29G Low Tech

[n3ont3tra]

Not that I can see.. So I guess I would have to buy new tubes for it. By the way, what spectrum should I be looking for to get good plant growth and also still look good?

edit: I've asked them some questions and they have a Freshwater version which they've just added. The fixture has 28" lights, which are apparently hard to find but coralife makes them. It comes with one 18 Watt 6,700K Daylight - T5 Bulb and one 18 Watt Colormax (350/750nm) - T5 Bulb.

So I think I might buy this.

 

[SuperColey1]

Yep they're selling you a daylight/pinklight mix. That will be fine

I dare say you'll probs get nearly that price for you CF on wbay? No idea on the market over in the US but CF still seems to be v popular over there.

AC

 

[n3ont3tra]

I'm still holding off a little on buying that lighting fixture, because I'm afraid it may be too difficult to find replacement bulbs for it. My mom wants to keep the tank when I go off to college in a year, and she 'doesn't want to special order everything'. I checked a few sites that I commonly use, and I can't find the bulbs, and they don't sell them at our LFS. So I may have to find something else.

Also I found an old, used bottle of Seachem Flourish in my tank cabinet today. I'd imagine it's at least 2 years old. I couldn't find an expiration date anywhere on the bottle, can I still use it? Do I even need it?

 

[SuperColey1]

There is a bit of a problem here.

A little like dry ferts and pressurised CO2, that people are afraid of what they don't know.

There is a way you can utilise the CF you have to be a little better but not unless you can get past your fear of doing something yourself.

If you raise the CF upward away from the tank then it will spread better. Les light in general but more equal spread and will remove the intense hotspot in the centre that is causing you a staghorn headache.

However to raise it up you need to either go open topped and build (yes build) a luminaire to fit it in or....

Hang the light on its own and it will be visible......

Or build a new hood. Much higher than the original, say 1ft deep instead of 3" as it probably is at present.

All 3 options require you to steer past your inhibitions r.e. DIY and just have a go.

A wooden luminaire can be made from 1 sheet of 6mm mdf 2ft x 4ft which will cost you in the region of $10. Wood glue and/or nails would cost you $2-3. Black paint (or your choice of colour) preferably a spray paint like used for car scratch repair would cost you circa $6. It doesn't need to be the ultimate in quality. Its only surrounding a light unit. It isn't a shelf

A deep hood may need a little larger sheet say 6ft x 2ft but the difference in cost is minimal. If it is a hood you don't need to hang it but because it is enclose you do need to yacht varnish the inside due to condensation.

It really is easy and once done provides you options for the future onward. i.e. you can always alter your design, advance the design, fit different lights within it etc.

There are those who 'fear doing' something different and they are stuck with what is available. There are those who 'do' and they can then choose and have exactly what they want.

Her are some ideas for you. The first is a simple hood design which anyone can do and just uses some blocks in the corners as support (I used pine but if I did it again I would use mdf.)

The second is a full on luminaire 'beautified to the umpteenth.

I don't expect you to venture into veneering nor LEDs nor routing. It is the 'shell I am showing you here. It really is easy to do. Both designs are similar in that they have a front panel, rear panel, 2 side panels and a lid. That is 5 pieces of mdf to measure and cut out. (6 if you use the flap design) and then you can just glue and pin it together, then finish it with desired colour, then fit your CF inside.

The first is more a standard 'flap' design where you cut the 'lid' in 2 and therefore have a flap to open and feed etc.

The second is designed as an open top luminaire.

Click on the picture to open the relevant link:





You will get nowhere in life just settling for what is available or what you already know. I didn't have any experience of making things when I built the first hood. You can see how I have gained in confidence since then.

I didn't have any knowledge at all of web design before I started my website but I dived in and learnt on the job. You have to be brave enough to learn things. And learning things makes you want to learn more things. Its a motivational thing. Like I often jokingly add to my posts 'Jonny No 5 - need more data'

AC

 

[n3ont3tra]

However to raise it up you need to either go open topped and build (yes build) a luminaire to fit it in or....

Hang the light on its own and it will be visible......

Or build a new hood. Much higher than the original, say 1ft deep instead of 3" as it probably is at present.

The tank is placed on a sort of rickety wire stand that has 3 shelves. The bottom shelf is supplies, the middle shelf has the tank, and the top shelf (at the very top of the stand) has random things that we have nowhere else for lol. This top shelf is approximately a foot over the top of the tank. It can't be removed, and we have nowhere else to put the tank (no other location, and no other stand-type things). So hanging things doesn't really work out, I guess. I'll get a pic tomorrow so you can see what I mean.

Also I think I would be able to build a hood, like the one with the link you gave me (nice site btw. ), but the height is limited so I don't even know how much good it would do.

1 more day of blackout.

 

[SuperColey1]

So the light is already a foot above the water surface?

AC

 

[n3ont3tra]

No the light is only a few inches above the surface.

 

[SuperColey1]

so can you fit the light to the underside of the top shelf (a foot above the water)?

If so try that

AC

 

[n3ont3tra]

I could probably zip tie it.
I'll try it tomorrow.

And I measured and it's almost 11 inches above the top of the tank, and I can lower the shelf if I need to.

Pics tomorrow. I hope my fish are alright.


Edit: Everything seems alright. The plants really didn't enjoy being in the bucket. They're all growing in weird directions and they turned a little brown. The lotus lost a few leaves. The anarcharis is kindof brown. But I think they'll recover.

The algae didn't seem to be affected that much.

Pics in a bit.

edit: Okay pics. xD

I Put the light on the bottom of the top shelf with zip ties. xD I still need to cut off the ends lol, but it seems to work well and spreads teh light out much more evenly. Great Idea SuperColey1.

This is an old anubias that had some algae on it, it looks like some of it went away but theres still a lot on those leaves near the top of the pic, and what i think are new leaves on the right

The variegated sword I got didn't mind the bucket, but it's growing very 'flat', it must have been upside down in the bucket. But it has no brown leaves or anything.

The driftwood is still covered in algae. Also on the left is one of the plants that was in the bucket, I think it's leaf was already partially yellow but it got a little worse.

This anubias still has algae on it.

The Lotus only has 1 big leaf, seen here, and it looks a little rough. It does have some small new leaves growing, but they're still near the roots, and it lost 2 big leaves in the bucket.

The old amazon sword still has the algae on it, but strangely it looks like it grew a new little plant (I forget what they're called lol), you can see it on the left.

The shrimp

I also did a 30% water change to help with the debris.

Any tips on getting rid of the algae on the wood?

EDIT: I'm turning this into a journal to chronicle my progress. As soon as this is moved I will add a new post with updates.

 

[n3ont3tra]

Thanks Llj for moving my thread.

I've set up some goals for this tank.

Short Term - I want everything to be healthy sooner rather than later. The health of the fish and plants (and shrimp) come first. I need a stable ecosystem before I can mess with the plant arrangements.
Long Term - I'm going to college in a year, and my mom wants to keep the tank running. So... the tank needs to be simple and easy to maintain. There is also a 'final result' that I want to acheive sometime before I go to college.

Final Result that I hope to Achieve:
I've been looking at all of the journals here, and pictures of tanks and of scenes from nature (not necessarily underwater ones) and I think I've finally found a picture that inspires me:

It's a photomanipulation from an artist called phatpuppy on Deviantart, and I love it.
So I've designed a tentative plan with the plants I think I might use for that:

Possible changes to that include making the little 'mound' with driftwood/rocks extend to the back of the tank (no trail behind it), and adding some plants to the left so the trail is slightly closer the the center. Also I may flip it horizontally because there's a wall on the left of the tank.

Obviously my tank is longer than it is tall (30"x12"x18") but that should only make it easier...

Anyway, I just thought somebody reading this might be interested in my goals for it.

Now for the updates:

The lotus lost it's last big leaf.
It has 2 or 3 small leaves near the bottom but they have some holes in them.
The anarcharis keeps uprooting itself. But I think it's growing a little.
Nothing has changed with the algae.

I have decreased the time the lighting is on (previously 12 hours which I realize is too long..).


Questions:

• What should I do about the plants that are infected by algae?
• What can I do to prevent the algae from coming back?
• How long should the light be on every day?

Thanks for reading.

 

[PDSimon]

My ozelot is really flat too, rather than growing upwards it seems to just grow a leaf and no stem! So the plant is about 10cm high

Spot dosing liquid carbon may help
waterchanges help

have you seem james algae guide?

 

[n3ont3tra]

My light stopped working again.

 

[SuperColey1]

I'd have a good look at that light. Try it without the timer for a few days and manual switch on/off. See if it is the timer (if you are using one)

As stated above spot dose liquid carbon (fourish Excel). Get a syringe and measure out the recommended daily dose (no more incase the shrimp are affected) and then squirt the recommended dose onto an area affected by algae. Do a different area each day until you have covered everything (even if it takes a week or more to get all the affected areas)

Once the excel has hit a spot of algae it will start to die off and even if you don't notice a change you will notice the shrimp taking a keen interest in those affected areas. Staghorn and BBA are ignored by shrimp but as soon as it is dying (after excel treatment) they will start to eat it.

Good luck on the tank and the lights

AC

 

[n3ont3tra]

I'm pretty fed up with the light, so I just bought a new one, the same one I was looking at earlier.
It didn't work without the timer either, and I tried taking out the bulb and putting it back in, and different outlets and other random things, I have no idea why it stopped working.

I also bought flourish excel so I'll try that too.

It'll take a few days for the light and excel to get here, I'll try getting the light working again, but I have nothing to use as a light until then.

Thanks for the advice.

edit: If I push in the light bulb it'll flash on for less that a second, but doesn't stay, so I guess there's something loose and I don't know how to fix it.

 

[SuperColey1]

Borrow your mum's deskor bedsie lamp until the new one arrives. Some light is better than no light especially just after a 4 day blackout.

AC