MannyThakk Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 What kind of lighting do you use for your tanks? Ive got a finnex stingray ive had for a few years on my 20 long and a 48 inch fluval planted 3.0 on my 55. Trying to cut down on how much algae ive got in the 55 mostly. Seems that everytime i add a few root tabs on the substrate the next few days ive got green algae all over the tank glass. Thinking if i can dial it down right and not cause a big shift everytime i add fertilizer or anything. Also can anyone identify the plant in the pictures? Ive had good luck with propgating and regrowing them. Got them at aquashella in dallas last year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameisnobody Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 (edited) I would stick to what you have. A Nicrew light would be a severe downgrade from what you already have. You may want to try either reducing the amount of time your light is on or you can experiment with floating plants. I would also toss some pothos hanging out of the top of the tank. This will also help with excess nutrients. Edited July 20 by mynameisnobody 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 To knock down the algae, I have had more luck with cleaning the filter, sponges, substrate and removing as much algae as I could followed up by a 50% water change to remove as many dislodged fragments and dissolved organics as possible followed by redoing it weekly for a few weeks to knock down amounts… In my experience “cleaner tanks”are more tolerant of the light not being just exactly right…. Ie it gives you a bigger range to play with… As to lights, the Fluval has excellent control to adjust intensity. Rather than going for a bell shaped curve on the program though, I would opt for a simple 30 minute ramp up, ramp down at the end of the photo period. A d then play with the light intensity for that light period. The bell shaped curve to simulate the change of the sun during the day simply imposes too many variables…and since we are aiming for around 6-8 hours of light, as opposed to the 12 to 14 we get in high summer in the northern hemisphere the altering intensity is less important. bear in mind, in addition to varying intensity natural sunlight gives with sun angle, shading comes in to play with clouds and sun direction relative to trees…. The Fluval has excellent control and suitable par and good water resistance but in my opinion lousy color rendering and less than stellar light distribution. Color rendering has little effect on plant and algae growth, (high blue light really is not the algae trigger bit it is claimed). but dramatically effects how the tank looks to human eyes… 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitecloud09 Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 On 7/20/2024 at 5:37 AM, mynameisnobody said: I would stick to what you have. A Nicrew light would be a severe downgrade from what you already have. You may want to try either reducing the amount of time your light is on or you can experiment with floating plants. I would also toss some pothos hanging out of the top of the tank. This will also help with excess nutrients. Oh, I am sorry @MannyThakk, I thought you were just asking for what light I used. I am sorry, I was not recommending a nicrew light. I misunderstood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmurray407 Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 On 7/20/2024 at 6:17 AM, Pepere said: The Fluval has excellent control and suitable par I’ve had a Fluval 3.0 for a few years. It’s been a good light but I’ve never really dug into the intricacies of proper adjustment. I’m curious about PAR. I see charts showing PAR levels for different water depths for the new Coop light and I’m wondering if anyone knows if there is any chart or accurate way to estimate PAR levels with the Fluval 3.0 without buying a PAR meter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 (edited) On 7/22/2024 at 4:22 PM, dmurray407 said: I’m wondering if anyone knows if there is any chart or accurate way to estimate PAR levels with the Fluval 3.0 without buying a PAR meter? What length is your fluval? What length is your tank, what gallonage? Edited July 22 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmurray407 Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 On 7/22/2024 at 4:20 PM, Pepere said: What length is your fluval? What length is your tank, what gallonage? It’s a 60 gallon tank-48 inches long, 12” front to back and light to gravel measurement is 20 inches. I have the 48” light-actual light is 46” plus the side supports. Sometimes I wonder if I should get a par meter, but they are pricey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 On 7/22/2024 at 6:05 PM, dmurray407 said: It’s a 60 gallon tank-48 inches long, 12” front to back and light to gravel measurement is 20 inches. I CO2 injection? What are you growing for plants? light to gravel is 20 inches, but, other than carpeting foreground plants most have some height so depth requirements will be less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 Fluval 3.0 48 inch fixture PAR / LUX Depth 545 / 32800 (3″ / 8 cm) 288 / 17120 (6″ / 15 cm) 136 / 9350 (12″ / 30 cm) https://fluvalaquatics.com/us/shop/product/plant-3-0 I am guessing you have been looking at the PAR data for the co op light already. I cant really for see where you would be needing more par than the Fluval light. The Fluval light can be configured to function closer to the co op light.. there is no need to have a bell shaped curve on light ramp up ramp down. You can set it for a straightline ramp up and ramp down over a half hour and simply have photo period at flat power output… If light distribution is an issue, there can be benefit to running one light at the back, and another in the front.. or you can opt to keep lower light plants in the areas that receive less light… If you were going for high end red plants that require CO2 and more difficult plants you would likely be looking for a light with much better color rendering than either of these two lights. you might like this thread where I compared the fluval lights to Finnex Planted Plus ALC to a Chihiros WRGB 2 pro light. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmurray407 Posted July 22 Share Posted July 22 On 7/22/2024 at 5:05 PM, dmurray407 said: On 7/22/2024 at 4:20 PM, Pepere said: What length is your fluval? What length is your tank, what gallonage? It’s a 60 gallon tank-48 inches long, 12” front to back and light to gravel measurement is 20 inches. I have the 48” light-actual light is 46” plus the side supports. Sometimes I wonder if I should get a par meter, but they are pricey. Expand Just some sad Val’s, a few Amazon swords which are doing pretty well and one hygrophylla in the corner. I’m thinking about taking all the grassy plants out. Pretty low on fish-I just lost 2 large Irian Red Rainbow fish. They were pretty old. Now I’m planning to clean everything up and get some new fish-I have a tetra, 2 white cloud mountain minnows and about 25 Cory’s (they’re too fast to count :)) I forgot about my bristlenose pleco-he’s the orange thing in the lower middle back. Needs some work but it’s coming along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 Your Fluval is already capable of much more than your plants need. What do you do for fertilization? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmurray407 Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 On 7/22/2024 at 7:24 PM, Pepere said: Your Fluval is already capable of much more than your plants need. What do you do for fertilization? All AC, root tabs around the swords (when I remember), Easy Green and Easy Potassium usually 3x/wk-I forgot to add that there’s a Java Fern in there and it looks better with the extra potassium. I know the light has great capabilities but getting it fine tuned is tricky. That’s why I would like to use the PAR value to program it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 23 Share Posted July 23 It is hard to tell for sure from photograph., but it looks like the val is suffering from a fair number of yellowing leaves. is this accurate in person, or am I mistaken? Lighting effect? Do you have Ph, GH, KH test results? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MannyThakk Posted July 24 Author Share Posted July 24 On 7/20/2024 at 6:17 AM, Pepere said: To knock down the algae, I have had more luck with cleaning the filter, sponges, substrate and removing as much algae as I could followed up by a 50% water change to remove as many dislodged fragments and dissolved organics as possible followed by redoing it weekly for a few weeks to knock down amounts… In my experience “cleaner tanks”are more tolerant of the light not being just exactly right…. Ie it gives you a bigger range to play with… As to lights, the Fluval has excellent control to adjust intensity. Rather than going for a bell shaped curve on the program though, I would opt for a simple 30 minute ramp up, ramp down at the end of the photo period. A d then play with the light intensity for that light period. The bell shaped curve to simulate the change of the sun during the day simply imposes too many variables…and since we are aiming for around 6-8 hours of light, as opposed to the 12 to 14 we get in high summer in the northern hemisphere the altering intensity is less important. bear in mind, in addition to varying intensity natural sunlight gives with sun angle, shading comes in to play with clouds and sun direction relative to trees…. The Fluval has excellent control and suitable par and good water resistance but in my opinion lousy color rendering and less than stellar light distribution. Color rendering has little effect on plant and algae growth, (high blue light really is not the algae trigger bit it is claimed). but dramatically effects how the tank looks to human eyes… I got my hands wet yesterday before i head out to work and got most of the algae off 3 sides of the glass and most off the back glass, did a 50% water change and got out most of the free floating algae out as well as debris that i found on the gravel. I did find someone posted their light settings on reddit and i adjusted to that last week so hopefully that also helps keep my algae problem at bay. Ill check back keep everyone posted on my progress. Thanks for all the help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmurray407 Posted July 30 Share Posted July 30 On 7/23/2024 at 6:57 AM, Pepere said: It is hard to tell for sure from photograph., but it looks like the val is suffering from a fair number of yellowing leaves. Yes, they did have some yellowing leaves (I have several plants). I’m “remodeling” and am removing the Val’s-right now they are in a separate tank and will be going into a new shrimp tank. My pH is high (8+) I haven’t done the GH and KH in a while but they are off the chart high. I think I’m going to use bottled water in the new smaller tank and they should do better in that setting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 31 Share Posted July 31 (edited) With ph of 8.0, the type of iron in Easy Green gets bound up and the plants can suffer from Iron deficiency.. yellow leaves can be a symptom of Iron deficiency. ” Iron and Potassium: Vallisneria has a high demand for iron and potassium. If you notice the leaves turning yellow or transparent, it might be signaling a deficiency of these nutrients. Consider adding specific iron or potassium supplements.” https://aquaticskingdom.com/vallisneria-plant-care-guide/ Edited July 31 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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