Telecredible's ADA 4Ft Tank.

[ranmasatome]

i usually start out with 8hrs lighting. Then as the tank matures i increase to 9 or 10hrs in a day. Of this 9-10 hours only about 5-6 is under Full strength. The rest is for fading in and fading out of light.

[shrimppaste]

I think the first option would really cut water flow down quite a bit. AS in the lighting, I think 10 hours is more than enough. I dun think your plants are leggy. With dense growth, I htink light would get shaded on the lower part of plants, and you are already using MH so I dun know what else can be done The amazing thing is you have almost 20 pais of apisto and yet we can't even see them in the pics. Haha. As for the left side, yes it is bare now, but I think if you were to put plants, then you lose the energy, the golden ratio. Maybe can put bog wood jutting into the space??

[zephyros]

Nice ... hope one day i am able to do something like this too :P

[Captain Telecredible]

Note that this will reduce your flow rate.



From http://www.aquajournal.net/na/basics/basics_05.html

The light period of 8 to 10 hours per day is considered optimum for Nature Aquarium empirically. If the lighting period is shorter than this, aquatic plants don’t grow well or stem plants tend to get leggy. On the other hand, if it exceeds 10 hours, algae tend to multiply or aquatic plants stop photosynthesizing even when the light is still turned on

How true?.... not sure

Haha... I always find algae really pestering me when I turn on my MH I have trimmed my plants to base height so that they wont be so laggy. 10 hours? ok noted I will follow

i usually start out with 8hrs lighting. Then as the tank matures i increase to 9 or 10hrs in a day. Of this 9-10 hours only about 5-6 is under Full strength. The rest is for fading in and fading out of light.

I think I should kick start with 4 hours of T5H0 and 4 hours of MH My java ferns and nana are fully expose to the lighting so they catches algae really fast

I think the first option would really cut water flow down quite a bit. AS in the lighting, I think 10 hours is more than enough. I dun think your plants are leggy. With dense growth, I htink light would get shaded on the lower part of plants, and you are already using MH so I dun know what else can be done The amazing thing is you have almost 20 pais of apisto and yet we can't even see them in the pics. Haha. As for the left side, yes it is bare now, but I think if you were to put plants, then you lose the energy, the golden ratio. Maybe can put bog wood jutting into the space??

Haha... finding nice driftwoods that fit my scape 20 pairs and they are usually quite shy to be true.

Nice ... hope one day i am able to do something like this too :P

Haha thanks for the comment... this is still considered a newbie setup unlike some other forumers tank

Cheers,
kenneth

[FC]

Note that this will reduce your flow rate.

The pump rate of 1,050 l/hr (water pulling rate) specified by (2nd) Filter 2028 will not be affected because the water flow rate down (water pushing down rate) to both filters in series by natural gravity/siphon is greater. Please try it!

if it exceeds 10 hours, algae tend to multiply or aquatic plants stop photosynthesizing even when the light is still turned on[/B]

That is the whole idea to get the plant growing bushy - by giving it all the light period to the plant up to the fill. Plants knew envionment changes and will adapt to leisurely consume light.
As for algae, it is unlikely from that 2 hrs extra light hours. Water column decides that.

[FC]

My java ferns and nana are fully expose to the lighting so they catches algae really fast

Mixing high and low light plants is tricky. To make both plant types happy, low requirement plants are ideally be shaded under the light demanding ones.

In my observation, to get bushy growth, high light helps alot but long hours are far more important. To illustrate, try having high light (say MH of 300 watts) for 6 hours a day vs low light (say T5 of 150 watts) for 12 hrs. Observe them over a week and see which one rushes plants for more light (that result in leggy growth).

[Shadow]

The pump rate of 1,050 l/hr (water pulling rate) specified by (2nd) Filter 2028 will not be affected because the water flow rate down (water pushing down rate) to both filters in series by natural gravity/siphon is greater. Please try it!

Try that. It reduce quite a lots. Last time I measure if I remember correctly, from 1000l/h (2217) (effective flow after media around 700l/h) drop to 560l/h. I believe it is due to the media and also the distance water need to travel.

It is true that theoretically energy needed for water to flow down will be equilibrium with energy needed for water to flow up. Now what left if the resistance cause by additional filter media and additional distance water need to travel.

It is the same when you add Chiller in line to your filter, the flow drop quite significantly.

That is the whole idea to get the plant growing bushy - by giving it all the light period to the plant up to the fill. Plants knew envionment changes and will adapt to leisurely consume light. As for algae, it is unlikely from that 2 hrs extra light hours. Water column decides that.

If I understand Amano article correctly, the last two hours will not cause any plants growth. Plants seem to stop photosynthesis after continuous 10 hours photo period. Thus better of to set at 10 hours because the addition 2 hours will be useless to plants anyway. How true? please confirm with Amano... .. I believe he has research team doing all this

[FC]

Last time I measure if I remember correctly, from 1000l/h (2217) (effective flow after media around 700l/h) drop to 560l/h. I believe it is due to the media and also the distance water need to travel.

The media is not the cause unless you had packed it tightly because the flow area across the sum of the void spaces between the media is easily greater than the hose. And did you remove the propeller (which obstruct the flow in this unpowered filter)?
And here, I am working on 2028 with larger hose (16mm) than 2217 (12mm) for almost the same flow rate.

If I understand Amano article correctly, the last two hours will not cause any plants growth. Plants seem to stop photosynthesis after continuous 10 hours photo period.

That's what I thought and had applied that theory on my tank for the first 6 years of my hobby. Observe the tank of Sam Yick's 1st shop at Marine Parade. The stem plants and all are the most dense with super short leafs internodes in the 2.5 ft deep tank (5x2.5x2.5 footer). It was acheived with long hours light and 36x9 watts lamps.

[Shadow]

The media is not the cause unless you had packed it tightly because the flow area across the sum of the void spaces between the media is easily greater than the hose. And did you remove the propeller (which obstruct the flow in this unpowered filter)?
And here, I am working on 2028 with larger hose (16mm) than 2217 (12mm) for almost the same flow rate.

Yes impeller was removed. Did you measure your flow or just by observation? Another example is when you connect the filter to chiller the flow is also drop. Chiller heat exchange chamber is just an empty box with nothing to obstruct the flow and yet the flow drop.

If you happen to measure the flow of you filter with and without media you will get around 20%-30% drop. My eheim 2217 without media the flow measured is 1030 l/h after media drop to 846 l/h. Media I used are filter wool, biohome and ceramic ring.

[FC]

For maximum pump efficiency, all external canister filters have pump located at last stage to full avdantage of gravitational flow before needing effort to pump. Chiller which is usually placed after the filter's pump will slow down flows. Fine filter wool for its' less permeable will too slow down flow.

There is no need for concern for slower flow rate, infact, all filters I came across have unnecessarily high flow rate for use in planted tanks. Slower flow rate helps to trap fine particles better and provide more time for media's bio to work on the waste. For my current filter, I cut the propeller shorter to slow down flow and water is clearer and better plant growth than before.

[FC]

Sorry to extend the sharing of filtration here, I hope to stop at here.

Matten Filter is by far the best filter for many aquatic applications, particularly planted, to properly treat waste and warrants clear water. The design ensure slow and uniform water flow rate across the media, thereby resulting in good entrapment of waste and bio processing them under least possible water flow.



http://www.deters-ing.de/Filtertechnik/Mattenfilter.htm

[StanChung]

It is an excellent filter but it takes up space. For aquascaping I would prefer not to have something impact the design so significantly.

[sfk7]

hmm has anyone incorporated this idea into a sump?

anyway we are OT on this thread

[Captain Telecredible]

Hi everyone...
Just a simple update after a rescape 3months back...
Hope you guys will like it.


Cheers,
Kenneth

[marle]

very very nice tank. Looks natural. might look even better with some heckels!

[Jitticus]

Very nice. Perhaps some Manacapuru angels as well? Hehe.

[Fingerling]

A very nice makeover. Keep updating on the progress.

[mikhail]

Nice rescape. Love the triangular shape layout

[Shadow]

very nice scape, love it, need more light when you take photo though. A bit too dark

I feel there is two focus point thought, one is the sword plants and the other is the java fern the one behind the angle fishes.

[Captain Telecredible]

very very nice tank. Looks natural. might look even better with some heckels!

Haha... yeah heckels are nice but not for the momment

Very nice. Perhaps some Manacapuru angels as well? Hehe.

Manacapuru angels are not available in Singapore

A very nice makeover. Keep updating on the progress.

Thanks!...Ya will keep you updated!

Nice rescape. Love the triangular shape layout

Haha Thanks!

very nice scape, love it, need more light when you take photo though. A bit too dark

I feel there is two focus point thought, one is the sword plants and the other is the java fern the one behind the angle fishes.

Yup... rather darked but I like the feel


Cheers,
Kenneth