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"Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal

Took some light reading at max intensity with the ATI fixture.

@12" from the water's surface: 500 umol.
Middle along the sediment: 180-190umol
Bottom corners/front, 140-150umol.

Butt load of light.

I'm removing a purple and adding another white colored bulbs and removing thh Aquaflora in the rear and going with an Aquawave red.

Fish color is 10X better.

I think I figured out how specifically ATI gets some of the increase in lighting, the reflectors are specific and do not cause spill over into the room nearly as much as the Tek.

It's a huge improvement to the living area!
LED's do this same thing when designed correctly.

I estimated I'd get 175 umol or so, and that is just about right.

I got 120 umol or about 45% increased vs Tek at the same distances.
Now........I can use this increase various ways with the ATI..........I can dial down the % on the dimmer, or I can add a midday spike(or several small spikes) and/or shorter the photoperiod. I have many options.

The fixture does not look nearly as bright, but......... the light meter does not lie.
 
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I've got some stuff crammed in while they recover and moved some things around to see and explore what works nice and looks good in certain spots, scape wise, this is lousy.........but it can be recovered easily and phased in/out.

Background plants have done well and are fairly stable in the groupings I want.
I need some more work on the front right, I have 2-3 pieces of wood that will make the border look better between the Fissidens and the C parva and the Erios. I'll trim the UG back and leave some open space there also.

Right side has some more grow out to do for the pantanal/Tonina and I'm undecided on Downoi, it's a nice plant though.. so it's hard to consider removing it.
I'll go through and make more distinction between the groups later on, that's a final trim and rework prior to a prime photoshoot.
Or.........if I just feel like doing it regardless of the status of the group/s.

I'm still playing around with various bulb configurations.
 
Rabb.D said:
good god! :jawdrop thats beautiful... i wish i had a fraction of your skill, experience... and talent... Jesus!! i'm not even christian..
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Yip
Tom is the man....hes been a great inspiration to us all.
He finds the best manzanita wood in America and ships it to the UK what a fella :clap:
Your spot on, the aquarium is stunning.
hoggie
 
Rabb.D said:
plantbrain said:
scape wise, this is lousy.........but it can be recovered easily and phased in/out.
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his humility is so off and needless it makes me lol
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I'm a picky #$^%^&@

I'm thinking in terms of what I want to do versus my impatience and ability.
But.........I do have one quality and it's tenaciousness. So I keep picking away at things.

I want nicer fatter Tonnia groups, I want my downoi to grow faster now, but not when I have a lot and need to sell it and no one is buying, feast or famine.

The Erio Setaceum Type 1 was planted this morning, so it's not even righted itself yet.
Background got a vicious hacking 2 days ago and will recover and look nice in about a week.
Left side will have some UG trim work and then some new small pieces of wood that are a better fit, I've been after that section for months.

Pantanal needs more stems to fatten up and to make a nice thick row.

I need to find homes for 3 -4 plants.

The Red low grow hygro in the far Left rear corner was also a new planting. The C parva that was there, and now moved up front, needs time to recover from its move.

Oh...there's a lot of work..........yet to be done.
And that does not even address the light bulb preferences and trials.

But.........I'm getting here.
 
When I set up the 1600l tank found the same with the ATI fixtures...far more powerful than what I had previously experianced with T5 units. So much so I had to raise the units 18" above the water line on a 28" deep tank.

Suffice to say with these units few people would need to be concerned whether they are getting enough PAR over deep tanks.
 
Tom,

have you found any particular arrangement of T5s that optimise fish colours. I have tended to place the more red/pink tube (Arcadia plant pro) towards the front an whiter tubes towards the back.

Sometimes i think if lighting fixtures were angled to catch more of the fish sides it would make more of thier colouration.

Is the Aquawave red an ATI tube? i just get the led brand when it google it?

BTW your praecox look healthy, are they by any chance the descendents of the "Pagai" strain that were wild caught in 2008? I think Gary Lange brought them to the USA. However judging from the photos (which can be misleading) the reds on the fins should pop more. These fish are far more vibrant and healthy than what has been mass bred in the trade over the years. The stock we get here in the UK is not very healthy.
 
It's(Erio cinerum) got to be the easiest least troublesome plant in the display.
 
sanj said:
Tom,

have you found any particular arrangement of T5s that optimise fish colours. I have tended to place the more red/pink tube (Arcadia plant pro) towards the front an whiter tubes towards the back.

Sometimes i think if lighting fixtures were angled to catch more of the fish sides it would make more of thier colouration.

Is the Aquawave red an ATI tube? i just get the led brand when it google it?

BTW your praecox look healthy, are they by any chance the descendents of the "Pagai" strain that were wild caught in 2008? I think Gary Lange brought them to the USA. However judging from the photos (which can be misleading) the reds on the fins should pop more. These fish are far more vibrant and healthy than what has been mass bred in the trade over the years. The stock we get here in the UK is not very healthy.
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Well, the ATI mix with the Blue specials and the purple really helps some blue colors, and the pink to red bulbs do also for reds etc, but you go too far, and things look weird, I suggest you just try and see what you like, this is not a cheap endeavor though :!:

Bulbs are not free or try before you buy.

I made some interesting light angles in some client's tanks to direct the LED's to do this fish highlighting.

Aquawave is some other brand, ATI is got good bulbs, but no red bulbs. URI makes a crazy super red sun bulb, a bit freaky looking.

I like the Aquaflora/rosette type bulbs and mix of mostly higher color temp white/blues and a purple.
I'm still playing around though.

I had some REAL nice red's but had some infected fish that where much lower grade, I've lost many of those at this point, medicated food has done nothing. I've lost two of the nicer reds which where never infected prior. I cannot catch these fish without a complete 95% water change and tank break down.

I may have to do that, new healthy fish I can get.
Just VERY hard to catch and remove, some open sores and dropsy like patterns, and some bloat, swim bladder issues.
Tried 2 different antibiotics but nothing has worked thus far.

I get that fixed, then I might see about some of the breeders and get them directly from them, these came from a wholesaler, the 1st batch was lousy. The 2nd was nice.
 
sanj said:
When I set up the 1600l tank found the same with the ATI fixtures...far more powerful than what I had previously experianced with T5 units. So much so I had to raise the units 18" above the water line on a 28" deep tank.

Suffice to say with these units few people would need to be concerned whether they are getting enough PAR over deep tanks.
Click to expand...

These have the dim controller, so I can adjust the intensity without having to raise the lights or add light spill into my home, which I hate a great deal, I also use less energy since I'm not running at full power draw, and keeping the lights much farther away than need be, but......the sunpower w dimmers are not cheap, so there's a price for that.
 
If you were UK based I would have given you some "pagai village" praecox I am breeding. However they are also being bred in the USA, just try and get them from breeders. Antibiotics usually only have limited success on myco infections. I think some breeders sell their fish on aquabid, we dont have that sort of thing here, at least not one that is successfull.

I am going to using Pacific Sun led (Polish company) lighting on a new set up, it also uses reds and blues, will be interesting to see. Ill take par readings too.

Unfortunately my ATI pendants are pre dimmable versions...a little frustrating that there does not seem to be a retro fit option to add this functionality.

Thanks for the feed back.
 
Hello Tom,
Thanks for updating journals so often first of all. They are amazing as always. You are a master of colors :thumbup:
I wanted to ask if you could post some pictures of your sump and explain what has to be considered to minimize co2 loses in planted tanks using sump filtration. I would like to change to sump in our office 300L tank to get experience before moving to much larger tank. Too tired of topping up water and removing limescale/fighting water biofilm.
Many thanks in advance. :wave:
 
I somehow missed this Tom - beautiful scape and the Fire Shrimp are stunning! Are they real :lol:
 
Piece-of-fish said:
Hello Tom,
Thanks for updating journals so often first of all. They are amazing as always. You are a master of colors :thumbup:
I wanted to ask if you could post some pictures of your sump and explain what has to be considered to minimize co2 loses in planted tanks using sump filtration. I would like to change to sump in our office 300L tank to get experience before moving to much larger tank. Too tired of topping up water and removing limescale/fighting water biofilm.
Many thanks in advance. :wave:
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I'm hardly a master of colors as many Dutch scapers have long long done this same contrast with both textures and color, shades and growth habit. Might be a new or different grouping or species, but the idea is not new.

Sump is here:

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You can see the tape that seals the top wet/dry chamber on the right side, while the open part of the sump is unsealed, sort of the same as the tank itself.
 
Mark Webb said:
I somehow missed this Tom - beautiful scape and the Fire Shrimp are stunning! Are they real :lol:
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They are actually quite nice for this scape.
I've put in some effort to cull out the lower grades to keep them nice, if you do not, they will revert.
 
The right side is going to get a rework this weeke/end etc.

I'll move the Red pantanal one row over next to the large Erio type 3 which recovered nicely away from hungry Fire shrimp, we will see if it stays in good shape or not.

Then the Tonina will move to the Pantanal's spot.
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Not sure what to do with the Tonina Lotus blossom, I like the plant, but cannot keep it close to the normal Tonina(which is a better fit for this tank in general).
T. lotus blossom is a neat type however, so I'm very relucant to part with it.

I have some error in a plant order, I was shipped A gracilius but got Nesaea crassilius, which is frankly rarer and a very nice red plant, so I may move the L peruiesis out and over the far L and add the Nesaea in that spot to allow it to fill in nice and fully. Then eventually get the Ammannia for the rear(I can fill in back there with most anything really).

This will add another Red row and keep with the motif of every other one red and different leaf shape and texture.

The new bulbs have turned the D diandra very red. I have some H hottoniifolia in the rear corner, but I might just remove it and allow the weird bright green plant I keep forgetting the name of (genus starts with a "P"). the grouping got too small I feel and "collectortisy".

The wood is new and I've yet to reposition this side, but I shall in the week or so. The wood will soon blend in well with the other wood and I need to replant the UG on that side, it's about 4" deep right now.

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The corner has the Red lower growing hygro which is a nice low maintenance plant. It'll take a month or two to fill in in the darker corner.

I'll need to thin some thing over on the Far Left side also, but most of the species will still stay as is.

2 biggest issues are if/where to keep: Downoi and the Lotus Blossom.
2 very nice plant species I'd rather keep.

If they can find a suitable home, I'm 80-90% of the way there, then the rest is just pruning and less moving stuff around and trying out various species.

BTW, light is only on for 7 hours, and it takes about 1 hour for the 2x54 W to come on and hit 100%, then the other 6 bulbs come on and it takes them another 1 hour to hit 100%, then at the end, both sets slowly drop off over 1 hour from 100% down to 0%.

So the lights are only on full blast for 5 hours, the CO2 comes on when the 1st pair is warming up, so it's cranked well when the full set starts to fire up.
The CO2 goes off about 45 min before the last bit of light hits the plants.
 
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