Simian

I dont know anything about discus, but they look bloody good to me :bounce: did you breed em?

Texas' blues are definitely here My old one currently living with snookie as he was a bully Not sure of their latin name

1st Sunday of the month at 2.30pm Hamilton Zoo

Go with (CFL)Compact Fluro Lamps, PL lamps or even the power saver lamps will do at a pinch. The light output from a fluro is proportional to its length (hence the twisted shape on some power saver lamps)I have added 2x 26 watt CFL lamps in my light hood and have my ballasts remote to cut down on heat and weight on the hood. Have a look at my lighting FAQ in the technical area, I have stuck with fluros at this stage but when I get some more time I will add MH and other lighting types

Great stuff! Nice to know that line wont die out :bounce:

I've made a donation, its not much but if we all give $10 it will help the fight. Get off your butts boys n girls, just do without a couple of Latte's :bounce:

Give Roger Shackell a ring, I did my time under him if he cant fix the pump, he will know someone who can. If you live in T.A. you will know who he is. Good luck

Thinking of you guys today Warm wishes and good vibes heading your way. Owen

They will be fine They completely ignore each other in my tanks. I have Striata and BN in one tank and Chains and BN in another never had any problems

I have my thinking cap on. Thinking of you guys.

Might be best if this thread "disappeared" "accidentally" :roll:

A quick Glossary added in my first post.

Thankyou for the pretty picture Hans, its an accurate portrayal of colour temperature. (the numbers down the side are in Kelvin K) Thankyou for the info on plant colour spiders web, I know very little in regards to the spectrum's of light required for photosynthesis and am happy to defer to you on that subject. I will stick to the engineering information. I would like to point out that "Watts per inch" is a pretty meaningless unit, if the luminous efficacy is poor on a tube then the lumen output can be very low regardless of how much power you pack into it, or how long the tube is. To Clarify what Spiders web was saying, a T5HO (T5 High Output Tube) does tend to have a much higher Lumen Output when compared to T8 or T5 tubes of the same length. Bear in mind that this comes at a cost in regards to Efficiency (equivalent efficacy to a T8 with an old electromagnetic ballast) I'm not trying to shoot you down, I just want to keep the terms clearly defined that people do not get confused by too many units and terms.

Why do the ends of my fluro tubes turn black? Inside the end of the Fluro fitting is a part called the electrode or emitter. this has a small amount of mercury on it. Basically every time a lamp starts a small amount of this mercury spatters off the electrode and onto the phosphor coating of the lamp, once that mercury is gone from the electrode the tube wont work anymore. Electronic starters cause less mercury spatter and hence the tubes last longer. The more you switch a Fluorescent the shorter the life span of the tube. Be aware that Fluro tubes should be disposed of properly, the mercury will leech into the groundwater at landfills and that is not good. Return your old tubes to an electrical wholesaler or a reputable sparky, they will dispose of them for $1 each. Philips fluro tubes (the ones with green end caps)have the lowest mercury content on the market, if you are feeling particularly eco friendly

Are there any other advantages to T5? The smaller diameter means you can pack more tubes into a smaller area. The reflectors on T5 light fittings tend to be better developed to give more precise optical control and focus.

Whats the difference in the ballasts? The old style ballasts are wire wound coils (yes they work more or less like a coil in a car) They need a starter (the little cylinder with the 2 little prongs on it) to give the tube its kick start. These guys give the traditional flicker flicker flicker start These are the least efficient with up to 17% (I need to check this figure tomorrow) of power lost as heat in the ballast. The next type are the first generation of "electronic" ballast which effectively just got rid of the starter, they are marginally more efficient and don't flicker on start up. (BTW this extends lamp life) And finally we have fully electronic or high frequency start gear,as used in all T5 fittings (this is why they are considered more efficient) and the new generation of T8 fittings that are coming into the country at the moment. These guys are very efficient and give a nice smooth pulse to ignite the tube this greatly extends the life of a tube.

Looks like I have started something here, you guys will have to be patient, I only have limited time and am a slow typer Also I want to cover the basics first before I get into the really deep stuff (it will give me a chance to dig out my old text books) Lets start with busting a few myths re T8's & T5's etc. :bounce:

Good Question Whetu, and quite a contentious one amongst some people here, I will answer the showing off the fish question now and get back to you on the plant growing one. To show off your freshwater fish ie Africans to the best effect use a mixture of High colour rendering (Ra) tubes colour 940 and a high output or Efficacy (Lumens per watt lm/W) tube colour 840 (will make the tank appear warm and inviting) or colour 865 (will bring out the whites on the fish and give a sharp contrast some people find this light quite harsh tho). Because Ra and Efficacy tend to be mutually exclusive you will need different tubes for each effect. Bear in mind I am not talking about specialist aquarium tubes here, there are a myriad of different special tubes for various applications if you have a massive budget use those ones. Salt water tanks tend to have very high colour temperature (sometimes 20,000+) as this tends to correspond with an increase in UV light which corals require to grow (metal Halides are good for this but I am sticking to fluros at this point)

Ok got that so what do the other #'s mean? The second part of the number indicates the colour temperature in expressed in Kelvin or K. 2700K is a warm yellow light 3500K is a neutral white 6500K is getting quite cold and harsh (often called a daylight tube) The higher the number the whiter the light i.e. the light shifts into the blue end of the spectrum. Back to our standard reference tube colour 840 the x40 indicates a colour temperature of 4000K Likewise a colour 865 (Daylight) Tube has a colour temperature of 6500K

What do the colour numbers on my fluro tube mean? When people refer to a colour tube as eg colour 840 it is a basic code which covers two main things. The first part of this number is colour rendering (Ra) the Ra scale is from 0 (monochromatic) to 100 (OMG! Thats soooooo pretty). In the case of the 840 tube the 8xx denotes a colour rendering of 80 (pretty good) Important Note a higher colour rendering will result in lower light intensity FYI : a standard incandescent or halogen lamp has an Ra of 100 The best colour rendering tube commonly available from electrical suppliers is Colour 940 or the "butchers tube". Ra=93 I will cover the second part of the numbers in another post.

Ok boys n Girls, here's a simple guide to Fluorescent fittings and tubes, it crops up all the time so please sticky this. Before all the myths come in and pollute this thread, unless you have verified proof please do not make statements that will confuse people pose it as a question and I will fact check it. Please feel free to ask questions and request clarification. I in no way advocate DIY electrical work and any information given is in the context of education only. I am an Electrical Engineer & Registered Electrician and will not post a statement here without the proper proof to back it up. Glossary Lumen Output or Luminous Flux. Unit Lumen Luminous efficacy Luminous Output per Watt of power consumed. Unit lm/W Colour Rendering, scale from 0-100. Unit Ra Colour Temperature, Colour appearance. Unit Kelvin (K)

The Waikato Aquarium Society is having a "dry tank" day at The Hamilton Zoo on Sunday 2.30-5.00pm We will be covering aspects of planning various biotype tanks and discussing how to arrange your tank to maximise enjoyment. Everyone welcome.

A couple of Juliei cory's & small bristle nose, as cleaners on the bottom And a couple of dwarf Gourami to take up the top section. Oh and more Neons.

Dwarf Chains, tiny bioload, Striata will keep pretty small for ages too