[PJAN]

Originally Posted by Svennovitch

Hmm, I thought the aquacontroller only could control light and temperature? Does that mean that the Aquacontroller only controls T8 and not T5?

Yep, I noticed you had the older type of Profilux. I bought the Profilux Plus II a few weeks ago, that's where my interest comes from
I am not yet dimming my light (haven't got dimmable ballasts yet, but soon, very soon ) but everything else works perfect, even the moonlight and other gadgets.

No, the aquacontroler can control also T5, but only 1 program ( 0-100%-0%).
If you want different curves like
11.00 - 13.00 50%
13.00 -15.00 70%
15.00 - 19.00 100%
etc.etc.
You wil have to buy Profilux. Hmmm, so I did.

I have never measured the conductivity of my tankwater, but I just recently read that it has to be at least 200 uS for the pH electrode. Do you have a special one or does it work with 190uS too, because it is so close to 200uS.

Yes, I stumbled over the low conductivity problem a while ago. I have to use a special pH electrode suitable for low conductivity.

Were the 6000k lamps the older ones? What brand are they? I always read that OSRAM lights have to be used at full power for a small period of time (eg. 100 houres) before you may dim them. Is that correct?

I use Philips and Osram. Osram has 6000 Kelvin lamps and Philips ( I thought) has 6500 Kelvin lamps. Not much of difference.
They indeed advice you to "burn in" the T5's for 100 hours at 100% to get a better equally dimming result.
The dimming problems ( broken lamps) is caused by age and probably by the fact they were one of the first T5-lamps with not so good gas inside. The gas-mixture ( puriness) is important for lifespan.
I'm told the newer T5-lamps / brands now uses better quality gas inside so they must be better resistant to dimming.

Are you really going to use the 9-series? Don't they have a much lower output (lumen) then the 8-series? Aren't you worried you'll have a smaller amount of light over your tank? But maybe you think you can have a little less light, because you have a real bomb now

It seems that the 965-lamps have a great output. I will check it ofcourse by buying just two lamps for testing.
And the amount of light is already too much. So I can afford loosing some

One other question:
you say you have 69000 lux above your tank. Did you measure this value? Because if we calculate it: 6*4100 lumen ~ 25000 lumen.
But your area is: 0.72 m²

Lux is lumen per m². This means 25000/0.72 ~ 35.000 lux...

Did I do something wrong?

Thanks for your answers!!
Sven

Yes, the 69000 lux is measured by a lux-meter, approx 12 cm under the pendant, in the middle with 6 lamps on. 12 cm is also the lowest point for pendant-water surface. Normally the pendant is hanging 15-20 cm above the water surface.

Lux is lumen per square meter at 1 meter distance.......
So it's possible to measure 69000 lux at only 10 -15 cm distance.
And beware : I have very effective relfectors and fan cooled "cold spots" of the T5-lamps which will gain an extra 20 % or so...

Regards, Jan