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lighting/liquid carbon.

island lad

island lad

Member
Joined
2 Apr 2013
Messages
73
Location
Portsmouth
I'm in need of some advice regarding lighting levels and liquid carbon. I'm running 2x20w T8's over 125Litres for 8 hours. Im going to be dosing easycarbo when it arrives. Im wanting to give the tank a brighter appearance than it is (for viewing pleasure only). So what options do I have. I've looked at adding another T8 tube or running what I have with a singleTMC grobeam 600. My funds don't allow me to upgrade lighting and pressurised co2 so any input would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Hi..
If it's just for viewing pleasure only then you can pick up on of the cheap led strips off ebay and incorporate it into the lid but if its to also provide extra lighting to the plants then something like the tmc is more than enough. No need to go pressurised co2 because youve added the extra light if your dosing liquid carbon
 
Thanks Alastair. So if I add one grobeam to benefit plants and viewing pleasure, Im still safe without pressurised co2 ? If so then I think that's the route I will take. Also can you recommend a few single led uni'ts that would fit on my fluval Roma 125 ?
Many thanks.
 
The roma 125 reflectors are pretty terrible, you could always buy some decent ones for like a tenner.

The first thing I did was pull the hood apart on my roma and put in a t5 ballast, but if you're not confident with hacking it apart then reflectors would be the easy way of lighting the tank up and you really don't need more than the t8s that came with the tank.
 
EnderUK said:
The roma 125 reflectors are pretty terrible, you could always buy some decent ones for like a tenner.

The first thing I did was pull the hood apart on my roma and put in a t5 ballast, but if you're not confident with hacking it apart then reflectors would be the easy way of lighting the tank up and you really don't need more than the t8s that came with the tank.
Click to expand...

I've got some diy reflectors in mine, but the overall look is still a bit dull. I think the right led bar with better T8 tubes will look good. I just don't want to push the lighting to the point where pressurised co2 is a must.
 
Yes its aqua glo and life glo bulbs. Both give off a pinkish colour which I don't like, your right they are dull.. I will take a look on lampspecs. I've also just noticed BBA on my anubias so hopefully the liquid carbon will take care of that
 
Blimey that is cheap. I wonder what they will look like alongside the tmc grobeam 600. Thanks for the info mate.
 
I may even consider a 3rd T8 tube instead. Giving approx 60watts of light. Would this option be OK without pressurised co2 ?.
 
How are you planning on getting the third tube into the hood? Guess you could mount it on either the front or rear panel, The LED strip would simply tape on which would make it easy and you wouldn't need to get a starter unit to run the third tube. The roma 125 ballast is actually a 2x18w running 2x20w tubes, or at least mine was 😵 you can't hook it up to run a third tube on it. TBH the gunky glue that holds down the hood is a PITA and doesn't come off fully so unless you want to replace it with t5 I would leave it alone.

Take a look at this thread cheap-ho-t5-fluorescent-tubes-update-with-photos choose the colours you like, I went with the 880 and the 840, you get the brightness of the 8000k and the deep colours from the 4000k. At that price you could get a few combos and try out which ones you like yourself, then if it's still not bright enough I would go with the LEDs.

I think you'll would be fine with 60w of t8 and liquid carbon but I'm still learning, you might want the third tube only on for a couple of hours or simply when you're wanting to view the tank.
 
I've been looking at separate single controllers, although I realise another T8 tube may be a problem to fit. Adding a single T5ho might be pushing it. At the end of the day I just want to illuminate the tank better and if plant growth improves then that's an added bonus. But I don't want to be battling with algae outbreaks, I'm only just getting on top of that issue.
 
island lad said:
I've been looking at separate single controllers, although I realise another T8 tube may be a problem to fit. Adding a single T5ho might be pushing it. At the end of the day I just want to illuminate the tank better and if plant growth improves then that's an added bonus. But I don't want to be battling with algae outbreaks, I'm only just getting on top of that issue.
Click to expand...

Just stick with the 2 tubes for now mate. That extra tube will make alot more demand on the plants. Youll be surprised how much brighter the tubes I linked to are. If still visually its not enough just get some cheap stick on strip led.
If your looking to add a grobeam 600 then youll really have to be on top with your ferts o2 and water changes
 
Thanks Alastair, your input is much appreciated. I will order the tube from lampspec on Monday. One last thing, what product do you mean by stick on led strip ?

Thanks
 
That's just an example I'm sure there are others, I haven't used them. Yes it would probably wash out the planted tank on it's own and why you would need to mix it with suitable t8 tubes. Having had my tank washed out with t5ho 6800k bulbs I'm now happier with the dimmer t5no 4000k+8000k combo.

Sub 6000k tubes have a yellowish dim light, brings out a lot of reds in your tank. If you had red features, plants or fish then these will deepen the reds. Downside is your tank can appear dim.
plus 6000k have a crisp defining light, lights up a lot of greens and highlights certain features. Gives more definition of shades of greens but can wash out your tank. Some fish really don't like very 'bright' light but your plants should give them more than enough cover.

So mix them up and decide what's best for your tank, look through the pictures on that link I attached a few posts up. Decide what you think is best for you, get a few different tubes and experiment. If you decide on the white LED light you could get two tubes in the sub 6000k range for plant growth and hit the white LED lights when you want the tank lit up.
 
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