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A new set up!

Joined
2 Aug 2015
Messages
83
Thanks to a nice tax refund, I will be treating myself to a nice new aquarium for the front room. The tank, stand and hood will be from AquaOak sold in Maidenhead Aquatics. It will be this nice little cube http://aquaoak.co.uk/1000/01/08/aquaoak-small-cube-aquarium/ .

The hardware will be -
JBL CristalProfi e901 external filter
Hydor ETH200 external heater
Pressurised Co2 set up from Co2art

And lighting ....... That's where I get a little, not sure what to get. The tank is basically a 45cm cube, But because of the oak hood, the tank has glass braces with a glass condensation lid. So what ever lights I get must sit on top of the glass condensation lid just above the water. I would like it to be powerful enough to possible grow a carpet of some thing, but not to high. I have been looking at a few but not sure which one would be best.
TMC Ultima1500 natural daylight tile
TMC mini 400 tile
2x 30 cm Arcadia Classical Stretch freshwater
I think the TMC 1500 might be to powerful, and the mini 400 not powerful enough. The Classical stretch was a suggested by the guy in the lfs. I'm sure there are other options that I not aware of, so I would grateful if you guys could help me out with the lighting.
 
A mini 400 on full is quite a lot of light! You might have issues with the spread of light though as I guess it will sit close to the water surface? The bigger 1500 tile might help there.

Also, I'd suggest the e1501 instead. I've got one on a 45cm cube and it's just right.
 
Cheers 5678. I just had a look and the mini400 has a beam spread of 80, where as the 1500 has a 120 deg spread. So my thoughts are buy the 1500 and a controller, then I can set the power/percentage output. That is if I have read correctly and the controller can do that!?
As for the filter, the e901 has a 900l/h flow and the tank is 80lt, so I thought it would be enough?
If anyone has any other lighting that I could consider please let me know.
 
So with media the flow drop by quite a bit then, interesting. Any idea by how much?
That's the controller I was looking at. That and the 1500 is probably a bit more than I wanted to pay, but I will not need to upgrade at any point. Will have to think about it. Thanks 5678
 
FWIW, I paid just under £100 for my e1501. Can dig out where from if you want.

Flow will drop a fair bit. I had an Eheim Pro3 250 that I replaced as it just wasn't big enough.
 
So with media the flow drop by quite a bit then, interesting. Any idea by how much?
According to the JBL manual, flow rate using 1.5m of clean pipework is 800-900lph.So less when gunked up.
Oh course the 10x rule allegedly, applies to the lph rating on the filter box.
FWIW I use an E901 on a 60(ish) L.
 
Thanks guys.
5678, I've found that zooplus are selling them @ £99.99.
Cheers stu, I have just had a read of the manual. It's a bit misleading!
A e1501 it I'll be. Just have to get my head around spending over £200 on lighting, even though I believe it would be a good option. Lol
 
Without trying to confuse the options more,TMC also do an "Aqua bar",which you can use a cheap dimmer on.Seen those?
 
I have stu, but the smallest one is 500mm long and the tank is 450mm wide. I could put them at an angle but would it give an equal spread. To be honest, I really like the idea of the sunrise & sunset effect on the controller. Plus the tile would give me the beam spread and all the power I would ever need. It looks like I have talked myself into getting the 1500 tile! LOL
 
After thinking about the cost, I can't spend £850 on a setup. I still would like a planted aquarium but I will have to find a cheap setup. The tax man gave me £430, so that is my budget for a nice low tech tank.
Anyway, thanks again for the advice guys.
 
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