Lighting advice welcomed

Indigo

Indigo

weeeeee
Sep 20, 2004
228
0
0
44
BC, Canada
Urk, I pressed submit to such a nice swanky post and explored crashed. Gah!

Anyway, lets try this again...

After much reading and research I bought a Hagen Waterhome 25 because my LFS has a not too hot selection and I thought hey, this would be awesome.

Originally I thought I would stick to fake plants, but the more I read on these forums, the more I thought that I'd like to have something real. I'm rambling, and I'll try to get to the point. With the kit came this canopy and this bulb. With a 25g tank and a 20W bulb this gives me less than 1 watt per gallon. Not great. Soooo... is there another bulb I can use in this canopy?

Whew. Overkill with the links? lol... Thanks in advance for any advice!

edit - my apologies if this is in the wrong section.
 
Unfortunately, I don't think you can fit a more powerful bulb in there with the ballast that comes with the hood. You'll either need to retrofit the hood, replace it, or stick with low light plants. Java moss, java ferns, most crypts and anubias will work under low light conditions.
 
I guess there's only one way to find out hehe. :D Or, wait until I save up some money and try and retrofit/replace the hood.
 
I'm not sure if you can get them in Canada, but there is a very cheap easy retrofit that you can do to almost any hood over 24inches long.
Walmart sells a Lights of America Grow Light. It's runs about $10.00 usd. It's cheap and pretty effective ime. I have two of them over my 20long planted tank and two of them over my 50breeder planted tank. Plants consist of crypt wendetti, red melon sword, and lots and lots of java fern.
The bulb is a 24 inch,T-10, 20 watt grow light bulb. Entire lamp including bulb measure, 27inches x 2inches x 2.5inches. From the looks of the picture of the canopy you may be able to fit 2 of the strips in there. Your canopy would need to be a minimum of 3 inches tall inside to house them.
The modifications are very simple, removing the "guts" of the original lights and cut a small "V" in the back of the cover to allow the power cord to pass through then lining the canopy with the shiny side out with tinfoil to act as a very very cheap reflector. To secure the lamp to the canopy you can use the screws that come with it.
Although you don't have to, I did remove the plastic lens cover off of the growlight so that the light wasn't shaded at all, the lens was more opaque than I wanted, than completely clear.
There is a glass top between the bulbs and the water. If you don't have a glass top you can get them cut for you pretty cheaply at almost any glass shop. I even had mine with a finger hole cut into it. Make sure they round the edges a bit so you avoid any injuries when lifting the top. Total cost for the diy lamps and glass top with use of my own canopy was still under $20.00 usd.
 
Indigo, it would probbably be best to start off with some low light plants, java fern/moss, anubias, crypt's and maybe some anacharis. They are very easy to care for and will look IMO way better than fake plants, and you shouldnt need to replace your hood. Then if you decide you do like live plants and wanna go bigger and better, then you can upgrade your hood. Just my .02
 
Kasakato - I'm pretty happy with what I got. The filter is VERY quiet. When the hood is on, I barely hear a thing. The video was useless, and the bottle of cycle is useless. Hagen is a good brand and the products in the kit are good, but perhaps not top of the line. If memory serves me correct, it was $197 CDN plus GST. I've got a crappy phone pic that I'll upload tonight if you'd like.

Seaman - Thanks for the info, the plants you listed, they'll grow (maybe not flourish, but not die either) in these conditions? I'd much rather have real over plastic
 
Hehe, it took me awhile and much looking at graphs for me to figure out this nitrogen cycle. Basically the two methods to cycle a tank is fishy and fishless. They both end up going through the cycle, but in the fishy method, the fish provides the ammonia. In a fishless cycle, you provide the ammonia. Either way, bacteria colonies develop to eat the ammonia and convert it to nitrIte. Then other bacteria convert nitrIte to nitrAte which is much less harmful than either ammonia or nitrite.

Most people (myself included) prefer the fishless cycle cuz its less work, and it doesn't hurt any fish in the process. In a fishy cycle toxic ammonia and nitrite build up fast which can hurt your fish, so many many frequent water changes are required. *gasps for air* thats how I understand the cycle.

This - http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html - is a good article on fishless cycling.

PS - I hope this helps a little. I'm still very much a n00b, and I'm sure more knowledgeable forum frequenters could be a lot more helpful :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom