Worth the $140 to replace 10000k with 9325k?

[wonder woman]

Thanks Tony! That side-by-side (well, really top-to-bottom) comparison of the different tube combinations was exactly what I was hoping to find. And it looks to me like the 6700k/GE combo has the best of both worlds- best reds and greens.

I guess I could just toss some additional fixtures on top of my tank, but I'm reluctant to for a few reasons: the tank's a focal point of the living room directly across from the sofa, and I'm A.R., and hate looking at messiness, and also because I'd have no ther place to put the additional light but on top of the lid portion of the cover, so I'd have to remove them every time I opened the lid. Is that what you do? Is it a p.i.t.a.?

But I've got other issues now- I'm having a huge problem with the AquaMedic 1000 reactor I installed last night. I guess DIY co2's pressure isn't strong enough to work with it, so the thing's useless right now. UGH! And I kept telling myself this was the RELAXING hobby!

[Gomer]

It isn't too bad. That tank is very low maintenance. I rarely need to take off the top. The 29g on the other hand...wish I had MH with an open top *L*

DANGER! Make sure you use a check valve!!! Imagine this:
The DIY co2 hasn't built up enough pressure to equal the positive pressure from the AM1000 connection. This means water will flow from the reactor into the DIY yeast bottle. Now over time, the DIY setup has a greater pressure. IF the DIY setup is now filled up with enough water so that the DIY water level is at the air line level, you will be pumping yeast into your tank! I've hear of this happening to one person before..yuck

[wonder woman]

Actually, when I discovered that the co2 tube was filling with water and NOT co2 (due to the water pressure being greater than the DIY co2 pressure), I removed the co2 jug and capped the tube with a check valve. So I'm back to using the powered reactor and diffusion bell for co2, and the AquaMedic is doing nothing.

[Gomer]

With that, I would say, skip the 9325's and get a pressurised CO2.

http://www.glass-gardens.com
http://www.aquatic-store.com


The first has dirt cheap regulator and reactor pricing.
The second is where I have gotten all my goods. Their cylinder prices are GREAT! ..and I was able to drive out to the irvine Spectrum area and pick up my own and not pay shipping

[corigan]

Originally Posted by Gomer

The second is where I have gotten all my goods. Their cylinder prices are GREAT! ..and I was able to drive out to the irvine Spectrum area and pick up my own and not pay shipping

I second that. I called around to 30-40 different local welding supply shops and couldn't find a cylinder cost that was anywhere near what I found at aquatic-store. I ended up buying a 5lb cylinder, shipping it in, and then taking it somewhere to get it swapped out. It stunk having to swap out a shiny new cylinder (since I couldn't find anyplace to fill it up) for an older cylinder. The guy I went to though was cool about it and gave me the best/newest replacement he could find. I also ended up saving $30 shipping in the cylinder since the prices were that much cheaper.

As for this thread, I would go with pressurized before dishing out for the newer bulbs.

Matt

[wonder woman]

Pressurized it is! I'll check out your recommendations, Tony. They sound very promising, especially if I can save on the shipping by driving out to Irvine for some of it.

Thanks!

[Gomer]

And if you do drive out this way, you might as well stop at Petown. They are off of the 5 freeway an exit after the CO2 exit (iirc). CO2 you get off on Bake (iic) and Petown on El Torro.

[wonder woman]

Tony-

Pettown is on El Toro rd., but the sign only says "Torpical Fish", right? I went there this weekend, just for a change of pace. Nice livestock. I especially liked the cherry (?) shrimp, but I wasn't too impressed with their plants (condition or selection). I still like Tong's and Strictly Fish better, but it's always nice to find more resources. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Wasserpest]

Originally Posted by wonder woman

Yeah, I realize I don't exactly have a high-light system, and at the time, I didn't think I'd want or need one. I'm on a steep learning curve, and have only had this 100g set up for about 2 months. I bought the JBJ for several reasons. First, it was more light per gallon than I had in my previous planted 30g (up from 2 wpg to 2.6) which I though would be good enough, second it was (relatively) cheap (no retrofit, so no canopy needed) and easy for me to find (at my lfs). I wanted better surface coverage of lighting, but unfortunately, they don't have ready-made, easily available 60" fixtures.

Now that I've learned more about plants in general, and about the bigger light requirements of red plants specifically, I can see that eventually, I'm going to need more lighting. I've accomplished being able to grow nice and healthy swords, crypts, etc. Now, on to the next challenge... I've tried growing rotala wallicki, red ludwigia, red hygro, sunset hygro, and various other red plants (not to mention non-red plants like dwarf hairgrass), but have met with failure. The rotala didn't grow fast enough, and its' leaves got clogged with algae. The ludwigia faded to green, but is still growing. The sunset continued to grow, barely, but the new growth was crinkled and had white veins instead of red. I ripped it out last weekend.
I guess my next set of goals, beyond finally going pressurized, is to get my current green stem plants to be less "leggy", more lush (especially the ambulia). And I would like better side light coverage. But most of all, I would like to be able to grow all of those BLAZING red plants and get that crazy fiery red or bright fuschia that I've seen from others. (All this without experiencing an algae outbreak- I've been algae-free for about 1 month now).

I think eventually, I might plunk down $500 or so for a Hamilton 60" fixture with WAY better wpg (or retrofit, but then, I'd have to go and spend $120 on a canopy). But this is not something for the near future. The good news is, I shouldn't have a problem selling the JBJ.

WW, not sure if you have that covered, but since you are talking only about light and CO2 I would like to bring up the other part of healthy plants: nutrients. I have the same size tank, and started with pretty awful lighting (165W of T8 bulbs, mostly). DIY CO2 as well. My plants started to grow, then stopped, turned light green or yellow, pale, skinny, etc. This is when I started to look into nutrition. Adding NO3 (which was absolutely zero at that time) and K made a huge difference.

Just want to spread some caution here... 260W of CF light is NOT low lighting, and the problems you describe could well be signs of severe lack of nutrients. You mention that you can grow Swords and Crypts, which take much of their nutrients through their roots, and you fail with stemplants... But correct me if I am wrong, and your NO3 is between 5 and 10 ppm, and you regularly add K and Micro nutrients!

[wonder woman]

Wasserpest-

Nutrients...the OTHER thing I have no clue about. The main thing is, because this is a fairly new tank (2 months), and it seems that I have finally won the algae battle, I'm really afraid to add nutrients. My current dosing plan is only this: 2 capfulls of Flourish twice a week, and 2 capfulls of Flourish Iron twice a week. Both dosages are slightly more than recommended (each capful is for 60g. I have a 100g tank, and I'm a little too lazy to estimate how much of a capful would be for 40g, so I figure a little more of both twice a week won't do any harm).
I have a K test, which has always read 0, and my no3 is always small (I'm guessing about 5-10ppm, although it's been a while since I've tested). One thing that concerns me about the no3 is that I've heard that cories are very sensitive to it, and I have quite a few in this tank. They're all doing fine now, but I had some deaths and barbel errosion about 1 month ago.

I guess what I'm wishing for is that someone could come along and tell me- "okay, for your 100g, with 260 watts, you need x amount of x nutrient, and x amount of xx nutrient, x times a week". A real formula I can follow. Does such a thing exist?

[Wasserpest]

There is no way around testing. You will need to test NO3 on a regular basis, because it is one of the macros, and IF it is zero, which can happen quickly in a planted tank, plants WILL suffer. After a while, you will get a feeling about how much your tank goes through in a week, but there is no formula specifically for YOUR tank nutrient usage.

Thanks to Chucks calculator, and the size of your tank, dosing is fairly easy. According to it, one tsp of KNO3 raises the NO3 level by 9 ppm in your tank.

So it's like: testing... zero!... add 1/2 tsp... next day, test again... again zero? add another 1/2 tsp... next day... test again... again zero? make sure the test kit works... etc etc.

All I am saying is that it might NOT be the lighting and CO2 that's the problem.

I heard K-tests are not very good. And I am adding 2 ml of Flourish and 2 ml of F Iron twice a week. Way less than optimal, but it works for me.

[Gomer]

Originally Posted by wonder woman

Tony-

Pettown is on El Toro rd., but the sign only says "Torpical Fish", right? I went there this weekend, just for a change of pace. Nice livestock. I especially liked the cherry (?) shrimp, but I wasn't too impressed with their plants (condition or selection). I still like Tong's and Strictly Fish better, but it's always nice to find more resources. Thanks for the recommendation!

They get their plants in on thursday night and fish wed night, so that is when the selection is the best. Most of their interesting plants are from customers (they buy plants).

I went there last week and came home with 3 otos and 20 emerald eye rasboras for $24