Tank broke!!!!!!

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cichlidcichlid

AC Members
Jun 15, 2006
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I am thinking of getting another one tonight.

Petco was close yesterday when it happened.

The one fish is ok, i accidentally dropped the acrilic 5 gallon when i was drying it after a complete wate chnge.

Why are the glass ones so much more than a 10 gal?


The shelf i want to put it one is two and a half inches to short of holding a 10 gallon.

The 10 gallon is 10 at petsmart and the 5 gallon glas tank is 14.99. Why is this?
 

cichlidcichlid

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Jun 15, 2006
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Also if i get the incondecent hood and can it hold two bulbs?If it can, i want to put two of those florecent spiral 23 watt bulbs in there which is 46 watts for a 5 and a 1/2 gallon tank.

Is this enough for any plants i want?

Even if it turns out there is only room for one bulb which would be 23 watts would it still be enough light to use for plants?

The total would be 24 buck for a brand new 5 1/2 gal with incondcent light.
 

Malbri

User
Dec 11, 2006
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you can get a 10 gal kit for 30 bucks at wal mart
 

Jayhawk

AC Members
May 12, 2001
1,358
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Lawrence, KS
Whoa there...that's way too much light for a 5 gallon tank. 2-3 watts per gallon is high light, 1-2 is moderate light. Just get the smaller flourescent bulbs - no more than 10 watts for the tank.

Eric
 

Sammie7

Get funky wit it!
May 28, 2006
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Whoa there...that's way too much light for a 5 gallon tank. 2-3 watts per gallon is high light, 1-2 is moderate light. Just get the smaller flourescent bulbs - no more than 10 watts for the tank.

Eric
Ummm. No. Smaller tanks need higher wattage lights. The watt per gallon rule only applies to tanks 20 - 90 gallons. I have 10 watts over my 5 hex and it is just barely getting by... 2-3 watts would be a good number.

The only problem I can see CC is the bulbs not being able to fit in the hood. They didn't want to fit in mine, so I had to settle for a 10 watt bulb.

What plants are you trying to grow?
 

jm1212

Pterophyllum scalare
Jul 22, 2006
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Real Name
Jon
the smaller tanks are more expensive because everything that goes into them needs to be downsized. the heaters need to be able to fit in the tank and still heat it adequatley, the lights need to be small enough and fit on the hood and still light up the tank, etc.
 

Jayhawk

AC Members
May 12, 2001
1,358
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Lawrence, KS
Sammie7 - your hex is a tall tank, right? That's the nature of hexagonal tanks, and that's why you need more light. More light on a taller tank. Rectangular 5 gallon tanks are shorter, and therefore the WPG rule generally works fine...it has for me in the past with 5 gallon tanks.

I'm open to good, scientific based reasons on why a smaller tank needs more light, but except for tank height I've yet to actually hear such an argument.

Eric
 

Sammie7

Get funky wit it!
May 28, 2006
1,284
0
36
Florida
Sammie7 - your hex is a tall tank, right? That's the nature of hexagonal tanks, and that's why you need more light. More light on a taller tank. Rectangular 5 gallon tanks are shorter, and therefore the WPG rule generally works fine...it has for me in the past with 5 gallon tanks.

I'm open to good, scientific based reasons on why a smaller tank needs more light, but except for tank height I've yet to actually hear such an argument.

Eric
Not really...
http://www.rexgrigg.com/light.htm
"Ok, [rant mode on] I have seen a lot of people repeating the lie that deeper tanks need more light. That might be true if you are using crappy lighting systems or barely have enough light as it is. But if you use decent lighting systems with decent reflectors the depth of the tank doesn't mean squat. You might hear about spectral drop off or lighting decrease. Bull****! If your tank was 30 feet deep it would be one thing. But the difference between 18" and 30" is not enough to worry about as long as you have good reflectors."

Think about it this way... " Take a one gallon tank. Put a 4 watt bulb on it. You now have a 4 watt per gallon tank. But wait! It seems that nothing will survive in your "high" light micro tank. Why is that? Well plants need a minimum threshold of light to survive and grow. And this minimum is not expressed in the watt per gallon rule. Here's the skinny on light energy. At noon in the tropics where a lot of our plants come from the sun provides up to 140,000 lumens per square meter. If you take your 10 gallon tank and look at the surface area it has you would have to have almost 220 watts of light on it to equal what the sun provides. Kind of makes your 20-40 watts look insignificant doesn't it? Now if you did somehow manage to cram that much light over a 10 gallon tank you would have to devise some kind of cooling system and a system to automatically keep the tank filled. Because just like in the tropics that water is going to be doing some heavy duty evaporation. But it does point out why the watt per gallon rule breaks down."
http://www.rexgrigg.com/mlt.html

Thanks Rex Grigg.:)
 
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