Martin raises a good point about light below. The lights in the hoods I have
are indeed actinics, with each hood holding a pair of the following: Osram
36 W, 2900 lumen Daylight; and Power Compact 36 W, 460 nm Blue. with (I
think?) more lumens. Like I said before, I've never fooled with this type of
gear but I know there's always extensive debate on lights in various 'zines.
Martin said he didn't think actinics would provide enough phytoreactive
light. But I would think that a source of 460 nm light would be exactly
right, since that's the range where blue shades into green, and I know that
various aquatic photosynthetic pigments have reaction peaks in that range.
Any opinions based on this more exact info?
And I should have mentioned that the river environment I'm aiming at is for
steady flow, say about 3 or 4 knots, rather than real current like, say, in
the Tennessee which more typically has a 12 knot current locally. So the
H.O.T. magnum gives me adequate flow for my purposes to replicate the area
of Sipsey Fork I'm inspired by. Ultimately I'm more worried about
biofiltration.
--Bruce Stallsmith
Huntsville, AL, US of A
>From: Irate Mormon <archimedes_at_bayspringstel.net>
>Reply-To: nanfa_at_aquaria.net
>To: "nanfa_at_aquaria.net" <nanfa at aquaria.net>
>Subject: Re: NANFA-- 135 gal. Freshwater Tank
>Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 23:13:37 -0500
>
>If you are trying to recreate a river system, the H.O.T. will N.O.T. do it.
>Like Casper said. If you want primarily a plant tank - well, OK then. I
>don't
>have much use for a sump myself - I use a fluidized sand bed for bio
>filtration.
> On my 110 gallon native tank I have an Ocean Clear canister filter
>(provides
>about 40 s.f. of mechanical filtration area) driven by a Little Giant pump
>which
>has an unloaded throughput of about 450 GPH at 4' of head. I have the
>return
>placed below the water surface (so as to retain CO2) and directed
>lengthwise
>along the back of the tank. I have a ball valve which splits the flow
>between
>the FB filter and the canister. If I need river-type current, I have a
>supplemental power head/water pump which moves about 400 GPH, which I
>picked up
>on eBay for about $25 - can't remember the name offhand but it's a very
>versatile unit, and moves a lot of water for cheap.
>
>Oh, the actinics (usually around 10,000K)won't be much help to your plants.
> You
>should replace 'em with lights which have more output in the phytoreactive
>range.
>
>Prost,
>
>Martin
>Jackson, MS
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