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Coming out of the Closet

dean

Member
Joined
6 Apr 2012
Messages
1,541
Location
Warrington, Cheshire
after 35 years of fish keeping i finally admit im a closet plat fancier ;)
so heres my first journal, and my first attempt at emmersed growing.

I have been ill for some time now and have totally neglected my 3 tanks to the point where I hardly have any plants left, now im ready to start slow, so i have simply removed all the substrate from my trigon 350, thinking of going with ferns, moss etc on wood. My 35 litres is just a quarantine tank at moment with new plants just chucked in and my 20 litres has been moved to a shelf by my pillow, this needs some tlc and lots of work, but my first project is to try emmersed so heres what i have done so far.

There is a built in cupboard at the bottom of the bed, you know the type with the slop bottom due to it being over the stairs, well ive had some shelves put in it and cleared out all the rubbish :)

I dug out 2x9w CFL frm the fish house and installed them after painting the area white
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next adding polystyrens to all three shelves and put on the heat mats
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Wired all 4 mats to the stat
Tidied up the wires and to fill up shelves
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no lights on two small ones at moment as there are only mosses on them and budget would strecth to anything else
thinking of putting the existing CFL above the lower shelves and installing either t5's or led over the main area,
Whats your thoughts on lighting?
 
Been shopping today and bought a few plants to try either emersed or attached to wood in trigon 350

Anubias Nana Bonzai
Hemianthus Callitrichoides
Anubias Congensi
Anubias Nana
Lilaeopsis Brasillensis
Hydrophilia Pinnatifida
Eleocharis Acicularis
Anubias Heterophylia
Echinodorus Magdalenensis

plus received well package in the post

Staurogyne Repens
Hydrophilia Corymbosa Siamensis 53B
Rotala Wallichii
Hydrophilia sp Araguaia
these will go into the 20l

ANY TIPS ON ANY OF THE ABOVE GREATLY APPRECIATED
 
There just mini projects easy to handle at moment and some plant propagation as we may be moving soon so couldn't see the point of going to the trouble of a full scape in my trigon 350 just to tear it down a month later, plus I'm not well enough to do it. So these mini bowls keep me busy and allow me to try something new :)
 
Hi all,
Darrel what sort of light would you go with?
Probably T5 under cabinet link lights, 14W should be ample, they are 60cm. <T5 Slimline Fluorescent Fittings (Link Lights) - QVS Electrical Supplies | Electrical Wholesaler>.
thinking of putting the existing CFL above the lower shelves and installing either t5's or led over the main area, Whats your thoughts on lighting?
You need a light for the shelf, the light levels will be too low even for mosses. I'd definitely put the CFL's on the shelf and 2 x T5 for the plants above.

cheers Darrel
 
Hi all
do you think 2 of these would be better than the existing 9 watt waterhome bulbs for the main are?
I doubt there is much in it. The straight T5 emit slightly more light than a CFL, so I think 8W T5 or 9W CFL will be much the the same. The 8W electronic ballast runs T5 lamps up to 13W, but the 14W lamp runs off the ballast that runs up to 24W and they are much brighter.

The 3 x 8W Boyu light units are quite good, but they still don't chuck out a huge amount of light.

cheers Darrel
 
Unfortunately I moved so it all went
It worked really well though
I have one setup left that has been totally ignored for two years it's under the stairs since I moved with only a 3watt ikea led lamp on it and I'm amazed that's it's not only survived but plants have grown
I'll try get some pics
 
1b5c3b1d98eb3f4195c808c9aade0345.jpg


This has not been touched for 2 years
Not been sprayed or had any heat
I mean it's actually been neglected totally forgotten
It is covered with the same cling film as the day I started it
Just shows how resilient plants are
 
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