normal light or metal halide

[sebasting]

Hi all

I am into setting up a 4x2x2 planted tank. I was thinking of using a metal halide light but wondering will i can into algae problems down the road.

Is it better to use normal T5 light or PL then metal halide?
I will be using the Arctica chiller on this setup.

thank you for your advise.

[Phillipians]

with that kind of cash to blow, why not metal halide, make sure though that you maintain your tank as high maintanence. Meaning enough ferts (liquid) and also generally mid to fast growers for your tank. I m envious.... even with chiller heh. Anyway go ahead with it, its good for light purposes and also for aesthetic valuem Oh Yar make sure you have enough co2 for this tank as well.

[sebasting]

Thanks bro for your reply.
Not becuase that i have so much cash to blow away but just wish to make it right the first time (as like they always said).

I am very new into this hobby and hope to get it right. As you had mentioned that lighting is okay but CO2 must be enough .... so how many bubbles per min should i be looking at?
Would you explain more on what your mentioning about the water fert? What should i be looking for or be doing?

I am not even sure what plants to go for at this moment. Anyone can give some recommandation on what gravel and base fert to begin with? and where and what metal halide is good and reliable (not too ex)

Thanks again and hope to hear more from other expert hobbist

[bossteck]

Hi,

MH or not, I think alot depends on what kind of plants you intend to keep. You got to decide on it first.

Do you already have the chiller? If not, I would recommend that you go for PL lights, unless you want to go for the really difficult-to-keep plants that require very high level of lighting.

Your tank is not very high, 2ft, normal PL should be strong enough to penetrate without bringing up the temp too much, it also means you can probably cool the water with fans instead of a chiller, in the long run, it will cut your electrical bills.

Higher level of light would also usually mean faster plant growth, means more trimming (and replanting if you're keeping stem plants). But it also has its advantages, if you keep plants like glosso, i think they would be really nice and will spread out rather than grow upwards since there will be little contention for lights.

End of the day, it depends on what you're looking for from your planted tank. Are you a "lazy" hobbist who prefers more natural looking, low maintenace tank, or someone who enjoys seeing your plants pearling and trememdous growth?

As for your other queries, I would recommend lapis sand (I heard no need to wash beforehand which is always a good thing!) as for base fert, I've only used JBL, so can't really make a good recommendation.

Plant-wise, really depends on your preference.

Happy Planting!

[monk2k]

what if i want to use it for rearing shrimps and cories, what kind of sand should i use?

[sebasting]

Bossteck thanks for your time.

The reason of me having the thoughts of using the MH was I can have any kind of plants i want. Not limtied by lighting. But after much feedback, I think I will cut the MH ideal but go with T5 or PL lighting. Less maintainance and less demanding. I also the lazy person. I prefer to enjoy viewing more than housekeeping.

If for you, will you go for 10 T5 (40w x 10 = 400w) or 8 PL (55w x 8 = 440w) ? Is it too much lighting for 4x2x2 ?
Anyone can advise T5 or PL is better in terms of depth penetration?

I have not buy the chiller yet. I heard that having a chiller the plants will grow much better and therefore i will invest on it.

Hi,

MH or not, I think alot depends on what kind of plants you intend to keep. You got to decide on it first.

Do you already have the chiller? If not, I would recommend that you go for PL lights, unless you want to go for the really difficult-to-keep plants that require very high level of lighting.

Your tank is not very high, 2ft, normal PL should be strong enough to penetrate without bringing up the temp too much, it also means you can probably cool the water with fans instead of a chiller, in the long run, it will cut your electrical bills.

Higher level of light would also usually mean faster plant growth, means more trimming (and replanting if you're keeping stem plants). But it also has its advantages, if you keep plants like glosso, i think they would be really nice and will spread out rather than grow upwards since there will be little contention for lights.

End of the day, it depends on what you're looking for from your planted tank. Are you a "lazy" hobbist who prefers more natural looking, low maintenace tank, or someone who enjoys seeing your plants pearling and trememdous growth?

As for your other queries, I would recommend lapis sand (I heard no need to wash beforehand which is always a good thing!) as for base fert, I've only used JBL, so can't really make a good recommendation.

Plant-wise, really depends on your preference.

Happy Planting!

[celticfish]

Bossteck thanks for your time.

The reason of me having the thoughts of using the MH was I can have any kind of plants i want. Not limtied by lighting. But after much feedback, I think I will cut the MH ideal but go with T5 or PL lighting. Less maintainance and less demanding. I also the lazy person. I prefer to enjoy viewing more than housekeeping.

If for you, will you go for 10 T5 (40w x 10 = 400w) or 8 PL (55w x 8 = 440w) ? Is it too much lighting for 4x2x2 ?
Anyone can advise T5 or PL is better in terms of depth penetration?

I have not buy the chiller yet. I heard that having a chiller the plants will grow much better and therefore i will invest on it.

although i haven't had actual experience growing stuff on PL or MH, i own a set each. i thot PL was bright but when i tested the MH light i got second hand from an "old timer"... WAH LAU EH! i lit up my whole house (had it on its side pointing up). am sure the plants love it. what the old timer said was the frequncy of changing the lights. cost of one MH tube versus 5 tubes? time to change, MH something like two years versus one year for PL? another point is having the two MH lights turn on and off with overlap time. example, 6 hours each overlap 2 hours for 10 hour period.

PL i reckon is just like T5 in terms of lumens/area. Only difference is the length of the tube and being able to use a reflector efficiently. PL being compact, because of the bend on the tube, is not as inefficient (you can't use a reflector effectively). T5 being straight can maximise the use of the reflector. the makers claim to get 90% more light but i reckon 50% to 60% would be a more reasonable claim. so, T5 has better penertration only if you use good reflectors. MH is still the ultimate for penertration, mainly from the intensity of the lighting element.

[Rupert]

Bossteck thanks for your time.

The reason of me having the thoughts of using the MH was I can have any kind of plants i want. Not limtied by lighting. But after much feedback, I think I will cut the MH ideal but go with T5 or PL lighting. Less maintainance and less demanding. I also the lazy person. I prefer to enjoy viewing more than housekeeping.

If for you, will you go for 10 T5 (40w x 10 = 400w) or 8 PL (55w x 8 = 440w) ? Is it too much lighting for 4x2x2 ?
Anyone can advise T5 or PL is better in terms of depth penetration?

I have not buy the chiller yet. I heard that having a chiller the plants will grow much better and therefore i will invest on it.

Hello sebasting

I started out on your same journey at the beginning of the year and was amazed at the variables and choices that need to be made. Here is my link to my experience that you might find useful / not useful?

http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=12267

But if you have questions feel free to PM me and can talk about my mistakes / successes.

Rupert

[BFG]

I would suggest 2x150w mh since you are going to use about 400-440w of lighting with the T5 or PL. If you are going to use that many T5 or PL tube, you may have a problem with the lighting casing when the times come for maintenance of the tank eg pruning of plants and cleaning the glass tank wall.

If you are using T5, use a HO or VHO version instead. This are ideal for planted tank as well as marine setup. For a 4ft version, it comes in 54w. You can visit Dr Evil lighting( DeLighting) or Horizon Ventures in the link I provided. They do deliver the light set to your doorstep. You need to inform them what type of kelvin rating of the light tube you are getting from them. If I am not wrong, they are using Aquaz brand of T5 HO light tube, cheap n good. Do not forget about the parabolic reflector. These reflector will redirect the light back into the tank. They also sell MH light set too.

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?

I am in no way associated with the 2 above company. Just giving you more choices to choose from. Hope this helps!

[BFG]

I've forgotten 1 thing. Cost of light bulb replacement. You need to calculate the cost of replacing T5 or PL tube versus replacing the MH light tube. You will have to replace multiple number of light tube versus a single light bulb for the MH ( if you go by 1x250w mh or 2 bulb for 2x150w mh ). There are other things you need to know about the light setup too. For instance, if you switch on the MH and you decided to switch it off, you can't immediately turn it on again as it need to cool down 1st. For T5 and PL, this is not a problem. Also, MH need a 'running in' period for the light bulb to 'burn' correctly.

Timers.
You can use those normal timers found at the lfs for T5 or PL light set but for MH, you need something that can handle the electricity load the mh light is consuming. Normal timers can't handle it for long.

I hope I have covered everything there is to know about the various light setup. Cheers!

[sebasting]

Good morning Rupert & BFG

You guys really makes my job so much easlier.
Thanks Rupert ..... I am amazed, you really put in so much efforts in writing your Journal.

Thanks BFG, you had somw how throw in so much "lights" and I have pretty much better sense of direction. I will call them to work out the cost between T5 and MH.

Apprecaites all your time again.

Regards
Sebastian

[neon]

I've forgotten 1 thing. Cost of light bulb replacement. You need to calculate the cost of replacing T5 or PL tube versus replacing the MH light tube. You will have to replace multiple number of light tube versus a single light bulb for the MH ( if you go by 1x250w mh or 2 bulb for 2x150w mh ). There are other things you need to know about the light setup too. For instance, if you switch on the MH and you decided to switch it off, you can't immediately turn it on again as it need to cool down 1st. For T5 and PL, this is not a problem. Also, MH need a 'running in' period for the light bulb to 'burn' correctly.

Timers.
You can use those normal timers found at the lfs for T5 or PL light set but for MH, you need something that can handle the electricity load the mh light is consuming. Normal timers can't handle it for long.

I hope I have covered everything there is to know about the various light setup. Cheers!

I disagree that the normal timer (if you are talking the electronic timer) cannot handle the electricity load on the MH. One time I have used with 3 x 150w on this eletronic timer which I bought at any HDB estate around $25-$30. Right now I used 4 different sets of timer for different purpose , 1 for 2x150w, 1 for solenoid, 1 for 2x55w PL light, 1 for something else. I used this configuration for almost 2 years non-stop. These electronic timer setting will be lost if its internal battery power is drained and there is no power supply goes in the timer over a prolong period. So far I only change battery one time for one of the 4 sets.

It would agree on MH for big tank (my is 6'x2'x2') and I bought jebo 5.5' long lighting for 6' tank. WHich comes with 3x27w CPL blue for marine + 2 x 150w MH. I like this particular lighting set as it has 5 glass panels in it and I can shift it around with my liking.

So far I manage to DIY it with the following configuration :
a) original - <--- 27W CPL----150W MH-- 27W CPL----150W MH ---27WCPL --->
b) 1st modification <--- 150W MH-- empty----150W MH ---empty---150W MH --->
c) 2nd modification <--- 150W MH ----- 2 x 55w PL --------150w MH -->

In the last modification (c) , I re-arrange the MH tube mounting facing shining left right , normally MH tube shines from front to the back , which I used to get a lot of green spot on the front glass and I think the lighting is wasted as the width of tank (front to the back) is only 2' . With this re-arrangement, my 2 x 150w will be able to cover my 6' tank as they will have more "length" coverage.

[sebasting]

Hi Neon

Hey you really modified your MH? That sounded a daring move, at least to me. I dont think i will ever try changing thing, i only know how to spoil them

You are right, it never occur to me that it was shining front to back ....hmmm.
Actually they should do it from left to right to cover more area.

Thanks for sharing bro.

Regards
Sebastian

[sebasting]

what if i want to use it for rearing shrimps and cories, what kind of sand should i use?

Hi Monk2k

I am also new into this but saw a few using moss for their shrimps tanks. I also think that no CO2 are needed and normal lighting should be enough but your water must be cool enough for moss to grow well.

I hope i am helping and saying the right thing

Regards
Sebastian

[BFG]

Neon, I was referring to those analogue timers that has mechanical part to operate the timing effect. Timer brand like 'TheBen' are prime example. I have read from other forum boards that they can't be used for MH over a long period as these timer has parts that are made of plastic and it may melt due to the load. Therefore, I can't recommend it for MH usage. But I have been using this brand for my PL and T5 setup without any problem.

[shihyong]

Neon, I was referring to those analogue timers that has mechanical part to operate the timing effect. Timer brand like 'TheBen' are prime example. I have read from other forum boards that they can't be used for MH over a long period as these timer has parts that are made of plastic and it may melt due to the load. Therefore, I can't recommend it for MH usage. But I have been using this brand for my PL and T5 setup without any problem.

Hi BFG,

If TheBen is not suitable, what brand shall we consider for MH Light if I am using 2*150W?
Thanks.

[neon]

Hi BFG,

If TheBen is not suitable, what brand shall we consider for MH Light if I am using 2*150W?
Thanks.

The timer that I used now :

[shihyong]

[QUOTE=neon]The timer that I used now :

Thanks.

[bossteck]

Bossteck thanks for your time.

The reason of me having the thoughts of using the MH was I can have any kind of plants i want. Not limtied by lighting. But after much feedback, I think I will cut the MH ideal but go with T5 or PL lighting. Less maintainance and less demanding. I also the lazy person. I prefer to enjoy viewing more than housekeeping.

If for you, will you go for 10 T5 (40w x 10 = 400w) or 8 PL (55w x 8 = 440w) ? Is it too much lighting for 4x2x2 ?
Anyone can advise T5 or PL is better in terms of depth penetration?

I have not buy the chiller yet. I heard that having a chiller the plants will grow much better and therefore i will invest on it.

Hi Sebasting,

So sorry for my late reply. Been away from computer for a long period. Reading the other replies, i guess you should be more torn between MH, T5 and PL now keke.

Well, personally, I would go for PL tube, now I have never done any scientific studies on this issue, but I feel PL is the most energy conserving choice. Besides, having 8 tubes (or 10 tubes if you choose T5) gives you added flexibility, you can always remove 1 or 2 tubes should you find the amount of light to be excessive.

Seems like you're planning to go all out, 400W for a 4x2x2 tank is really something, do take care to plant densely right from the start.

Like before... Happy Planting!!

[ahkarboy]

wa ur timer so canggih.... mine not even digital....RM10 only