Just Upgraded Lighting!

Following the questions regarding lighting I bought 2 x 55w T5's, they arrived today and I've just finished fitting them! Good news! I was able to fit the T5's alongside the 2 x 25w T8's giving me an 3.33WPG

Now the plants may beat the algae and I can dose full EI rather than EI lite

Sounds good

Have you added the full amount of increased lighting straight away? I am not sure if you intend to still use the Juwel lighting, but maybe you could start off with the new T5 tubes, slowly introducing the Juwel lights over the next few days to allow the plants to adjust to the new light intensities.

The first thing that will happen will be an increase in CO2 depletion caused by your faster growing plants, so make sure you compensate for this.

I have 3.4WPG in one of my tanks, and any nutrient deficiency manifests itself pretty quickly. Keep all your nutrients in excess for your plants and work hard at getting rid of any existing algae. You will find a significant increase in growth in a day or two, so get some decent scissors handy.

Fingers crossed, Dave.

Themuleous said:

Sounds good

Click to expand...

Cheers

Dave Spencer said:

Have you added the full amount of increased lighting straight away? I am not sure if you intend to still use the Juwel lighting, but maybe you could start off with the new T5 tubes, slowly introducing the Juwel lights over the next few days to allow the plants to adjust to the new light intensities.

The first thing that will happen will be an increase in CO2 depletion caused by your faster growing plants, so make sure you compensate for this.

I have 3.4WPG in one of my tanks, and any nutrient deficiency manifests itself pretty quickly. Keep all your nutrients in excess for your plants and work hard at getting rid of any existing algae. You will find a significant increase in growth in a day or two, so get some decent scissors handy.

Fingers crossed, Dave.

Click to expand...

The Juwel lights are timed for about 4hrs today, this will increase over the next few days - I do intend to use them all, if things start going crazy, I may back them off and just use the T5's

Thanks for the heads up, I've got my Co2 prepped and will monitor closely today and tomorrow, any excess will be aireated at night, the CO2 is timed to come on 2hrs before lights on to ensure a good amount for the photo period, this will also shut off 1hr after lights off

I'm going to be dosing full EI as from Sunday, in its current state, the tank has been OD'd with nutrients so no probs until Sunday

Heres a question... EI state dosage for 20-40gal then 40-60gal, I take it this is not UK gallons therefore my 40 becomes 48 and I should be dosing in the 40-60gal range?

Depends on who's thread you read. My calculator work in US galls so I tend to just use Litres.
There's only one version of those !!!

Have fun !

I will take it as US gallons and see how that goes... Thanks!

If it is the EI article pinned on this forum you are quoting from, then it is USG.

Great, thanks Dave

Ok, added my fan today - looks great and works even better!

This is the kit, a ball bearing fan with external cover, variable 12v adaptor and a rubber silencing kit



Mark out holes for securing screws the FIT IT TO YOUR TANK to make sure all is good before you holesaw the middle!



This is the silencing kit - just rubber and stops all vibrations through the hood



This is the outer cover, you can see that all screw heads are concealed



This is a shot of the underside, the wiring is so simple even I can do it, snip the end of the adaptor and match up red with black/white and black with black (white can be sniped, its for main board feedback so who gives one??)



So with some connection sheath (heat it up and it creates a protective cover over joins) join everything up



and voila



This fan is set to extract and is connected to both a variable voltage adaptor (£5.99) and a timer so I can adjust to suit, took about 1.5degrees off the temp in 3hrs so with the new lighting, its well worth it! Will go on about 9 in the morning and turns off about 23:00, if I need more cooling I turn up the voltage... now knowing how much of a geek I may put together a circuit to dynamically adjust speed based on temperature increments . These T5's are H O T, the top no longer feels like its going to ooze into the tank, in fact it feels warmish...

The other benefit here is that it will clear CO2 trapped between the waters surface and the aquarium hood! Will see how things go, I may put another one in the opposite side pulling air in, have spare fans n stuff...


There is one more thing....

What is this in the table?



....


......


........

Yes, it is a drill hole, whilst I was using a piece of wood to drill into, I failed to think about the length needed from the holesaw...

S S S H H H H s s s h h h .... Do not tell the missus, yes she bought the table, yes it did cost a bit - donations gratefully received!

You should see the inside of my cabinet from drilling things using th base as a surface. lol

Good works sophos, I was looking at some on ebay which are 2 fans in a unit all wired up rectangular which I might fit into the ends of my DIY pine hood when I get round to it.

Andy

You better get some wood putty!! yikes

While reading this thread i thought why not use a 240 volt fan, and wire it in so it comes on with the lights. But then i thought is the fan waterproof? 240v + water, yikes!

Holesaws are vicious things, i use them often in my line of work. You need some serious wood filling, and wood stain to blend it in so it matches the grain, good luck!

remids me of a mates storeo install in his car he had an amp hidden so he had one fan blowing air in and one fan sucking it out to cool it

SuperColey1 said:

You should see the inside of my cabinet from drilling things using th base as a surface. lol

Good works sophos, I was looking at some on ebay which are 2 fans in a unit all wired up rectangular which I might fit into the ends of my DIY pine hood when I get round to it.

Andy

Click to expand...

Would recommmend it, removes the majority of heat!

dirtyfishtank said:

You better get some wood putty!! yikes

Click to expand...

MHunt said:

While reading this thread i thought why not use a 240 volt fan, and wire it in so it comes on with the lights. But then i thought is the fan waterproof? 240v + water, yikes!

Holesaws are vicious things, i use them often in my line of work. You need some serious wood filling, and wood stain to blend it in so it matches the grain, good luck!

Click to expand...

Ideally you want it to come before lights on and after lights off... yup, will have to get a dowel and polish it!

spankone said:

remids me of a mates storeo install in his car he had an amp hidden so he had one fan blowing air in and one fan sucking it out to cool it

Click to expand...

This works really well, stops the hood melting

50% water change today, full EI dose and good clear out / small replant. Have been keeping an eye on the CO2, the problem today is the water change and setting the rate back up... Will monitor over the next few days

Light are great and temperature is about 2 degrees under the norm!