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Low/Med/High Tec set ups

T

TopKat75

Seedling
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Messages
19
Was wondering if someone could explain what contributes to having a low tech tank, medium tech and a high tech set up ?
Cheers
 
Hi, generally a low tech tank has low light(2wpg or under), no CO2 or liquid carbon, a soil substrate and very light fert dosing, most of the nutrients are created from fish waste. Hardy plants are used for low tech tanks such as Cryptocorynes, java fern, java moss and other easy to grow plants.
A high tech tank usually has medium to high lighting (2wpg or more), CO2 injection and EI dosing as fertilisation so as the plants don't use up all of the nutrients in the water column. With a high tech setup, good flow is a must as you need the CO2 and nutrients to get all over the tank to all of the plants.
A medium tech tank is similar to a low tech tank, only liquid carbon can be used instead of CO2. Micro nutrients can also be added.
 
Ok i see thank you Matt, do you know the method in calculating the wpg? I have a trigon 190 with 2 t5 28w bulbs, CO2 injection with good flow and about to venture into the EI dosing world so is it safe to say i'm in the med/high tech catagory?
 
Hi Topkat,

I'm new here but the inner maths teacher couldn't resist 🙄 .

Your tank is 190 litres.

Assuming you want to work in good 'ole imperial gallons your tank is around 41 gallons. If your American it's 50. WPG seems to be a "rule of thumb" rather than an exact science so I wouldn't stress too much over which one to use.

There are lots of conversion tools on the web - a search engine will point you in the right direction.

2 28W bulbs is 56W in total.

56/41 = 1.4 WPG

Simples!

Can't comment on what that means, but at least you can work it out now. :thumbup:
 
Matty1983 said:
A medium tech tank is similar to a low tech tank, only liquid carbon can be used instead of CO2. Micro nutrients can also be added
Click to expand...
Sorry, this is a mistake. High tech strictly is based on whether or not CO2 is enriched. Adding liquid carbon enriches CO2 therefore if you add liquid carbon then your tank automatically qualifies as high tech and you need to do the things that high techers do. There is no such thing as medium tech.

This is a very important distinction because the addition of CO2 drives a lot of other factors and has an effect on the decisions that you make for the tank. High tech has nothing to do with high light but you do have the option of using high light if you want. People really need to step away from this "High Tech = High Light" equation because it's causing nothing but grief.

You don't need to use high light just because you are enriching CO2 and in fact, as we try to point out repeatedly, enriching CO2 actually allows you to use LESS light than is typically used on a low tech tank. That's how amazing CO2 is.

Cheers,
 
I have one addition to Clive's post, you can't judge a light being high or low based only on the WPG you need to measure it because it depends on the height and width of the tank and the distance between bulbs. For example a medium light at 60cm above the soil is high at 30cm to talk in simple words etc.

Not sure how accurate this chart is but should give you an ideea:
PARforVariousBulbs.jpg
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showt ... p?t=105774
 
Thanks guys for your input i appreciate it although i'm a little confused still on the lighting side. I'll try to explain, when we talk about plants which only require low/moderate lighting are we talking about using a lesser intensity in our bulbs compared to plants that require stronger lighting. I know lighting is just a tool which is used to help promote the growth and well being of plants and that nailing the CO2 and nutrient levels coupled with good flow is first and foremost but when i look online at the variety of aquatic plants requiring different amounts of light to thrive throws me a tad! Based on Cliffords answer my tank would be a low to medium lit tank does this mean i would run into problems if i wanted to try plants requiring more light? Sorry if i'm missing the obvious just dont want to make mistakes i've made before and lose interest again,
Thanks Brooke
 
Actually upon further reading am i right in thinking that if i have enough CO2 with good flow i should be able to accommodate plants of all requirements more or less??
 
There are no plants that require high lighting. That is not the real difference in the various plants. The differences are that some plants require high CO2. It is this distinction that causes all the problems.

Cheers,
 
thanks Clive, Troi some great advice there, i'm learning something new everytime i come on here!! :thumbup:
 
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