×
Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

The Whole Lighting Thing

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
13 Aug 2007 23:00 #1 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
The Whole Lighting Thing was created by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
I have a relatively new Juwel 260 Vision setup and, on the suggestion of a friend, I decided to instal one UV lightstrip (the other is standard Juwel).

The first shop I went to sold me a Blue Moon strip, which gave the aquarium a whole sad appearance.

Today I got a terrarium UV strip and replaced the blue. It's much better and the fish seem happier (I'd swear they were depressed by that blue!).

My question is - would it be OK for me to use a second UV strip?

In general, is there an optimum lighting configuration for the community tropical aquarium with some real plants?

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
14 Aug 2007 00:12 #2 by KenS (Ken Simpson)
Hi Sabrina,

Plants need light, usually around 8 to 10 hours per day. Generally speaking, the lights you get standard on a tank, such as a Juwel, are not sufficient for good plant growth. They may be (just about) good enough for some low light plants, but that's about it.

For low to medium light plants, you should be looking at 1 watt per 3 litres of tank capacity. I'm guessing that your Vision 260 has two 30w bulbs which is too low.

The problem with not enough light is that you won't get good plant growth and will eventually be overrun with algae.

The other thing to consider is the type of light you have on your tank. Bulbs have a Kelvin rating which is essentially the temperature (or colour) of the light. Low Kelvin is a yellowish light and high Kelvin is blueish. Generally speaking, a lower Kelvin rating is associated with tropical planted aquariums and high Kelvin is associated with marine tanks. For plants, you should be looking at Kelvin in the 6,000 range (6,000k). This rating is normally stated on bulbs for aquarium use.

Therefore, the blue bulb that you have, while making your fish look better, is not really suitable for plant growth.

I would go for something from the Arcadia or Interpet range which would be more suitable to growing plants. Standard domestic tubes are't suitable for plant growth as they don't give the correct Kelvin rating (or light spectrum).

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Ken.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
14 Aug 2007 09:14 #3 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
Hi Sabrina,

UV lights are used for sterilisation purposes in fishfarming and in bigger breeding set-ups. They have no use as normal lighting in an aquarium. Your fish will actually get burned if you use too much of it. Discard ASAP.UV lights are used in terrariums. Reptiles need a certain amount of UV light. The two lights that come with a Jewel are OK enough for quite a few plants. I have used them for many years when I still had Jewel tanks. Just avoid any red leaved plants and you should be OK. You can always add more bulbs. Easy enough to install and double starter units cost about 40 €. To be honest with you I would get rid off the whole hood that copmes with the tank and make my own. With Jewel hoods you can only use bulbs that are specifically made for aquariums but no standard light bulbs which makes the whole exercise a money spinner whereas a mixture of cold and warmwhite lamps at around 3 Euro a pop does just as well.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
14 Aug 2007 09:53 #4 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
Replied by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
That's really good advice, thank you.

I'll get working on it and report back in time:)

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
04 Sep 2007 10:55 #5 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
Replied by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
I held back on dealing with the whole lighting thing until I sorted out the issue with the cloudy tank.

Now that it has settled and the water is clear and showing good test results, I am back to the lighting issue.

Replacing the hood is not an option at the moment so I am back to what combination of 42\" bulbs to use in my standard Juwel setup. At the moment I am using the two original Juwel bulbs that came with the tank but I find they give a very yellow light. I really don't think the fish like it and this yellowish glow in the tank is not a bit attractive.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
04 Sep 2007 12:00 #6 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
Arcadia do suitable bulbs, one freshwater lamp and one Original Tropical should be fine

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
04 Sep 2007 14:23 #7 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
Replied by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
I've seen those original tropical bulbs - what colour is the light?

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
04 Sep 2007 15:40 #8 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
I only ever found them good in a combination. Their spectrum isn't all that good if you want to grow plants.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
04 Sep 2007 16:10 #9 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
Replied by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
I have plants. Some of them are just shooting up, others are slower growing.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
04 Sep 2007 16:54 #10 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
Replied by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
Forgot to mention that some of the plants are being absolutely shredded by the fish!

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
05 Sep 2007 08:54 #11 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
Hi Sabrina,
if your fish shred your plants there is very little point in investing in plant growing bulbs. What sort of fish do you keep?
If you want to pop along to the meeting on Friday and have a talk with Richard. He's our man for all things plant related
The best light coulour to grow plants is between 6000-6500k.
Holger<br><br>Post edited by: apistodiscus, at: 2007/09/05 10:05

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
  • SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)'s Avatar Topic Author
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
05 Sep 2007 09:41 #12 by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville)
Replied by SabrinaSummerville (SabrinaSummerville) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
Thanks Holger.

I'm on a course all day Friday so I doubt I'll make the meeting - but you never know!

Since I put in the plants the water has once again become very cloudy. Is that normal? They're in two weeks now.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
  • apistodiscus (apistodiscus)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
05 Sep 2007 13:10 #13 by apistodiscus (apistodiscus)
Replied by apistodiscus (apistodiscus) on topic Re:The Whole Lighting Thing
How badly did you disturb the substrate (that should have settled after 2 weeks though) or are your fish digging the planst out? Usually plants shouldn't make any diffrence to water clarity.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.048 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum