20 gallon high with Eclipse 2 hood, Flourite substrate.

Over the past couple of weeks I've seen the health and appearance of
my plants failing. They're hanging on, barely, but they're not healthy
or growing well. I'm terribly jealous of the folks who get to see
pearling, or who have to trim their plants back weekly. Heck, I'm
jealous of the folks whose plants simply look nice.

So I've hit Google and looked into adding lighting to my system, in a
minimal hardware-impact way.

Currently, it looks like I'm going to be going for the following from
AH Supply (www.ahsupply.com):

2 x 13 Watt Deluxe Bright Kit ($29.99)
Two 6400K bulbs ($4.99 each)

Assuming I don't incur hospital or funeral expenses, it'll run me $40
plus shipping and incidentals.

Combined with the existing 30 watts that come standard on the Eclipse,
this will make for a total of 56 watts. And perhaps as importantly,
it'll put more light in the center and rear of the tank where it's
very much needed. The Eclipse lighting is all at the front, and it
shows in the plants - what growth there has been has all leaned
forward.

The deluxe kit mentioned above is two complete lighting fixtures
(including transformers) and a single reflector. The incidentals I'll
need are some stiff wire to make hanging hooks, and a piece of glass
or acrylic to serve as a splash guard.

The whole thing should be able to just fit into the space between the
existing front light fixture and the rear filtration unit. It'll leave
me a bit of room at one end for feeding, and lift out easily for tank
maintenance.


Anyone have any experience or suggestions to add?



--
www.ericschreiber.com

Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:69080

If you've got 3W/G make sure you've got CO2 injection(DIY yeast/Bottle +
diffuser/reactor) happening and aquatic plant fertiliser/PMDD on hand which
is probably your current problem as your plants may be lacking Potassium(K),
Iron(Fe) and trace elements atm. Without CO2 and with high lighting algae
will take a stanglehold and without a fertiliser added 2-7 times a week the
plants will become depleted and eventually cark it.
Google will help you with these concepts if you're not familiar with them.

"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
20 gallon high with Eclipse 2 hood, Flourite substrate.

Over the past couple of weeks I've seen the health and appearance of
my plants failing. They're hanging on, barely, but they're not healthy
or growing well. I'm terribly jealous of the folks who get to see
pearling, or who have to trim their plants back weekly. Heck, I'm
jealous of the folks whose plants simply look nice.

So I've hit Google and looked into adding lighting to my system, in a
minimal hardware-impact way.

Currently, it looks like I'm going to be going for the following from
AH Supply (www.ahsupply.com):

2 x 13 Watt Deluxe Bright Kit ($29.99)
Two 6400K bulbs ($4.99 each)

Assuming I don't incur hospital or funeral expenses, it'll run me $40
plus shipping and incidentals.

Combined with the existing 30 watts that come standard on the Eclipse,
this will make for a total of 56 watts. And perhaps as importantly,
it'll put more light in the center and rear of the tank where it's
very much needed. The Eclipse lighting is all at the front, and it
shows in the plants - what growth there has been has all leaned
forward.

The deluxe kit mentioned above is two complete lighting fixtures
(including transformers) and a single reflector. The incidentals I'll
need are some stiff wire to make hanging hooks, and a piece of glass
or acrylic to serve as a splash guard.

The whole thing should be able to just fit into the space between the
existing front light fixture and the rear filtration unit. It'll leave
me a bit of room at one end for feeding, and lift out easily for tank
maintenance.


Anyone have any experience or suggestions to add?



--
www.ericschreiber.com

"Tasslehoff" wrote:

If you've got 3W/G make sure you've got CO2 injection(DIY yeast/Bottle +
diffuser/reactor) happening and aquatic plant fertiliser/PMDD on hand which
is probably your current problem as your plants may be lacking Potassium(K),
Iron(Fe) and trace elements atm.

I do have DIY CO2 going (two bottles), and despite the turbulence that
comes with an Eclipse system, the CO2 level has gone up a bit (from
2.8 to 6.2 ppm). It's not as high as I'd like, naturally, but it may
be the best I'm going to see.

I've just recently (two weeks?) started adding Leaf Zone to address
the fertilizer situation. Too early to tell if it's helping. Right
now, I'm sure the bottleneck is lighting.

I'll put the new lights on a different timer than the existing ones,
so I'll be able to adjust the light levels to compensate for any algae
problems somewhat. Just have to experiment with it.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

tose (LeighMo) wrote:

the CO2 level has gone up a bit (from 2.8 to 6.2 ppm)

Is there any way you can reduce the turbulence? That's not much CO2.

Been wondering that myself. The basic design of the Eclipse hood runs
the outflow of the filter at the surface of the tank, which is where
the turbulence comes from. It may be possible to put a short extension
on and run that return flow into the middle depths of the tank.

My DIY CO2 hasn't been playing at all nice this week. Not sure why,
but I've got no production on the mixes I made this week. It looks
like I'll have to mix up two new bottles tonight. Makes me want to get
a CO2 tank instead.


I should note that despite my apparent problems with them, I really
like the Eclipse hoods - I have an Eclipse Two on my 20 gallon, and an
Eclipse System Three tank. For an all-in-one solution, they're very
nice. It's just that out of the box they're not geared towards planted
tank setups. And let's face it, I'm enjoying all this fussing with
gadgets.


Leaf Zone won't be adequate when you go up to nearly 3 wpg. It's
only iron and potassium. Get Tropica Mastergrow or Seachem Flourish.

I had planned on using Flourish at first, until I saw the "refrigerate
after opening" instructions. No problem with that, it just was an
added step so I bought the Leaf Zone instead.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

what a great moment for me to chime in on the conversation. ^_^

i picked up the 13" smartlite retrofit kit (Custom SeaLife) from dr. foster
smith a couple of years ago. it fits perfectly within the eclipse 2 lighting
fixture. it is listed as 32 watts and includes a half 8800 degree K daylight
and half ultra actinic power compact tube. which equates to 1.6 wpg for a 20
gallon, and also a rather blue hue to the water.

it's given me really great results for a low end non-CO2 system. (heavy
believer in the seachem product line though.) java moss, crypts, anubias,
java fern, aponogetons have always thrived with the original bulb.

however high light plants have never really thrived in the system... most
notably riccia. although i can't really pinpoint this on the light. when i
had riccia, didn't have flourish trace or pottasium. i also used the eclipse
filter system (which had quite a bit of strong surface movement) on the
eclipse (more about this later), which often tossed my floating carpet all
over my tank, and also my anabantids loved the stuff for bubblenests. also
if i forgot to flip my riccia carpet occaisionally, it would disintegrate
then. otherwise it actually didn't look too bad.

i switched out the half actinic 32 watt CF for the 10000 degree K ultra
daylight a couple of weeks ago. it's REALLY bright, and somewhat green to my
eyes. of course it's a brand spanking new bulb, so the intensity should
subdue itself to a more stable level. also since the new cool looking, non
gimmicky (as in comparison fizz tablets and ilk) hagen CO2 system was rather
cheap (*ONLINE* ... why even the good LFSes wants us to pay more than
double, and sometimes even quadruple, not only on this but the refills and
test kits and what nots i'll never know.) i picked one up and put it in the
system about a month earlier.

*sigh* too many variables at once.

since it's not really a high light system, i haven't experienced any obvious
pearling, but i have noticed markedly faster and fuller growth in my java
moss, crypts and aponogetons. although my anubias looks like it just sits
there. ^_^ also picked up some rotala indica, which is now doing okay after
most of the old leaves melted off. either it's still getting used to it's
new home, or it's just not doing well at all. the new leaves are coming in
nicely, but more short and rounded instead of lengthened, at least .
there is a pink hue to them.

the ph bottoms out at 6.5 @ 2KH over the period of a day. which gets me a
rather decent amount of CO2 for the plants according to the tables.

one last thing... i haven't used the eclipse as a filter system for over
three years now, and the plants have always thrived. the biowheel sits dusty
in the closet along with the pump. after awhile the pump just made too much
noise vibrating the hood, and the freaking filter pads got clogged up way
too fast, so i was just forget it. all i use now is a hagen aquaclear
powerhead for water circulation. sure the water isn't as sparkling pure
crystal clear as it could be at times, although it's good enough most of the
time as long as i don't lag on the biweekly 50% water changes.

who knows... since i've got a pretty good job right now... i might just
sack the whole hood and get a real lighting system with some external eheim
filter kinda rig. but the eclipse sure does look mighty slick on it. maybe
i'll just get the external eheim anyways? no?

i'm rather happy with the system as it is. my troop of amano's are still
going strong after all these years. all my fish are happy and healthy
(although my marbled kisser is now a bit of a bully, and that "woolworth"
pleco my dad brought home is way too big now... didn't have the heart to
flush the bugger down the crapper... [him and two corys in an otherwise
asian influenced tank]). my plants are doing great... even without
pearling. ^_^ although... if the additional lights ur adding works out... i
might just do that.

tose (LeighMo) wrote:

I do have DIY CO2 going (two bottles), and despite the turbulence that
comes with an Eclipse system, the CO2 level has gone up a bit (from
2.8 to 6.2 ppm). It's not as high as I'd like, naturally, but it may
be the best I'm going to see.

Is there any way you can reduce the turbulence? That's not much CO2.

I've managed to reduce the turbulence by redirecting the output flow
of the Eclipse filter towards the front corner of the tank, where
instead of running across the top of the tank it flows down below the
surface right away. I've also increased my CO2 flow a lot, by using
two bottles with an entire teaspoon of yeast each (I had been using a
quarter teaspoon). And I'm already using peat in my filter.

So my pH is 7.6, KH is 13.5, so CO2 is 10.2 ppm. Best I've gotten it
so far. I'll try some new peat tomorrow, to see if that helps at all,
too.



--
www.ericschreiber.com

tose (LeighMo) wrote:

And I'm already using peat in my filter.

This has the side effect of lowering the pH, but a low
pH is not valuable in and of itself.

My mistake, I was confusing issues. My interest in lowering the pH
with peat was to improve conditions for my fish that prefer a lower pH
than my local water provides. I do understand that lowering pH through
non CO2 related means doesn't add to the CO2 level.

Where CO2 is concerned, I am encouraged by the numbers I see following
my rearrangement of the filter return flow to reduce turbulence, and
new recipes for my DIY mix.


--
www.ericschreiber.com