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That's about the size of it! (Pardon the pun lol!)
Logan's Daddy's 34 gallon
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Well it's been a while since I posted anything on this tank, Life has been fairly busy. We just moved last weekend and that meant a complete teardown and rescape. The move was only about 5 miles, so I was able to get the tank torn down, transported, and set back up in the same day (although I got done at about 3:00 am!) I left all the water in the (filthy) filter, but I did take the opportunity to rinse the substrate well.
I also took the opportunity to repaint my stand and hood, the glossy black was just looking a little too 80's to me, it's now a lovely satiny dark brownish-greenish something or other.
The plants and fish have been doing extremely well in the last week, by midday they are pearling so heavily that there are little streams of bubbles coming from some of them! - the plants of course.
Tested the water yesterday and ammonia was 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 10ppm, I've been holding off on full fertilizing in case I had a mini-cycle, but I think everything is restabilized at this point.
Oh and to all who have commented on that sword you will be happy to hear that it had actually split at the base into three distinct plants, I replanted two of them for now, but had to get rid of the third, I'm pretty sure the three of them would fill the whole tank by themselves.
No photos yet (still need to unpack my camera
) but I will try to have some up this week.
I also took the opportunity to repaint my stand and hood, the glossy black was just looking a little too 80's to me, it's now a lovely satiny dark brownish-greenish something or other.
The plants and fish have been doing extremely well in the last week, by midday they are pearling so heavily that there are little streams of bubbles coming from some of them! - the plants of course.
Tested the water yesterday and ammonia was 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 10ppm, I've been holding off on full fertilizing in case I had a mini-cycle, but I think everything is restabilized at this point.
Oh and to all who have commented on that sword you will be happy to hear that it had actually split at the base into three distinct plants, I replanted two of them for now, but had to get rid of the third, I'm pretty sure the three of them would fill the whole tank by themselves.
No photos yet (still need to unpack my camera
) but I will try to have some up this week.
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200 Posts
Wow, I guess it's been a while since I've updated this...
So here's a FTS from back in the end of August, it shows the rescape after the move and the 2 now separate swords:
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And here it is today, It may just be time for a trim... [smilie=l:
[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc312/joskardi/APC%20Forum/IMG_0646.jpg[/IMG]
Almost hard to believe only a month went by between those photos, huh?
And here's a shot of the little guy that makes me "Logan's Daddy" - he just loves looking at his "fissies!"
![]()
So here's a FTS from back in the end of August, it shows the rescape after the move and the 2 now separate swords:
And here it is today, It may just be time for a trim... [smilie=l:
[IMG]http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc312/joskardi/APC%20Forum/IMG_0646.jpg[/IMG]
Almost hard to believe only a month went by between those photos, huh?
And here's a shot of the little guy that makes me "Logan's Daddy" - he just loves looking at his "fissies!"
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The tank is looking great, and ready for some trimming!
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Yeah, I've been holding out on the trimming so I would have plenty to bring to the Portland Plant swap meet coming up this month, The sword to the Left will be one of my offerings, hope somebody has some room for it...
As always thanks for the kind words.
Hopefully this tank will be retired soon and contents transferred to the new 75 - and by the way zerozax I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on that driftwood on the 18th! It looks perfect for what I have planned.
As always thanks for the kind words.
Hopefully this tank will be retired soon and contents transferred to the new 75 - and by the way zerozax I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on that driftwood on the 18th! It looks perfect for what I have planned.
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mabuhay!
I just simply love your setup. I love the sword. I am also an aquatic gardener who loves those kind of plants no matter what the size of the aquarium is.
Congrats and keep on posting.
Godbless
I just simply love your setup. I love the sword. I am also an aquatic gardener who loves those kind of plants no matter what the size of the aquarium is.
Congrats and keep on posting.
Godbless
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341 Posts
The sword you gave away was AWESOME! I would have taken it if I had room. I think everyone at the swap was kicking themselves for not having more tanksout:, to many plants! Looking forward to your 75g build! I am trying to find room now for more tanks, if the plants start to look bad I will just throw 3 or 4 more lights on top and call it good LOL
. I think everyone at the swap was kicking themselves for not having more tanksout:, to many plants! Looking forward to your 75g build! I am trying to find room now for more tanks, if the plants start to look bad I will just throw 3 or 4 more lights on top and call it good LOL
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Yeah, more lights would pretty much fix anything....The sword you gave away was AWESOME! I would have taken it if I had room
The sword I gave away was only about a quarter of the one in the pic, there's still plenty.
And I need to say THANK YOU so much for the driftwood, it looks soooooooooooo perfect in the 75!
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341 Posts
We want updates!! How is this tank doing now? I bet those plants are growing arms and legs, pretty soon they will take over your house if not kept in check! Is the big piece of driftwood working out for you? I never tried that one in my tank, so I have no clue if it will sink or not cause problems. Hopefully it won't turn to mush on you! If worse comes to worst, we can all get together next year and go to Eagle creek. Plenty of good solid driftwood to be had!
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Yeah, they are awesome!
I don't have any current pics, I'll take some tonight if I get a chance, things have been very busy around our house lately!
I still haven't set up the 75 gallon tank so I do not know if the driftwood sinks, I have most of the parts together and hope to begin that project really soon.
Eagle creek sounds pretty good though, count me in (when it's a little warmer, man, we just went from summer to winter without a fall this year didn't we?
I don't have any current pics, I'll take some tonight if I get a chance, things have been very busy around our house lately!
I still haven't set up the 75 gallon tank so I do not know if the driftwood sinks, I have most of the parts together and hope to begin that project really soon.
Eagle creek sounds pretty good though, count me in (when it's a little warmer, man, we just went from summer to winter without a fall this year didn't we?
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Logan's Daddy,
I've seen your post and some others around the net that have gotten me to thinking I can do a big canopy for my 150 Gallon. The lights are just so expensive for that size tank.
Anyway, I was considering going to the Squirly CF bulbs also. I have a question about your setup!
Is there a reason you made each bulb have its onw plug. What I would like to do is make my entire light strip of 6 to 10 lights run off one plug? Or maybe 2 plugs so I could do a stagered on/off stage?
I'm not an electrician but I'm wondering what is the max you can put on one plug?
g
I've seen your post and some others around the net that have gotten me to thinking I can do a big canopy for my 150 Gallon. The lights are just so expensive for that size tank.
Anyway, I was considering going to the Squirly CF bulbs also. I have a question about your setup!
Is there a reason you made each bulb have its onw plug. What I would like to do is make my entire light strip of 6 to 10 lights run off one plug? Or maybe 2 plugs so I could do a stagered on/off stage?
I'm not an electrician but I'm wondering what is the max you can put on one plug?
g
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200 Posts
Patchworks, all of the sockets are attatched to a single cord, not individual ones.
As far as the max number of bulbs for one cord it would depend on the size of the cord itself, but with a "heavy duty" (14 gauge) one from a surge protector or outdoor type extension cord the max load would be about 12 amps with room for safety.
12 amps on a 120v circuit is around 1440 total watts.
So with a heavy duty 14 gauge cord you could run up to 72 of the 20w (100w equivelant) spirals if you really wanted to...
I think in your case you would be A LOT better off using 4' shoplight strips instead of the spirals, they are much more efficient at getting the light into the tank, the only reason I didn't use them is that this tank is only 3' long and they wouldn't fit.
I belive the lost wattage is around 1/3 (due to their shape, light trapped in the middle etc.) from what I can tell so if you were using 20w bulbs you would need about 29 of them to equal the 2.5 wpg everyone loves to talk about. On the other hand, you would need only 6 shoplight fixtures with 2 32w t8 bulbs in each to have the same impact.
As far as the max number of bulbs for one cord it would depend on the size of the cord itself, but with a "heavy duty" (14 gauge) one from a surge protector or outdoor type extension cord the max load would be about 12 amps with room for safety.
12 amps on a 120v circuit is around 1440 total watts.
So with a heavy duty 14 gauge cord you could run up to 72 of the 20w (100w equivelant) spirals if you really wanted to...
I think in your case you would be A LOT better off using 4' shoplight strips instead of the spirals, they are much more efficient at getting the light into the tank, the only reason I didn't use them is that this tank is only 3' long and they wouldn't fit.
I belive the lost wattage is around 1/3 (due to their shape, light trapped in the middle etc.) from what I can tell so if you were using 20w bulbs you would need about 29 of them to equal the 2.5 wpg everyone loves to talk about. On the other hand, you would need only 6 shoplight fixtures with 2 32w t8 bulbs in each to have the same impact.
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I didn't realize it would take that many. I was thinking like 6 to 10 of the 100W Equlivants. At 10 of them would be 1000 Watts in a 150 Gallon. Are you saying it is the actually watt usage. I was under the impression it was the light output equilivant. Also, I was considering putting in the ones that were like 4" long and not spiral.
The main reason I want to use the is ease of use since you can get the bulbs cheap and at Home Depot these days.
g
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200 Posts
Sorry to tell you, the watts per gallon estimate is in fact based on actual consumption of the bulbs, not their "equivelant" a 20w (100w equivelant) bulb only counts as 20w. And again based on their design there is always some light lost due to restrike even the longer not spiraled ones lose some of their effectiveness.
Trust me, to get sufficient light once you buy all of the bulbs and sockets you will definitely be spending more this way than you would for equivalent shoplights.
My local HD has 4' shoplights for just under 9 bucks, and two packs of "daylight deluxe" 32w t8 bulbs for under 7. You want 2.5wpg or 375w total so that's about 12 bulbs (6 fixtures) or less than $95. And a lot more effective in the end, I plan to do exactly this with a 75 that I'm setting up only I'll be using 3 of the shoplight fixtures.
Keep in mind the tank this thread was originally about is only 34 gallons and I am currently running 7 of the 20w spirals and have no algae problems. (that would equal to 4+ wpg but I guarantee I am losing a lot of that light due to the design of the bulbs, I think I have an effective 2.8 - 3 wpg with my current setup)
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293 Posts
Logans Daddy that is an awesome tank and great ideas for DIY lighting wish i had seen this earlier as i just upgraded from a 55gal to a 75 gal. a week ago. i got a nice fixture for $120 but the bulbs werent right and i had to spend another 130 to get the 65watt 6700k bulbs.
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