biggest thread on this website

[aakaakaak]

So the CFL's are 26 watt output or they use 26 watts?

Bright Effects 26W 120VAC 60Hz 390mA BE26T3/D
Daylight 6500K
1610 Lumens
Equivalent of 100W Incandescent according to the box.

I can't give you the PAR or any of the other newfangled stuff. I'm not a light scientist like some other plant keepers.

 

[bassbonediva]

Paige, you should do a row of them in the back and try to make them straighter. The concept is perfect though.

Have you seen palm trees in real life? Very few of them actually grow straight. Quite a few tilt like the one I made. Also, the end of the bamboo was already cut at an angle, so I just ran with it.

I was going to do at least two more tall ones (they'll be in the back) and then a cluster of small ones right in front of the columns (where that hygro is now...the hygro will be moved over with the other one or more to the left).

 

[aakaakaak]

I used to live in San Diego and have seen plenty of palm trees. Whichever the bottom starts off as a direction they always end up straight at the top. If there was a way to curve bamboo.....

The planting plan you got should do nicely. That higrow and pretty much everything else in that tank looks dead. (except the pretty pretty betta)

 

[bassbonediva]

The hygros weren't getting much light before, which is why they look so awful. And the sword that's behind the columns pretty much...melted...for some weird reason. Now that the hygros and sword are getting decent lighting, they're starting to bounce back.

And sadly, Amun isn't nearly as pretty as he used to be. You can see in the pic with the flash on that his tail is all raggedy. I'm pretty sure it's just because of age because his water is pristine, but it still makes me sad.

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

So 2.9 WPG! That should really help! Can't wait to see the progress!!!! *SUNSMILE*

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

So my Platys at work had babies last Friday, I was off a week and still have 3 out of 5 left! WA WHO!!!!!!

 

[bassbonediva]

Yay for babies! I fear until my swords grow in more (and I get more) in the 55gal, I won't be seeing any babies from my platies or swordtails. Too many predators.

 

[ryanoh]

Two of my female platties are huddled together under my filter, and the one male is erratically chasing the third female around. What does this behaviour mean? Should I be worried?

 

[ryanoh]

For those of you who don't use actual fish tank stands, do you ever worry about your stand just crashing down one day and destroying both your tank and your house?

I do.

 

[Dylandrewsdad]

That would ruin my day.....LOL

 

[ryanoh]

It would seriously ruin the day of the people who live below me too lol.
I have a fairly cheap table from Walmart holding up my tank, but I reinforced the with 2x4s and metal braces a while back. I just did the math, and my tank is right at 500 pounds. Hopefully it'll hold for a few more years? : /

 

[bassbonediva]

For those of you who don't use actual fish tank stands, do you ever worry about your stand just crashing down one day and destroying both your tank and your house?

I do.

No, I actually worry more about the tanks that are on real fish tank stands than I do about the ones that aren't. Example...my 46gal bowfront is sitting on a desk that is at least 1" bigger than the tank all the way around. My 29gal is sitting on a stand that is just as big as the base of the tank, but the base of the stand is smaller than the top (bought the stand at a yard sale and refinished it...people sold it to me as a 29gal stand).

 

[ryanoh]

Speaking of stand problems, here's an interesting one that I thought I'd fixed.

My tank doesn't touch the stand in the middle because I guess the table top is bowed. I had two pieces of corrugated cardboard under it to squash down on the far sides and stay expanded in the middle, but I took one out while my tank was broken down since I'd added the 2x4 reinforcements and thought now it only needed one. Tonight I'm noticing that it definitely needed that other sheet, but now my tank is full of water and fish, 40+lbs of sand, 20lbs of slate, and numerous other decorations and plants.

What's a good way to get the tank light enough to slide a sheet of cardboard under it without having to break it down again? I know I'm going to have to drain most of the water, and probably get 2 of 3 friends to help lift it, but other than that any ideas on what I can do?

 

[aakaakaak]

If it's possible to slide the tank on the table any you could get an edge over the side of the tank and shimmy the cardboard under it. Assuming, of course, you'd dumped the water and fish into buckets. Most of the weight is in the water.

 

[ryanoh]

When my tank had gravel, and I probably had more pounds of gravel than I do sand, me and friend were able to carry it to the second story of my house, so hopefully me and that guy again, and maybe one more, can lift if for a second or two while my girlfriend slides the cardboard under. This is a viable solution to the problem though, right? It's a little less than an eighth of an inch gap I'm talking about, so it's not THAT bad...

 

[aakaakaak]

I've got a folder under one side of my 10 gal to balance it a bit better and there's a gap there. I'm sure it's a little different with a 40 gal though.

 

[ryanoh]

Yeah, according to the internet 40 gallons is sort of the tipping point where you go from "It'll probably be alright" to "I might want to worry about that" in the world of leveling and having sturdy stands.

 

[Thyra]

When you refer to "middle" is it the bottom or the perimeter of the tank? Neither of my commercial stands have solid tops. The tanks are just supported on their outside perimeters. I wondered about that, but then I remember all those metal stands are built that way, too.

 

[ryanoh]

If you turn your head to the right, it looks like this: (|
It's not that dramatic though.

 

[aakaakaak]

So I figure my DIY hood is putting off a bit too much heat. Before I put the hood up I was creeping down to the 76F mark. Today I came home to 81F.

So I swapped the 10W Coralife 50/50s in my 10 Gal with the middle pair of 26W bulbs. (And put both light setups on pencil spacers)

Math says....

10g
26Wx2=52W
52W / 10G = 5.2WPG (Is that safe for plants/fish?)

29g
26Wx2=52W
10Wx2=20W
15Wx1=15W
15W+20W+52W=87W
87W / 29g = 3WPG

Is this math right?