Is a 6ft tank too big?
Hi
Ive got a 72"X18"X19" Seabray dolphin tank that I have used for Oscars, now sadly gone. Ive been thinking about and studying the possibility of using it for a large planted tank. My biggest worry so far is the amount of lighting to be used, at least 4 x 4ft strip lamps. Its not the cost of the bulbs so much as the control units and reflectors etc. Ive priced these up at at least £110 UK prices (about $175 us) Any ideas for a cheaper setup available in the UK? Im reading a lot about compact fluorescents, but cant find any info on what they connect to. They look like curly strip lamps and are quite cheap. Any help would be gratefully received, I keep going around in circles. My main aim would be a low tech planted aquarium in a Diana L. Walstada kind of stlye. |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
You could just use shop lights, cut 2 of them down to 2 feet....teh
reflectors that is...adn kind of mount the bulbs like this _________ _________ _________ _________ use standard hardware store shop lights... stacey morris wrote: Hi Ive got a 72"X18"X19" Seabray dolphin tank that I have used for Oscars, now sadly gone. Ive been thinking about and studying the possibility of using it for a large planted tank. My biggest worry so far is the amount of lighting to be used, at least 4 x 4ft strip lamps. Its not the cost of the bulbs so much as the control units and reflectors etc. Ive priced these up at at least £110 UK prices (about $175 us) Any ideas for a cheaper setup available in the UK? Im reading a lot about compact fluorescents, but cant find any info on what they connect to. They look like curly strip lamps and are quite cheap. Any help would be gratefully received, I keep going around in circles. My main aim would be a low tech planted aquarium in a Diana L. Walstada kind of stlye. |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
At the risk of sounding stupid, what are shop lights? Are they just a
couple of strip lights in a fixture for shops? On Tue, 17 Dec 2002 15:27:37 -0500, Rich Conley wrote: You could just use shop lights, cut 2 of them down to 2 feet....teh reflectors that is...adn kind of mount the bulbs like this _________ _________ _________ _________ use standard hardware store shop lights... stacey morris wrote: Hi Ive got a 72"X18"X19" Seabray dolphin tank that I have used for Oscars, now sadly gone. Ive been thinking about and studying the possibility of using it for a large planted tank. My biggest worry so far is the amount of lighting to be used, at least 4 x 4ft strip lamps. Its not the cost of the bulbs so much as the control units and reflectors etc. Ive priced these up at at least £110 UK prices (about $175 us) Any ideas for a cheaper setup available in the UK? Im reading a lot about compact fluorescents, but cant find any info on what they connect to. They look like curly strip lamps and are quite cheap. Any help would be gratefully received, I keep going around in circles. My main aim would be a low tech planted aquarium in a Diana L. Walstada kind of stlye. |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
In article , stacey morris wrote:
At the risk of sounding stupid, what are shop lights? Are they just a couple of strip lights in a fixture for shops? Yup.. Over here in the US, you can get them at places like Home Depot or Lowes for about $20 each which gives you a cheap light fixture that is really meant to be hung from the ceiling on small chains in your garage -- where it gets the "shop" name from. X-addict |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
No tank is too big as long as there is room to eat and sleep under the tank or
next to it ;-) I keep a 125 full of cardinal tetras and other small fish. prettiest aquarium i ever saw even if i do say so myself. the real problem is with people trying to keep fish in an aquarium that is too small. when that happens the end result is always sad with death and disfigerment resulting from over crowding the fish. My dream aquarium is 144"L X 30"T X 48"W with thousands of cardinal tetras! the only limit to your tank is the size of your wallet and the house you want to put it in. remove nospam from e-mail to send to me, I grow trees in aquariums like bonsai. I breed dwarf crayfish, great for planted community tanks. If you can get me a shovelnose sturgeon fingerling (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) no wild caught please, contact me |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
You have some options:
40 wat fluorescents - stagger them or mount them diagonally. These are inefficient but cheap to buy initially. compact fluorescents. The curly oens are for home use to repace lightbulbs. You don't wantthem near your aquaria; the proper ones are fantastically efficient and long loved but expensive. I'd be tempted to use 2 150W mercury lamps. They're cheap enough to buy as night safetly lamps. Add a few incandescent halognes to make up the red that's missing in the mercury lamps and you're done. There's no cheap way to properly light up a six foot tank! -- Richard Sexton | Mercedes Parts: http://parts.mbz.org http://www.mbz.org Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org W108, W126 Mercedes Classifieds: http://ads.mbz.org ** new -- Watch list: http://watches.list.mbz.org |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
X-Addict wrote in message link.net... In article , stacey morris wrote: At the risk of sounding stupid, what are shop lights? Are they just a couple of strip lights in a fixture for shops? Yup.. Over here in the US, you can get them at places like Home Depot or Lowes for about $20 each which gives you a cheap light fixture that is really meant to be hung from the ceiling on small chains in your garage -- where it gets the "shop" name from. And in the UK look for a 'City Electrical Factors' in the phone book, they are all over the place and if you go after the morning rush you are bound to find someone who can sort out all the bits you need. Dave |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
stacey morris wrote in message ... Hi Ive got a 72"X18"X19" Seabray dolphin tank that I have used for Oscars, now sadly gone. Ive been thinking about and studying the possibility of using it for a large planted tank. My biggest worry so far is the amount of lighting to be used, at least 4 x 4ft strip lamps. Its not the cost of the bulbs so much as the control units and reflectors etc. Ive priced these up at at least £110 UK prices (about $175 us) Any ideas for a cheaper setup available in the UK? Im reading a lot about compact fluorescents, but cant find any info on what they connect to. They look like curly strip lamps and are quite cheap. Any help would be gratefully received, I keep going around in circles. My main aim would be a low tech planted aquarium in a Diana L. Walstada kind of stlye. Light one end of the tank, plant under the lights and let the planting drop down to bare substrate. It is what I did on my 5 foot tank, couldn't afford the control unit for a bigger lamp so stuck with a three foot tube. Reflectors can be simple, use cooking foil (turkey size is good) paste to the inside of the hood and replace when you can afford 'better'. Dave |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
stacey morris wrote in message . ..
Hi Ive got a 72"X18"X19" Seabray dolphin tank that I have used for Oscars, now sadly gone. Ive been thinking about and studying the possibility of using it for a large planted tank. My biggest worry so far is the amount of lighting to be used, at least 4 x 4ft strip lamps. Its not the cost of the bulbs so much as the control units and reflectors etc. Ive priced these up at at least £110 UK prices (about $175 us) Any ideas for a cheaper setup available in the UK? Im reading a lot about compact fluorescents, but cant find any info on what they connect to. They look like curly strip lamps and are quite cheap. Any help would be gratefully received, I keep going around in circles. My main aim would be a low tech planted aquarium in a Diana L. Walstada kind of stlye. I ran a 6ft Seabray Dolphin tank as a plant tank some years ago (rather old picture at): http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/plant/hitech.html This was lit with 4 x 5 ft flourescents. if you want to run a "Lo-input" Walstad-style tank (which I highly recommend: http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/plant/lotech.html you will be fine with this light level. Mike. -- Mike Edwardes Tropicals http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
stacey morris wrote in message . ..
Mike Thanks for your input - it was actually your site that gave me the inspiration for the low tech approach! I guess Im just going to have to bite the bullet and splash out on the Arcadia lamps and control units. Ironically, it will probably be cheaper to buy 6 x 4fts with control units than 4 x 5fts! Do you think I could get away with my Fluval 403 for filtration? Stacey You don't need any filtration at all for the Walstad method - the plants do the work. What you could do is use the empty cannister to give some water movement, which she recommends. Having said that, I have now removed the powerheads from my tanks and I'm not sure I've seen any effect at all, but these are admittedly smaller tanks than yours. Mike. -- Mike Edwardes Tropicals http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
The best DIY reflectors is mylar. Where do you get it? Buy a couple of bags
of potato chips, and turn them inside out! Then use adhesive spray or double sided tape to stick it behind your lights. It works good because it is easy to get all the wrinkles out, so the light is reflected and not dispersed. Reflectors can be simple, use cooking foil (turkey size is good) paste to the inside of the hood and replace when you can afford 'better'. Dave __ "Insert witty comment here." -John |
Is a 6ft tank too big?
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Is a 6ft tank too big?
Good tip...the mylar works well in my case because I used very narrow shop
lights that came housed in white metal, which wraps around the tops of the tubes. In article , wrote: On Fri, 20 Dec 2002 02:34:35 GMT, (redled) wrote: sided tape to stick it behind your lights. It works good because it is easy to get all the wrinkles out, so the light is reflected and not dispersed. Unless you carefully shape the reflector to reflect the light AROUND the tube it came out of, then the reflective surface is actually worse than a surface that disperses the light. Unless you use a carefully designed reflector, simply painting the top of the hood/canopy flat white will do a better job than a mirror surface. Chuck Gadd http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua __ "Insert witty comment here." -John |
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