Matt Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Hi everyone, After almost 3 years I have finally finished making the cabinet for my 100 x 50 x 50cm tank and am currently setting it up. I'm almost ready to start filling it and adding the plants but I thought I would check to see whether anyone had any ideas for a cheap lighting setup, rather than going the Arcadia controller and overpriced pet shop bulb way. I am planning on having this tank heavily planted in the back with a covering of foreground plants in the front. The tank has undergravel heating as well as laterite, Palmers Aquatic Fertiliser and Dupla Plant Fertiliser under the gravel. I will also be incorprating Co2 injection. Pics of my tank in progress here: http://www.geocities.com/i_lovebeer/LargeHomeTank.html I am planning on making a hood and was thinking of incorporating 3 tubes (maybe 4) into it. I also want to have stage the lighting of the tubes i.e. one first, the other two 15 minutes later etc. Also I was wondering if anyone had a recipe for soaking plants in to completely remove snails. I am planning on transfering the plants from my old snail infested tank http://www.geocities.com/i_lovebeer/SmallHomeTank.html snail free if possible. Thanks in advance for any help/suggestions. Cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Matt Lighting. For a tank that you want heavly planted and useing c02 etc, the more light you can use the better. My tank is 450 front to back and I have 4x 4ft tubes and 1x 3ft (bow fronted won't allow another 4ft). I reccomend that you use as many tubes as possible. I would say no less than 4, but you should be able to fit 6 over that tank. Bulb selection is as important as anything else, and I STRONGLY reccomend buying the tubes from an electrical whoesaler and not the pet shop. As for tubes in the 6000 - 6500 kelvin range, they will know exactly what this means. This will give you the best results for plants, and look the most natural. As for what to use, I agree the Arcadia units are well overrpiced. I would just use something you can wire up yourself or buy pre-made untis from somewhere like www.sog.co.nz. Also reflectors make a big difference, so get these too. I have personally been using this system for quite some time and its works perfectly. Infact I have had to remove the many plants as I got sick of pruning them twice a week. Good luck and would love to see some pics. Pies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Go for the Philips or Sylvania TLD96 range. They are 5 phosphour 6500K daylight tubes. You get excellent colour rendering of the plants and fish and super-fast plant growth. See if you can get them at trade (use a mate in the electrical trade if you can). You should only pay about $13-14 +GST per tube. These are equivalent, if not better than the best LFS tubes at $65+ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Posted March 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2004 Hi Warren and Pies, Thanks very much for replying. I'm lucky enough to have a sister that works for Laser Electrical so I have asked her to source the bulbs for me at trade. Now all I have to do is rob a bank so that I can finish filling my Fluval 404 with ceramic noodles etc. Cheers, Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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