About 125F-130F to be exact. If it's open air & not enclosed, it will run a bit cooler maybe 110F-115F
Wow, you have one of those 200W equivalent CFL's. How much did you get that for?
This 200W CFL isn't 6500k thought, right?
Used standard light strip for a aquarium usually sell for $5-$10, but you have to HUNT for them.
The tank I dismantled is the ACRYLIC 30G.
Obvious signs of age & neglect.
Multiple deep scratches from the previous owner. Of course I didn't notice them till AFTER I had the thing fully set up though.
70%-80% of the photos of the tank, would show these beautiful scratches. Ruined all those photos.
Around the corners, you will see bits of "crazing"
The top of the tank was warped due to the heat from the high end light fixtures
The back of the tank, the acrylic seal was no longer "intact"
Factory cut outs limited the type of equipment I could use.
OEM cutouts also made it difficult to siphon without making a mess everywhere.
OEM cutouts makes catching speedy fish even more of a hassle.
Now that I switched back to GLASS tank, 85% of the photos turn out GREAT & 10-15% get deleted.
Oh yeah, how much do you find the 6500k CFL bulbs go for? I found a 4pack 100W eq for $10
I get my 23w locally for about $4 ea at the local 99c store.
The 42ws are 6500k from amazon :) ran me about $11 ea + free 2 day shipping for students. I use that one primarily over my emmersed set ups. the emmersed plants dont really mind the extra heat and humidity. I did plan to have one over the aquarium, however i need to first find a clamp lamp to go over it...
I just bought some 6500k mini cfls at Walmart, they are 40w replacement bulbs that use 10w, 3 in a pack for $4. Hope those are suitable, lol.
I also made a pit stop at Petsmart and got another CT female (:X). The girl working there likes me and gave me a free chunk of hornwort to float on top of my tank and 4-5 MTS for free also....so now I think I'm set, lol.
That's a spiffy looking tank ya got there. Where did you find it?
Thanks! My mom bought it a long time ago (over 10 years ago) from a LFS. It's an Oceanic, but they don't make that design anymore I guess. I've never seen one like it. :)
Well, I planted my stuff on Saturday. Today is Thursday (5 days later), and here's an update:
Crypts have pretty much melted into nothing. The crown/roots still feel healthy, so I'm assuming this is normal.
Bacopa caroliniana is also melting, from the bottom up. The tops seem nice and green, and looks like there is new growth, but the bottoms are totally rotting. I pulled some out today and trimmed off the melted parts and it really stunk, literally. They don't seem to be rooting, and I'm not sure why - I've spread them out a bit more and hopefully they will do better.
Everything else pretty much looks okay right now. Obvious growth on banana plant and anacharis. I added a second strip light - 18" T8, but it's only 15w. Any suggestions on keeping my bacopa happy? I really like it and hope it comes back, but the rotting smell really scares me!
Does anyone have recommendations for a water change schedule? I was originally planning on doing 25-50% a week, but someone on this forum told me to wait a month before doing my first water change.
It's been 8 days since my tank was planted, and I am beginning to notice what I believe to be diatoms in the water/on the tank glass. If I put my arm in the tank and wipe it off with a paper towel afterwards, there are brown spots on the paper towel from the surface of the water. I was thinking about just going ahead and doing a water change tomorrow, making sure I vacuum out most of my dead plant matter, but wanted to get opinions first.
My tank is also starting to give off a slight odor when I open the lid, it's not terrible but enough that I notice it when I'm feeding the fish, I'm thinking it's probably due to the melted/decaying plant material. All my fish seem happy and healthy, but the water is a little hazy still and I'm a bit worried.
I've tested the water and everything (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) is at 0, so the plants are doing their job, but the tank was also started using filter floss from an established tank (pretty sure the tank was basically instantly cycled). The piece of floss my mom gave me was pretty filthy when I put it in my filter so I plan on rinsing that with old tank water on my first water change.
Yay, glad to see you got that beautiful tank planted! 25% per week is fine, you have plenty of plants to help with filtration. I wouldn't wait a whole month to start given you have multiple fish creating waste, but 2 weeks should be fine.
An initial plant die-off is normal, it's just the reaction the plants have to the new water parameters. You should see new growth in the next few weeks.
I am thinking you have a bacterial bloom from the decaying plants, your water change should help with that and the tank should sort itself out without much intervention on your part.
If you decide you want some more MTS (or ramshorns) let me know and I'll just give you a bunch, you're close enough to meet up. Same for plant clippings.
Check out the eBook Betta Fish Care Made Easy
