And I thought my lighting was excessive

[AndrewH]

I don't have anything on this guy/gal!!!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/DataGuru/Walstad125/125Tank060115.jpg

From what I'm reading that's 675 watts of lighting on a 125 gallon tank (big lights = 75 watt and little = 50 watts) :D.



Credit - website were originally found (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y130/DataGuru/Walstad125/125Tank060115.jpg&imgrefurl=http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/&h=290&w=608&sz=35&hl=en&start=7&um=1&usg=__yfDGtJ-84erouvqMed4rnlcRMIg=&tbnid=FF9EyPuQPL6WuM:&tbnh=65&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAmeca%2BSplendens%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den% 26rlz%3D1B3GGGL_enUS266US266%26sa%3DN)

[greytdobe]

can you just imagine the heat in that room~ makes me sweat just looking at it.


Andrew, have you tried a NPT yet? I did a year ago and i didn't like it much. In "Theory" yes- loved that , but it just seemed too stagnant for me. Maybe i am not doing it correctly but I just seem to like some type of water movement in there.

[bra8ndy8]

WOW .....now I really know I don't have enough lighting!!!!

[Good Wolf]

I'm suprised the water isn't boiling.

[budwick weiser]

that's stupid bright... seriously, he could do the same with half the light.. and the tank setup isn't very nice at all.... yours looks way better andrew... don't shed a tear!

[EAST_TX_RN]

Damn!:eek:

[ponderbc]

See thats way to much light and looks way over grown to me

[ElijahTurtle]

Yeah if I want a tank that looks like someone with "butt-for-brains" designed it, I'll try that idea.

ElijahTurtle added 0 Minutes and 35 Seconds later...

See thats way to much light and looks way over grown to me
X2

[AndrewH]

can you just imagine the heat in that room~ makes me sweat just looking at it.


Andrew, have you tried a NPT yet? I did a year ago and i didn't like it much. In "Theory" yes- loved that , but it just seemed too stagnant for me. Maybe i am not doing it correctly but I just seem to like some type of water movement in there.

I would think it wouldn't be any more heat than a normal room with a large 80*F aquarium. Maybe a little worse due to it being a small room, but nothing too bad.

NPT? Can you jog my memory? All I can think of is Nominal Pipe Thread, lol.

WOW .....now I really know I don't have enough lighting!!!!

LOL, you have plenty of light... don't be doubting my abilities :rofl:

I'm surprised the water isn't boiling.

I bet the water isn't any warmer than normal. All the lamps are compact fluorescent not incandescent. Now if they were incandescent you wouldn't be able to stand anywhere near the tank. I can have my fluorescents on for 12 hours and lay my hand anywhere on the fixture and it won't burn me (it is a little warm, but I don't have to pull my hand away). An incandescent light bulb actually reaches temperatures near 6,000*F inside (where the actual light is produced). The little wire inside the bulb is tungsten, one of the hardest metals known and it takes temps like that to get light. That's why incandescent bulbs are so inefficient, 97% heat and 3% light.

that's stupid bright... seriously, he could do the same with half the light.. and the tank setup isn't very nice at all.... yours looks way better andrew... don't shed a tear!

Thank you for the compliment :D.

Damn!:eek:

See thats way to much light and looks way over grown to me

Yeah if I want a tank that looks like someone with "butt-for-brains" designed it, I'll try that idea.

ElijahTurtle added 0 Minutes and 35 Seconds later...


X2

Actually, the tank is like that on purpose. It's a plant only tank (at least in the picture above). The owner wanted to let the plants get a good head start before the fish (goldfish) were introduced into the tank because goldies will pull up the plants and eat the roots.

The extreme lighting (probably CO2 but don't know of sure) and the large windows behind the tank will allow for some crazy fast and big growth. 1 to two months of conditions like this and you'd have a tank with 100% plant population as a beginning canvas.

But then when you're ready to add the fishes you trim, prune, and pull up the plants for swimming room and to create that "perfect" aquascape.

Also a lot of plant breeders setup tanks like this. Normally they use cheap plastic tubs/totes, but anything that'll hold water will work.

[OOwl]

Andrew, with that much light, would the nuisance algae grow faster than the higher plant forms or not? Just curious. . . And if he/she was going for that much light, why not just use metal halide? Would that be more cost effective energy wise? I find that many hanging pendants unattractive but, perhaps, the reason for the entire setup is plant propagation and not really a display. In that case, whatever works. :)

[tsunderl]

Perhaps they are providing lights for a nearby airport... roflmao

[greeneyed]

??? I see several fish in the picture above???

[AndrewH]

Andrew, with that much light, would the nuisance algae grow faster than the higher plant forms or not? Just curious. . . And if he/she was going for that much light, why not just use metal halide? Would that be more cost effective energy wise? I find that many hanging pendants unattractive but, perhaps, the reason for the entire setup is plant propagation and not really a display. In that case, whatever works. :)

Well with that many plants the "starve the algae" plan goes into effect. With that many plants all of the "plant/algae" food will be consumed rather quickly (plants can start photosynthesis almost instantly when there is light while algae take up to several hours to start the process - 4 hours is what I think I heard regarding algae's photosynthesis start time). So the algae starve because by the time they get going all of the plants have already consumed the food.

Also you could inject massive amounts of CO2 into the tank and that will keep the algae at bay. But would need to make sure their isn't any O2 breathers in the tank.

Metal Halide lamps and ballasts produce a lot more heat than compact fluorescents. 675 watts of CF compared to 675 watts of MH would be huge in the heat department. Cost effectiveness is pretty much the same: 675 watts is 675 watts no matter what the source. Now where you might gain some is the fact that one source is more efficiently at producing light than the other. So they have 675 watts on the tank now using a CF source, but to get the same output with MH might take say a 1000 watt source (which I can run the numbers and tell you what the exact equivalent is if you want). But MH only has advantages is a few specific areas, and heat and efficiency are not two of them. The only way to get a MH efficient is to get around 1500 to 2000 watts. And even at that point you're still only slightly exceeding fluorescent sources, but at that amount of light fluorescents aren't practical.

Yeah you have the idea... that many hanging pendants weren't meant for a display, but for a specific purpose. I would imagine the lighting will be down graded to something more attractive once the tank has achieved what the owner was after. Unless growing plants is the only/main purpose for that tank.

Perhaps they are providing lights for a nearby airport... roflmao

If you look hard enough you can see a UFO outside in the reflection of the window. Guess ET got their message :eek: http://www.getsmileyface.com/sm/aliens/17.gif http://www.getsmileyface.com/sm/aliens/abduct.gif Close encounters of the Fish Kind.

??? I see several fish in the picture above???

IIRC, the owner stated that they had started adding fish right before this picture was taken, and the next pictures of the tank you see has the goldfish in the tank and a lot less lighting and some of the plants had been removed or scaped. I'm thinking this picture was taken right before the transition between plant only and then fish display, but dunno for sure.

[AndrewH]

Ran the numbers anyway...

MH vs. CF

CF:
675 watts (5 @ 75 watts and 6 @ 50 watts) = 55,400 lumens.

MH:
900 watts (6 @ 150 watts) = 57,000 lumens.
980 watts (14 @ 70 watts) = 57,400 lumens.
1300 watts (26 @ 50 watts) = 54,600 lumens.
640 watts (2 @ 320 watts) = 50,000 lumens. [very unlikely you could even find this one]
700 watts (2 @ 350 watts) = 54,000 lumens.
800 watts (2 @ 400 watts) = 66,000 lumens.
750 watts (1 @ 750 watts) = 54,000 lumens.


And at this point you'd need to look at the heat and price and you'll find the CF source to be way better than the MH.

[ElijahTurtle]

Ran the numbers anyway...
Nerd....:hehe:

[AndrewH]

:hehe:

Yup! :werd: Fish nerds rule!!!

[greytdobe]

NPT= natural planted tank...au natural...
no ferts, no filter, etc....i think the pic you posted was one i saw posted on a post about Walstad planted tanks...

[AndrewH]

Ah now I'm following you.

My 33 has been running as NPT for a week now, as the filter got clogged and I simply turned it off. No deaths to report, so everything seems to be holding its own. Will be turning the filter back on tomorrow after I have a chance to clean it real good.

I think with a NPT you need to have lots of plants (almost like the pic above) and you'd need to probably keep swamp fish, like gouramis, in case something went wrong and the plants couldn't produce O2, like your lights go out or get unplugged, etc. That way the fish can handle the situation without it being too big of a deal. And you'd definitely need a hardy fish to keep in those conditions.

I think I'm in the same boat as you. I'd prefer some water movement and normally like to have some surface aeration if possible.

[ponderbc]

The guys got enough lumens in there I bet he has some "special" plants inthe back. Growing hydroponically. LOL