Do It Yourself ODNO Lighting - Cheap High Powered Lighting

Its that bluish tint that the plants need....

Example

3200K Lights (Kitchen/Bath) - Output a mix of Yellow/Orange/Red color
5000K Lights (Sunlight) - Output a mix of Green/Yellow/Orange
6500K Lights (Daylight) - Output a mix of Yellow/Green/Blue
10000K Lights (Antic) - Output Blue and Violet

Plants live with lights between 5000k and 10000K (Ideally 6500)
Corals live in lights greater than or equal to 10000K

The extremes of the plant range do little to no good themselves for plants..

 

You can buy the sockets @ Lowes or Home Depot for like 2 bucks it a common part to fail

There are hundreds of different bulbs on the market and about the only way to compare is the Kelvin Temperature but remember what you see is not what plants and animals see


But generally the higher the K the more Blue the light

Rick

 

humm, well... the one plant i have in the aquarium, its not the best growing, but it was growing decent with the plant/aquarium light. the thing i really liked about that light was, my darker colored cichlid's, there kinda of a bluish purplish color, that color really seemed to pop and was pretty vivid. thats what is more apealing about that light, or lights in general. the daylight dont seem to make there colors pop as much, except for the jack dempsy, his little color spots are more beautiful then i have ever seen, they were kinda dull with the plant/aquarium light.

i have aluminum foil on the back side of the tank (thats till i get up to home depot and find some relective paper) but idk i might go to a black background with the daylights.

idk i guess im just picky when it comes to lights. i gonna leave it on for a while and give it a chance to grow on me. later on down the road i can experiment with different lights.

 

just an update, im seeing more algie with the day lights at 32 watts compared to my plant/aquarium lights at 20 watts. the algie is also more of a brown color. my algie eater jumped out of the tank and fell behind it, did not know for about a week and the tank got pretty nasty looking with brown gunk everywhere. the one plant i do have does grow better tho. got another algie eater, and problaby will get another small one to get all the little places the big one cant get to.

 

the brown is diatom algae, you'll quickly find out when it comes to planted tanks and lighting your really have to putz with the type of bulbs you use and the hours you leave them on when your dealing with algae.

Anywho, in newly setup tanks it's pretty common and is usually from excess nutrients. I'm sure like most you just want it OUT of your water, so siphon as much of it out as you can--can use turkey baster and squirt water at it when it's on the tank walls or use a "scraper".
Bristlenose Pleco, Ottos, Nerite Snails are all good at removing it also
Mts are great at agitating the substrate to prevent dead spots too

 

yea i wanna look into some snails. get those little corners and what not. i have a little cat fish (dont know its exact name) but he will agitate the rocks and what not. i really want another fiddler crab (3$ at petsmart) because he also did a good job and keeping the bottom clean and getting into those corners.

also, im a little curious, from excess nutrients, like nutrients for the plants???? if so i dont really have none, well i dont think so. i have crushed coral, some regular gravel and some sand. but i have not added anything for plant growth. the only thing that has changed was the lights, the algae used not to be as bad and it was more green. but i blame the more algae on the higher watt lights (i assume thats what causing it) and well now its brown instead of green.

i think a few snails and a crab will help the situation tho. keep things more clean.

 

nutrients (from the food, waste, ie. phosphates)

don't forget fiddlers need part land ...and mts will go all the way to the bottom of your substrate (unlike your catfish who I'm pretty sure only rummages across the top/upper layers).

Nerite snails stay smaller and are your gung ho algae eaters...but need brackish water to breed so the numbers will stay in check.

Good Luck!

 

ahhh gotcha. and no the catfish does not go all the way to the bottom of the gravel, just the top. what is mts??? and i tried to get some snails today at petsmart but alot of them were dead and they just got them a few days ago. they said they do not live long in there water, said there ph was to high. curious on that because i have an african tank with about 8.0 ph.

anyways, picked up two crabs, not the fiddlers :/ they discontinued them. ill try and make something so they can climb to the top. and i also got some actual algae eaters, 2 little guys. i have a 6in placo.

 

mts is malaysian trumpet snails (freshwater).

High pH will erode their shell, but you can try to use cuttlebone (the plain kind that you'd get for a bird) and that would help provide some extra calcium...but with cichlids most will more than likely be eaten/attacked at some point.

 

yea i think ill stray away from the snails, thanks!!

 

yea the pleco does leave a crazy mess everywhere. i tried to get some crabs to see if they would clean it up some but not luck yet.

i do have what petsmart called strait algae eaters. there about an inch long and kinda dart around the tank like you talk. the lady said they only eat algae. i have 2 of them, probably gonna pick up a few more.

the algae is growing almost like moss at some places. fuzzy and what not. its kinda bad. but a few more of those little algae eater guys might take care of it. i can already tell the difference from when i got them.

 

Do otos , sae's (true ones) , or bristlenose plecos.
regardless of which you choose get a few

if the straight pleco is a common it will get very large...and produce more mess/waste than it will clean...not to mention reaking havoc if you have any live plants or such.