jeremoose

190-something with the 2 bulbs.

Here's some before and after pictures: Beamswork Power LED 400 Glo T5 HO Double Fixture Despite the price-tag, we're more than pleased with this new light setup. If you're wondering why the second picture looks like the room is dark.. That's just how bright the light is.

Mini update. I got incredibly impatient (I know you advised me against this but I just really want to succeed here!) Picked up a new T5HO light fixture this morning. And my wife polishing the reflector. Hopefully some crazy growth updates to follow!

I felt the same way when I was converting to canister. I could visualize the end result and wanted the HOB out soonest. The more I looked, the more I hated it; it was always in the way and moving it was like "tax pain" (if you seen the commercial). What you've done so far looks really good! That piece of driftwood is a nice touch! Haven't seen the commercial, ever since I got PVR I don't think I've watched one commercial (thank god for that). And thanks very much, my wife found it on kijiji and had to have it so we pretty much made a special trip to Edmonton (okay, maybe I wasn't exactly "dragged" along).

Well that's a bit of a relief. I am just running DIY co2 and am dosing Flourish, so I guess can't expect it to be as fast as those guys. I just thought that going with the special plant substrate as well as the brand new lighting, root tabs, dosing Flourish, DIY co2 etc, that I would get some really crazy growth. It's definitely helping, but having pressurized CO2 and full fertilization is what gives some people instant forests. I badly want one of those "instant" forests. My wife and I are ready to spend the money to make this tank as nice as it can be so I guess we are going to make a few more purchases.. Updates soon!

Well that's a bit of a relief. I am just running DIY co2 and am dosing Flourish, so I guess can't expect it to be as fast as those guys. I just thought that going with the special plant substrate as well as the brand new lighting, root tabs, dosing Flourish, DIY co2 etc, that I would get some really crazy growth.

After a few days with the plants in the tank I'm becoming increasingly worried that the lighting is inadequate. I see people post online journals where after 4 days or so they have this incredible growth, I'm not even seeing greening. If this continues I will have to pick up a T5ho unit here in town for an astronomical price. I refuse to fail on this planted tank!

I bought it second-hand from someone off of kijiji.

The WPG concept is totally outdated considering that 1 watt of quality LED lighting will FAR out-perform 1 watt of T5 lighting. But ubr0ke pretty much hit the nail on the head for what you should do. But if you want to have low heat and low power consumption lights go with LED's.

Thanks a lot! Finally getting my first good look at the Angels under the blue LED moonlights, look great!

The inhabitants: I apologize the pictures are of a lower resolution since I had to upload in a different manner, I'll upload higher res pictures eventually as well.

You should see my other tanks, I won't even post up pictures! But yeah, we just planted a bit of the Dwarf Chain Sword to provide a carpet (hopefully) and later tonight I'd like to get some fish in there to look at. I see all these posts of people starting up tanks and getting INSANE growth in like 4-5 days, I sure hope I have SOME growth in like a week.. This time, all the conditions should be perfect for plants so I have my fingers crossed.

Mini update! Clearing up nicely, might be putting the fish back in tonight! Pics to follow. Also, we will be ordering a second LED light to sit next to this one. It will be moved to our next project (15g Iwagumi)... Once we find the 15g. EDIT: I'm embarrassed about how bad that HOB filter looks.

Hah! I seem to spend money in every store with aquarium accessories without fail too, don't feel bad. The Val's seem to be doing alright, although it's tough to tell through the hazy water. I just added some more water clearing stuff (I made that sound SO low-tech) and I'm hoping tonight I can provide a clean and clear tank shot for everyone.

Welcome! I'm going to need someone to teach me all about salt once I've quenched my thirst for freshwater tanks (that came out weird).

Okay thanks! I will be moving the spray-bar into the corner more once I am able to take that HOB filter out.

Thanks! Once it really clears up I will be aquascaping it a lot differently, just wanted to get the plants into that nice fertilized water! I was at Home Hardware considering doing something similar, seems like it might be the way to go, would just need to get the measurements exact and do it right the first time is all. Do you have pics of your setup? EDIT: Also, does it look like I have my intake and spray-bar positioned more-or-less correctly?

So, that took forever. The tubing the guy gave me with it was a little too big so there was steady leak problems.. Additionally, the tubes were kinked to hell and look like they'd been rolled up for ages so they were impossible to get straight, but we made it work until we get something better. Makes me want to buy the actual Rena tubing or something similar that will work a little better. Thoughts? Also, here's the filter setup: As you can see, there's quite a bit of water on the floor from trying to get the fittings tight enough.. Also, as soon as the canister is cycled properly I will be taking that HOB filter off the side and putting the LED fixture back on the top. Additionally, this is NOT the way the tank will be aquascaped, I just wanted to get the plants into it.

Also, I just picked this up this morning, it's a Rena XP2. It's my first canister filter so I hope it's easy to set-up. More pictures to come once it's installed.

Thanks for the replies! I have tried using Clarity and it cleared up fairly quickly, but as soon as I started rooting around in there again it got clouded quickly.

The next (not-so-great) update. We thought that the tank had cleared enough to aquascape but within 2 minutes of starting on it we were back to square one for clarity. Here's the tank with some haphazard greenery in it, I'm scared to see what it looks like when the water settles again. More pictures to come once it settles a bit. I'm also picking up a Rena XP2 filter in the morning for it, pictures will follow. Additionally, I sprinkled some coarse sand on the top hoping it would weigh the finer Black Fluorite down enough that I can actually work in the tank without it being reduced to an impossible, cloudy mess.

An L134 would look great in my planted tank... /cough

And just a little over 4 hours later, things seem to be really clearing up: Hopefully I will get some interesting posts for you guys soon.

This is the 30g about 15 hours after the substrate switch: More to come shortly.

Here's the thread I'll be posting in! http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=35680