ukapstt77
Member
- Joined
- 22 Mar 2009
- Messages
- 67
Hello All
I was recommended this site from some one on aquaticplantcentral.com as they said you'd be best to answer these questions.
Basically I'm getting a 10ftx4ftx4ft 1200uk gallon tank for my Mbu Puffer who will be 2.5ft when fully grown
I need to know what lighting and how much to light a tank this big and deep. I'll only be planting different kinds of moss and maybe a few low light/easy plants. I've been told I should only need 1watt per gallon for these kinds of plants
The thing is I'm new to the lighting world and have done some reading but had mixed idea's about different lighting. Someone on another forum said I should use Metal Halide lights and another said I should use T5 midday tubes.
Also I'm told that .eg a 150w Metal Halide will produce the same amount of light as a 300w normal light, would this mean that I only have to get 600w worth of lighting and just make sure it covers the whole tank?
I've just realised the light will only have to go throught 3ft of water not 4ft.
The reason being the window at the front is 6inches from the top and 6inches from the bottom, also the gravel/soil will be 6inches thick and I'll only fill the tank with water to just above the top of the window so leaving 6inches clear in the top of the tank
I was also thinking of maybe having rocks 1ft high with moss on top and trying to have a kind of lord of the rings scenery look (see pic 1 attached below. If you cannot see pics go to http://www.adana-usa.com and click galleries). This would then mean that the majority of plants are only 2ft down from the lights!
PIC1
Do you know the names of the following moss?:-
The kind that droops down?
The kind that point upwards?
and the kind that grows quite bushy, rounded?
The reason I want to know is because I want to add bog wood and make it look like different kinds of trees. I want the droopy moss to hang down off the branches of one, I want the moss that points upwards on the ends of another and the same with the round bushy type (see pic 3 attached below for tree example). I want them to look like Bonsai Trees. I also like the look of pic 27 which reminds me of when Luke Skywalker crashed into the swamp and met Yoda
PIC3
PIC27
IDEA FOR TANK LOOK/LAYOUT
If you imagine these three pics/styles mixed together so that you've got the big cliffs from pic 1 on the left and right of the tank with a few old looking trees ontop from pic 3 and then in the middle of the tank the cliffs drop down to a kind of over grown forest that looks a bit like pic 27. I think it'd look amazing!
I want to get away with the least amount lighting/wattage possible to keep running costs down (this is why I've only gone for moss and low light plants)
So in short what lighting and how much for a moss/lowlight planted 1200UK gallon 4ft deep in parts tank (I want to be able to see the bottom of the tank clearly)?
Thanks in advance for your time and expertise
I was recommended this site from some one on aquaticplantcentral.com as they said you'd be best to answer these questions.
Basically I'm getting a 10ftx4ftx4ft 1200uk gallon tank for my Mbu Puffer who will be 2.5ft when fully grown
I need to know what lighting and how much to light a tank this big and deep. I'll only be planting different kinds of moss and maybe a few low light/easy plants. I've been told I should only need 1watt per gallon for these kinds of plants
The thing is I'm new to the lighting world and have done some reading but had mixed idea's about different lighting. Someone on another forum said I should use Metal Halide lights and another said I should use T5 midday tubes.
Also I'm told that .eg a 150w Metal Halide will produce the same amount of light as a 300w normal light, would this mean that I only have to get 600w worth of lighting and just make sure it covers the whole tank?
I've just realised the light will only have to go throught 3ft of water not 4ft.
The reason being the window at the front is 6inches from the top and 6inches from the bottom, also the gravel/soil will be 6inches thick and I'll only fill the tank with water to just above the top of the window so leaving 6inches clear in the top of the tank
I was also thinking of maybe having rocks 1ft high with moss on top and trying to have a kind of lord of the rings scenery look (see pic 1 attached below. If you cannot see pics go to http://www.adana-usa.com and click galleries). This would then mean that the majority of plants are only 2ft down from the lights!
PIC1
Do you know the names of the following moss?:-
The kind that droops down?
The kind that point upwards?
and the kind that grows quite bushy, rounded?
The reason I want to know is because I want to add bog wood and make it look like different kinds of trees. I want the droopy moss to hang down off the branches of one, I want the moss that points upwards on the ends of another and the same with the round bushy type (see pic 3 attached below for tree example). I want them to look like Bonsai Trees. I also like the look of pic 27 which reminds me of when Luke Skywalker crashed into the swamp and met Yoda
PIC3
PIC27
IDEA FOR TANK LOOK/LAYOUT
If you imagine these three pics/styles mixed together so that you've got the big cliffs from pic 1 on the left and right of the tank with a few old looking trees ontop from pic 3 and then in the middle of the tank the cliffs drop down to a kind of over grown forest that looks a bit like pic 27. I think it'd look amazing!
I want to get away with the least amount lighting/wattage possible to keep running costs down (this is why I've only gone for moss and low light plants)
So in short what lighting and how much for a moss/lowlight planted 1200UK gallon 4ft deep in parts tank (I want to be able to see the bottom of the tank clearly)?
Thanks in advance for your time and expertise