Cheap lighting - ODNO

[Flgatorguy]

yes the ballast is for 4bulbs....another question can i use sylvana ballast for ge lights?

[ridns]

I'm sorry, but .... what is the yellow symble with the black dot? (way on the left, taking the place of the envelope) :fire: :hehe:

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Yep, the ballast and bulbs are universal. You can use either with each other.

Ridns, the symbol means this thread is "tacked" up top. So even if other threads have never posts in them, this one remains up top so everyone can see it.

[ridns]

Thanks for the info, that must be for moderators only ... huh? :hehe:

[SNPiccolo5]

Aha! That is why this thread is never at the bottom. I would have to say, if that had to be put on any thread, it would be this one right here!

-Tim

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Yeah, moderators are allowed to tack threads up top, but I actually didn't tack this one, our site owner and administrator, Fender, did it because he thought the information was valueable to enough to keep up top.

[ridns]

I was just curious because I don't remember seeing it before. I think its a great idea and very approprietly placed in this instance. This is definately a high interest subject. :hehe:

[ridns]

ok, now I need some more expert opinions. How high above my tank must my fixture be so I don't have to much light for my plants? I have a shop light fixture with 2 ODNO T8s 48". My plants require med/high lighting. At present I'm providing CO2 with DIY . I don't want to cook my pretty new plants. Oh ya, filtered with a Filstar at 350gph. Substrate is kity litter covered with pea gravel. Somewhere I once saw a formula for how far above the substrate the light must be to deliver the proper watts/gal., can't find it now. :hehe:

[rdracer66]

Your using kitty litter ?
tell me more plz ! what kind and how does that work ? i bought some flourish for my 29g and mixed it with very small gravel and it works nice, however that one bag was 25$ and i want to do a 55g planted tank now with discus
so saving money with kitty litter would be great. How does it look tho ? or do u just put it in first and top it off with the gravel ? i coudl maybe top it off with sand that i use for my cichlid tanks i love the look of sand

[Flgatorguy]

I am using litter in my 55g bout 25% of the substrate is litter it works great i am having no clumping at all......the stuff im using looks good as good as kitty litter can look i guess.....just small grey pieces......$1.97 for 40lbs at Walmart =)

[rdracer66]

What Brand ??

[ridns]

I bought it at Wal-mart, its called "Special Kitty", its the cheapest stuff they have. Be sure to wash it really good first. I topped mine with an inch of pea gravel but sand should be fine. The plants seem to like it just fine also. :hehe:

[Flgatorguy]

the truth is my tank was running for about a week with the plants in there with some reef lights a friends of mine had.....all white lights no blues.....then i put a few handsfulls throughout the tank and about half a handful close to all the plants......within 2 days my 2 half dead plants showed signs of new life =).......that was before co2 also......now that my co2 is installed i cant wait to see how they will grow

[GulfCoastAquarian]

I wouldn't worry about having "too much light" right now. What size tank again? With two ODNO T8's, you're making about 200-240 watts of light. Lift it off the glass a few inches to allow the bulbs to run cool and it should be fine. If some plants react poorly to the intense lighting, run only one bulb for a few weeks until they get used to it.

What would be really cool is to run one bulb for 12 hours and turn the second one one for only 6-8 hours, creating noonday-like conditions.

[ridns]

Thanks for the info Sam, thats been my modus operendi for the present time at least. I found a formula to compute how much light is needed while browsing info at "The Krib". After reading this I find that by plugging in different numbers for the distance between the lights and the substrate, I can determine the proper height to best use my watts/gal.,I think. Pease look at this and tell me if you agree.

"When calculating the amount of lighting you will need there is a general rule of thumb. First multiply the surface area of the aquarium by the distance from the light source to the top of the gravel. Then depending on the type of plants you desire multiply this by one of the factors given below.

Low light plants 0.08
Low to Moderate light plants 0.12
Moderate to Bright light plants 0.18
Bright light plants 0.27

This will give you the ideal watt hours of fluorescent lighting that you need. Divide this number by 11 and you now have the approximate total wattage of lights you need. Unfortunately this number may not be equal to what is available in bulbs so find the combination of wattage that will most closely match this requirement and adjust the available time to match the watt hour calculation.
Example: required watt hours is 1440, divided by 11, is 131 watts of power. since the closest is 3, 40 watt tubes we divide 1440, by the 120 watt total and we find we need 12 hours of lighting at this level.
Warning: A common mistake is to deviate greatly from the 11 hours of light to compensate for low or high wattage. If the light time exceeds 16 hours more wattage should be added to reduce this time, Or if the light time is less than 8 hours less wattage must be used to allow adequate time for photosynthesis.
When selecting plants also keep in mind that large center plants will shade the smaller plants under them and that higher light requiring plants should not be selected for small filler plants. "

I have come up with 26" above my substrate to provide good lighting for moderate to bright light requiring plants, 12x48x26x.18= 2695.68 divided by 12=224.64 watts. I have put off building my light enclosure until I finalize this decission. For now I set the fixture on two pieces of 2x4 turned on edge and run the lights 12hrs/day. Whats your opinion on this so far Sam?
:hehe: