Sorry to stray out of planted but I'm bored and 'floating' around. lol
I would pick up a 2nd hand tank locally, technically, the bigger the better, as water is one of the best insulaters, and a larger volume means a far more stable ecosystem.
+1. Always the best idea recycling someone else's '(s)_crap'
[quote Tom499]A heavy planting would probably be best, with a couple of low light level species, that grow relatively fast, as these will contribute to dealing with waste products.
Then its a matter of choosing some small critters, and understocking by a considerable margin so water changes can be kept to a minimum or stopped entirely. [/quote]
Completely wrong here. This sounds like a non planted keeper looking from the non planted point of view.
If you plant heavily, no CO2 and lowish light then you need do no water changes unless there is an emergency....EVER. This bit you have right, however you do not want to understock at all. You NEED to overstock as then you get your supply of nutrient. If you 'understock considerably' you then have to add fertilisers to bridge the gap which is against the subject matter of this thread. Left over food and what comes out of the fishies bottom will provide all the elements too.
This site says acrylic is 20% better at insulating:
http
/www.squidoo.com/acrylicaquariums
Wrap it up in blankets at night if you want it insulating. If you are wanting to spend less energy then you are getting a recycled tank. Highly unlikely it will be acrylic.
As already stated, the goal will be to create a stable almost self sustaining tank, apart from the food input and occassional cleaning.
Hence the overstocking. Adding fertiliser isn't self sustaining.
Many, if not most, of our corydoras species are more comfortable at 70F than at the 78+F
Indeed, when I want mine to spawn I will turn my heater off for four days. This can go for most tropical fish IME. Whilst the heating is off my tank will be in the region of 21/22 and therefore the other inhabitants (which have included Rasbora, Tetra, Plecs etc) 'suffer' the same freeze. Never seen any negative effect on them. If anything These other species seem to thrive and just like the Corys spawn during this 'cold snap'
This leads me on to another query regarding 'ambient'. With the heater off the water is 21/22 How is this when the room temperature is 18 in the winter. The water is 21. Higher than the room temperature. Could it be that the substrate I use for this more 'self sustaining' setup is actually providing heat? After all if you feel the heat inside a compost heap you will know what I am suggesting.
I have started using T-5 HO fixtures to improve the light vs power consumption situation but would prefer more natural lighting.
You are using the wrong lights if light vs power consumption is the aim. T8 is more efficient than T5HO if used on an electronic ballast. T5 (NO) is the most efficient lighting, T5HO is most definately not. degrades quicker, burns out quicker and not as efficient at the same time. You need T5 (NO) to get the best from flourescents. With reflectors of course to need less power in the first place.
You are also using a huge amount of light @ nearly 3WPG of T5HO. You should be able to get as low as 1WPG of T5HO without CO2 which I assume is the aim in this thread. With CO2 you can be down in the 0.5WPG area. However that would mean faster growth, ferts added etc which rules CO2 out.
Finally you could go down to 5.6.7.8 hours and save there too. Plants only need those first few hours.
LED lighting is for sure the most power per W used at the moment. Not the little low power ones because you need hundreds of them to even see into the tank and they waste loads of electricity in comparison to high power LED on current controllers.
High Power LED = Most efficient, huge amount more PAR. So far to say that tests are rare to say the least and those that are available are pretty inconclusive but the ratio is going to be something like 1W LED = 2W flourescent. Already known it is in the region of 1W LED = 3.5W MH!!!!
LED is expensive even to DIY but the longevity, efficiencies and the need of less power far outways the initial cost and replacement impact on the environment.
Filter power - No need for a filter if you are running a Walstad style tank but a method of circulating the water is needed. This can be done with a power head or an air pump. The power head will consume much the same energy as a filter but a small air pump can circulate a lot of water with little energy use because a small pump can drive circulation in several tanks.
Something like the Hydor Koralia could work as they are extremely low power for the BANG they give but I like the filter.
So my tank:
was bought off ebay, 'recycled' if you like as it was second hand.
My lighting is 1.12WPG of high power LED for 1 hour. it moves up in increments for the 4 hours prior and down in increments for the 4 hours after. average is around 0.6WPG ovre a 9 hour photoperiod. That is about the same light PAR wise for the central hour (although I haven't tested) as the <3WPG T5HO that Oldman47 is using.
I do have a heater but it is rarely on. The water takes ages to drop in temp and therefore of the 24 hours I would guess it is on for less than 1 hour to keep the tank temp.
I do have a filter. This is one area I will not sacrifice. But it is quite a small one and being an Eheim the power usage (So they tell us) is less than most.
No CO2 added , No ferts added apart from a pinch of KNO3 every month or 2 if needed.
I did my first water change in nearly a year this weekend. That was only because of me doing some major upheaval of plants and disturbing the substrate. If it hadn't been for that I wouldn't have done a water change at all.
I would guess what I save on lighting more than outways the use of the filter and heater
Now I will have to subscribe to this thread or I will forget I was in it. lol. Darn you all for getting me interested.
AC
