Tom Gunner

A lot of people at Aquatic Plant Central swear by Sylvania growlux wide spectrum. I might give these a go.

It's true that most stock 6500k bulbs will grow plants, but depending on what plants you want to grow and how well there's a few other factors that come into play - especially if you have 3+ WPG. Here's a bit of light reading for you. Please excuse the pun. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... -lighting/ http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... arium.html http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm

This like the start of an awesome tank. I can't wait to see it stocked. Please post up the specs and setup of the tank/lighting etc.

Eric, what size tank do you have the CF1200 running on?

Not at all - I know who I'll be asking for my chemisty questions.

alanmin4304 - Thankyou for taking the time to explain as simply as you can the chemistry aspect of chlorine relationship within water. I think this is a great science lesson and helps us to understand the breakdown of our weekly water changes. Personally I think you should compile this information and place it as a sticky post for everyone to read. Cheers, Chris.

How do you find out if your locl water supply has Chlorine added or not?

SpidersWeb - Do you add cold water straight from the hose without dechlorinator? I'm wondering if lower hutt water has chlorine in it and whether it would be safe just pouring cold water straight in?

I believe the tank with the big tree toot is one of Oliver Knott's tanks: http://www.plantella.com/ This is a catalogue of the majority of Takashi Amano's show tanks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xylema/ Some of these are breathtaking.

Great tip Bill - I'll give that a go. I use the old hairnet trick. I cover the stone in Riccia or moss, then get a hairnet - and double wrap it around then gluegun the back to keep it on tight. In a few weeks the Riccia completely covered the stones.

I thought it might be Riccia attached to the rocks, but it seems denser - Xmas moss possibly?

If you need some inspiration for your planted tank, here's 10 pages of some of the world's best: http://www.akvaryum.com/Forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40111&PN=1

I'll wonder down raumati or kapiti beach one weekend - sounds like a good place to start. Cheers.

I'm trying to track down some large pieces of driftwood. Does anyone know of any good places to look in the lower north island? Is there any particularly good river banks or beaches where nice pieces wash up? Also, if anyone knows of a LFS or landscape supplier that sells quality pieces, that would also be great. Cheers.

Sorry - I meant 4 X 54w T5 HO

Thanks for that.

I'm looking at getting the Weipro LC 120 58watt X 5 T5 - High Output fixture for my new opentop braceless 1300 X 500 X 500 planted tank. Has anybody used this fixture or had any experience with something similiar?

Is there a list somewhere that tells you what plants are allowed in the country?

Pogostemon helferi is a beautiful plant. I too wish there was a better plant selection over here. How hard is it to become a plant importer? I'm sure the demand is here.

Can you get Hemianthus callitrichoides in New Zealand? I've not seen it anywhere and was wondering if it's on the banned list. http://www.tropica.com/article.asp?type=aquaristic&id=621

That's great guys, thankyou - I'll check all of this out.

Could anybody list the best Fish & Plant stores in the Wellington area (including Upper and Lower Hutt)? For my marine tank I've mainly been using Auckland suppliers, but it would be good to check out the best local freshwater stores. I've checked out Animates, but their plant selection is quite limited. I'd apprieciate any store/contact details from anyone in the know. Cheers, Chris. p.s. Feel free to PM me.

richms - I've been doing ome research into the CRI levels of different bulbs and their suitability. An interesting read is this article: http://www.aquabotanic.com/lightcompare.htm From glancing through it I think the point you made about the brightness relates to the efficiency of high CRI (90+) tubes. I believe that because they cover quite a high spectrum of light, the appearence to our eyes is dimmer than a low CRI bulb, but I think the most important aspect is the spectrum peaks - this article is quite good: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/foru ... arium.html The main point would be to see which peaks are being utilised by the buld, the most important being: Chlorophyll-a: 430nm/662nm Chlorophyll-b: 453nm/642nm Carotenoids: 449nm/475nm So, I assume that if you try and match the bulbs to cover this spectrum, you would have all your plants light needs covered. p.s. Reading back what I've written, it sounds like I'm some cocky expert on the matter - I'm certainly not, please chip in with contradictions. I've just read a lot this due to an exceptionally boring week at work. I'd love to hear peoples opinions on this.

I'd be interested in finding out more about T5 lighting - I've only used T8's and I'd like to find out the benefits in using 4ft T5's over 4ft T8's. Are they simply more powerful a light? SpidersWeb - with your 5X36watt setup - are you finding that amount of light'is sufficient for that size of tank? Do you have any problems with specific plants? I'm doing some research into CRI ratings and planted tanks - I'll post my findings as soon as I know more.

I was having a chat with my local light supplier about the Philips TLD96 (6500k) bulbs for a planted tank, and he suggested I go for the Sylvania T8 Activa 172 6500K (36 watt) bulb, as this rates 98 on the CRI (color rendering index) - which I believe is the highest quality light you can get out of a tube. Has anyone used this tube? I'm planning to fit 5 tubes (180watt) on a 1200X45X45 tank. Has anyone else got a setup similiar to this? Cheers.