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Waterbox Clear mini 10

CalAqua91

New Member
Joined
14 Feb 2022
Messages
15
Location
Northallerton
Hi, this is my first planted tank.

Just over 2 months old, not been without is issues, constantly learning!

Equipment- Waterbox clear mini 10, Seachem tidal 35, Fluval M50 heater, 15W Amazon floodlight with home made steel bracket (left rusty on purpose, felt it was a bit more natural).

Substrate- Fluval stratum, ADA aqua gravel, Dennerle rio xingu and aqua substrate pewter sand.

Hard scape - Corbin catfish root, Frodo stone.

Plants - Glossostigma, Eleocharis acicularis mini, Staurogyne repens, Cryptocoryne albida brown, Cryptocoryne x willisii, Bucephalandra kedagang, Anubias barteri var. nana, Hygrophila pintafila, Java moss, Java fern, Trident fern, Siamensis 53B, Limnophila Sessiliflora, Cryptocoryne balansae, Salvinia and Red root floaters…..think that’s it!

Livestock - I started off with some Platies from another tank but they were taken to my LFS.
I now have 10 Ember Tetras, 2 Honey Gouramis, 1 Otocinclus , 4 Amano shrimp and a scattering of Ramshorn snails.

Few pictures of its journey.
 

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Water change night, what a crazy way to spend Fridays! 😂

Glass cleaned, filter cleaned and turkey baster used on substrate and all nooks and crannies, some green hair algae on some of the wood and a tiny bit of staghorn still on some of the dwarf hair grass, hopefully more frequent wanted changes will nip this in the bud, if not then another round of Excel!

Few pics,
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Thanks, the LED floodlight itself isn’t great, so will be going for a Twinstar or a Chihiros but hanging from the bracket 👍🏻
why do you want to change the light? it seems to be growing plants fine, and a chihiros/twinstar running anywhere near full power is just a waste of money without co2. stronger light will probably just bring algae issues.
 
why do you want to change the light? it seems to be growing plants fine, and a chihiros/twinstar running anywhere near full power is just a waste of money without co2. stronger light will probably just bring algae issues.
At the moment the floodlight are lasting 1 month before they burn out, there £10 each but don’t really want to be spending that every month, after looking into it further the chihiros are a tad out of my budget anyway, the entry level twinstar with a dimmer/timer will be a better option!

But yes, plant growth has been decent 👍🏻

I would like to run Co2 in the future as well.
 
At the moment the floodlight are lasting 1 month before they burn out, there £10 each but don’t really want to be spending that every month, after looking into it further the chihiros are a tad out of my budget anyway, the entry level twinstar with a dimmer/timer will be a better option!

But yes, plant growth has been decent 👍🏻

I would like to run Co2 in the future as well.
Not to mention throwing a light in landfill every month.

I do wish manufacturers were mandated to make things last.
 
Not to mention throwing a light in landfill every month.

I do wish manufacturers were mandated to make things last.
Yes not ideal!

I guess when there churning things out and selling them at £10, lifetime isn’t one of the first things they think about!
 
I can recommend the Lominie Asta if you are looking for a budget option. It is pretty sturdy, not too weak and dimmable. I have one on a 30 cm cube running for about 10 months now. Plants seem happy enough.
 
At the moment the floodlight are lasting 1 month before they burn out, there £10 each but don’t really want to be spending that every month, after looking into it further the chihiros are a tad out of my budget anyway, the entry level twinstar with a dimmer/timer will be a better option!

But yes, plant growth has been decent 👍🏻

I would like to run Co2 in the future as well.
wow ridiculous, im sure you could find better flood lights. but I think the twinstar B line would be pretty good.
 
I can recommend the Lominie Asta if you are looking for a budget option. It is pretty sturdy, not too weak and dimmable. I have one on a 30 cm cube running for about 10 months now. Plants seem happy enough.
+1 for the Lominie Asta. I have it on a 40CM cube, and my plants are also very happy.
 
+1 for the Lominie Asta. I have it on a 40CM cube, and my plants are also very happy.
I also have the Lominie Asta. About a month after getting it (so right when it could no longer be returned on Amazon) it developed a quite severe flickering. I contacted the company and they provided an email address to send info to around warantee/servicing which was a black hole of non-responsiveness. That said, for reasons unknown the flickering has stopped and the light is performing normally with all LEDs functional. Anyone else ever have this experience?
 
I can recommend the Lominie Asta if you are looking for a budget option. It is pretty sturdy, not too weak and dimmable. I have one on a 30 cm cube running for about 10 months now. Plants seem happy enough.

I have seen these pop up, I like the goose neck design, could give some cool natural shadows if placed more to one side!

The Twinstar has a controller that can be used with it and can be programmed to ramp up and down, which is a pretty good feature?
 
So i got a twinstar 45B early in the week and a controller, so far very happy with the light.

taking a bit to get used to how white it is compared to the floodlight i had on before, and having a little trouble with getting the controller programmed right, watched a few videos and thought i had it right but its been on in the morning when i get up and its not supposed to come on till 1pm. aside from that the one thing i will be changing is the legs, im going to make some metal brackets similar to my old setup and have it hanging and lift it slightly.

got a bit of staghorn algae coming back and hoping have the light dimmer and lowing the photo period cures it.........here are some pics, defiantly looks abit sparse on plants now with the new light!
 

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