]

Depression is a sympton of seeing proteus's tanks

beware all

[Merrilyn]

Ultra cool 8)

[flukes]

Very nice, i love that mark along the blue background is that on the background pic or is it created from water movement or something?

Think i better take a second look

[nicholas76]

Proteus,

how do you create that large air bubble up draft and how do you hide the airstone plastic tubing?

Regards


Nick

[Proteus]

The bubble disk is covered with sand, the airline is weighted under the piece of wood hard, so it runs snuggly in the corner...

As for the blue backing, I havent attached it correctly yet, so it is sagging in the part where it is distorted.

Just added another 60w of lighting to the tank last night, will take some more pics soon.

[Chris McMahon]

Just added another 60w of lighting to the tank last night, will take some more pics soon.Nice work. You'll want to have around 1.5w/g for low-light plants. So for 180g you'll need around 270w of light.

Two 150w MH lights would look great on your setup.

[Brad]

WPG is a totally inacurate way to measure lighting needed.

You could have a 10x2x2 long tank but only have 2 150w MH on half of it,only giving a 1 watt per gallon but you could quite easliy keep plants in that half.

it best just to have a full descent coverage on a tank as WPG can be misleading.

Cheers
Brad

[flukes]

Well of course Watts per gallons is effected if the light doesnt cover the whole tank.

Watts per gallon means the gallons of the whole tank so that mean the light must cover the whole tank.

I dont think its misleading, you said make sure your light covers the whole tank, then what happens if someone uses a 4ft single reflector on a 4ft with a 36watt globe.?? And expects too grow tiger lilly or something more difficult.

Its not mathematical fact but it does help to determine the amount of light needed too grow certain species of plants.

Sorry too disagree but id rather use the WPG method than just guessing.

[Proteus]

I will throw another spanner in the works...

WPG is a myth.... I will ask one of my buddies who is a plant guru and the founder of PlantGeek.net to explain why...

FYI, I have spectacular results on several of my tanks, and guess what the WPG is ???

0.4 WPG yup, that isnt even half a watt per gallon, and my plants thrive...

special root tabs, occasional C02...

and the CORRECT spectrum T8 tubes...

[Proteus]

Sorry too disagree but id rather use the WPG method than just guessing.

I would also rather use facts over myths AND guessing....

:wink:

here is some worthy reading...


and just to add more information:
watts per gallon rule, as stated, was designed for T12 48" NORMAL OUTPUT fluorescents.
What you really want is a lot of Lumens...lumens is the actual light output...watts is the energy input.
Incandescents use more watts per lumen than a normal fluorescent. Power compacts use less watts per lumen than normal fluorescents, and are also smaller than normal fluors. (now you see why they're so popular).

lastly, metal halide is less efficient than power compacts, but you get 250watts out of a 1'x1' fixture, so the sheer monstrous output makes them viable in larger tank setups.

Remember, we are pretty much all using T8's... way more efficient than T12's

[flukes]

Well never heard that one, just goes to show... sorry Brad

[Proteus]

Hey, we all learn something new every day....

hopefully Off-Ice will give a better understanding of the WPG situation

WPG is based on a 40w, T-12, 2000 lumen 4 ft bulb. Not many people are still using this bulb. A few things to keep in mind...........

Wattage is ONLY a measurement of energy usage. I would take a tank lit with 32w t-8 bulbs over a tank lit with 40w t-12 bulbs. Why? They give off better light. On the same note, I would rather have a tank lit with PC bulbs. Reflectors, water clarity, depth also all play a part in what you can expect to grow in any given tank.

Tank size even figures into the picture. On a small tank it will take more light to grow plants. Why? Put simply, plants need a minimum amount of light to grow. On a small tank, you will generally need more WPG to meet that minimum. You also have to deal with light spread which is harder to get in a small tank. Larger tanks generally need less light for the same results.

I don't think lumens is the way to measure either. While it is the measurement of light output, it is only to the human eye and not necessarily what plants can use.

I have a 75g tank that is at about 2.9 wpg and I can grow just about anything I want in it.

While I don't like the WPG "rule", I do understand why people use it. It's easy. It will probably continue to get used until something as easy comes along, but there is this as an alternitive if you don't mind doing a little math.


contributed by Dennis Bednarek and Hardjono Harjadi
as it appears here http://fins.actwin.com/aquariafaq.html


When calculating the amount of lighting you will need there is a general of thumb. First multiply the surface area of the aquarium by the distance from the light source to the top of the gravel. Then depending on the type of plants you desire multiply this by one of the factors given below.


Low light plants 0.08
Low to Moderate light plants 0.12
Moderate to Bright light plants 0.18
Bright light plants 0.27


This will give you the ideal watt hours of fluorescent lighting that you need. Divide this number by 11 and you now have the approximate total wattage of lights you need. Unfortunately this number may not be equal to what is available in bulbs so find the combination of wattage that will most closely match this requirement and adjust the available time to match the watt hour calculation.
Example: required watt hours is 1440, divided by 11, is 131 watts of power. since the closest is 3, 40 watt tubes we divide 1440, by the 120 watt total and we find we need 12 hours of lighting at this level.

Warning: A common mistake is to deviate greatly from the 11 hours of light to compensate for low or high wattage. If the light time exceeds 16 hours more wattage should be added to reduce this time, Or if the light time is less than 8 hours less wattage must be used to allow adequate time for photosynthesis.

When selecting plants also keep in mind that large center plants will shade the smaller plants under them and that higher light requiring plants should not be selected for small filler plants.

[Proteus]

Thanks Ice...

I knew you would explain it in a more rational manner than I ever could of, even utilising my COPY/PASTE skills...

:wink:

[Brad]

Im just sceptical of WPG as if people follow his rule doesnt mean they will have sucess. So people who use this mehod could also be wastng money on more fixture and electricity trying to acheive the required amount.

I can see how it can be good just to have a general idea but dont think i should be gospel.

When i mean full coverage and descent power i mean simlar to a std 4ft tank having a least 160w of lighting in the corect spectrum as this is more effected than more power in the wrong spectrum.


Height of the tank would also play a role in what lighting should be used.

IMO once you reach 2ft in height ,those that wish to have high light plants should be using metal halide as they are the best light source in PAR output and depth penatration.
1 MH should be used per 2'x2' but they can be streched further.
Some people may only have 2 150w on 6x2x2 and keep a wide variety of plants.Plant placement is also a factor.

Just abit bit of research will generally tell you what light you would require to keep the plants thriving.

Also water quality and chemisty can play a big role also.

Cheers
Brad

[flukes]

Can you have too much light? Will this destroy plants?

[Brad]

Can you have too much light? Will this destroy plants?



IMO, No.
No matter what our lighting is it can not compare to the sun.
try looking at a 400w MH.You can at least look at it for a short period.
try doing the same to the sun.

BUT that being said some plants could be destroyed from too much light.
Only due to the fact that they maybe low light plants and do not naturally occur where stronger lighting is, therefor will not tolerate the higher light levels.


Cheers
Brad

I have yet to find a low light plant that can't handle high light. In most cases it will simply grow a bit faster provided you have everything in balance. The only problem I have run into is with anubias. They are such slow growers they tend to get green spot algae on them in high light tanks. If you don't mind that, no problem. The other option is to place them in shadowed areas.

[nicklee88]

hey,

some great pics Ro, your tanks make mine look dull, Nick