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Metal Halide vs. CO2


antwan

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ok, update..

I have just got the light today. This is not a proper fish light, and this type is usually used for shop fittings. So, what i have to do is wire it all up, hang it and turn it on :D . This light came with a 4000k bulb, but i have been told that it will be alright. So, here it is:

P4060001.jpg

I'll chuck a few more pics on as i go...just incase somebody out there is interested :lol:

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ok, so i got the light all wired up, hung and going....here's just a few pics of the finished product. It's kinda huckery but i dont mind (at least it goes :D ).

By the way, i just re-did the tank so the plants need to grow a bit (thats why it looks so bare) :wink:

P4090004.jpg

this is mounted into a 12mm piece of plywood, then hung bout 90cm from the roof using chains coming down from a single central hook.

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so bright!

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then just what it looks like from my point of view (it puts out more light than my bedroom light)

I am now an even happier fish keeper :lol:

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holy moley ant! looking good alright and it is extremely bright, spose now youll have to hand out sunnies at the door :lol:

tanks looking good too, whatd ya do with all the other plants? and do i see that co2 thing snuck back in hehe? how much do you reckun it would weigh all up? can a normal ceiling hold that weight? how far away from the tank is it and have ya left the lids on?

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thanks Luke and Sharn, my lotus and hairgrass was pearling already today which was nice to see.

the other two lotus' have gone in with the rams, along with the left over hairgrass, the crypts have gone into another little tank to grow and the huge sword has gone into the cockatoo tank so i can grow the runners better. Yea, the CO2 is back in (dont think it will do much though, but better than nothing i spose), just until i can afford something better. The whole lot would definately be under 1kg. Normal ceiling can hold the weight just fine. It would be about 15cm away from the water and the lids are not on cos i dont want to risk cracking them, i left them on for the first night just in case the light fell down :lol: .

Think that covers it, i'll post pics every week and show growth and so on.

Thanks for everyones interest.

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ok, well after a VERY generous donation of plants from freshwest, i have re-done the aquascape a bit. Today i witnessed the anubias, lotus, all green stem plants and the twisted val all pearling! Tis an awesome sight. Well, the first pic is to show the generousity of freshwest, he gave me all those plants for free!

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too nice fresh :D

anyway, here's the pics.

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overall shot

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left-hand side

P4120004.jpg

right-hand side

hope u like, any constructive criticism is most welcome :D

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Ooo.. I'm jealous!

I think I need a bigger tank...

Looks great Antwan.

Ps, how would you go about pruning the Twisted Val when it gets taller so that it doesn't look like you've just hacked the tops off?

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Pleeeease Antwan..

Tell me you are going to do something about this:

ant-wiring.jpg

It gives me the heebie jeebies just looking at it.

It needs a cover or junction box over the wiring or the whole fitting to make it secure from the ingress of water and fingers, and something to secure the wiring in case you trip over the lead and it pulls out of the connector and falls into your tank, and the fitting may need to be earthed, which may or may not be incorporated in the connection block, but I can't tell.

Sorry to harp on, but If i did something like this, I'd loose my practicing licence. And the thought of you and your fish turning into crispy-critters is something few of us would wish to contemplate.

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  • 1 month later...

it's had its ups and down lately, unfortunately i had a bad case of hair algae, so decided to double-dose flourish excel, as you do, however in this case it unfortunately killed 3 discus. So, i then moved on to good ol' algae fix which worked in 5 days! no probs with fish at all. im kicking myself for not buying that first now. Umm, on a good note, i started up the DIY CO2 unit, and boy have i seen results! all plants pearling away happily, and im gona add another DIY unit to see how that goes, then when i get some more $$$ ive got a pressurised unit lined up, thats if its not sold by the time i get my ass into gear. Ill post a pick when i can be bothered getting up, so may be a few days :roll:

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Seems the MH was definitely the way to go. I find the results are beautiful with the new light in the four and a half months it's been on. The little DIY CO2 unit is cool too, plants enjoy it when I remember to put the new mix in. I've found that Im going to have to thin-out the hairgrass a lot because it's starting to bring up brown leaves in a few places. Anywho, here's the growth and development:

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The micranthemoides will be expanded to the gap between the stargrass and macrandra so it fills the background behind the lotus, but I couldn't be bothered waiting for that to grow before I took photo's.

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Well done. your aquascape out shine any shop display i have ever seem.

the reason for the brown leaves could be your fertiliser but you must be careful not to over dose as you might be welcoming the algaes. keep those water change coming as it will slow down any development with the algaes.

Where did you buy those micranthemoides from? I like those plant.

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Henry

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Thanks, the reason for the brown leaves I am positive is it's too condensed. I haven't dosed with ferts in ages so can't be that. I got the micranthemoides free from Freshwest ages ago.. haven't seen it in any of the stores since.

Evil, the plant in the middle is a sword plant, and the one to the left of that is barclaya (the one I got extra cheap at the Waikato auction), and sorry..no tennellus to spare at the moment, it needs to spread a bit more first.

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