Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:46 pm GMT   Reply      

peter is that why you have the cloth there, to hide the fans? does it help with evaporation? sorry mattalica not trying to steal your post..

Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:10 pm GMT   Reply      

No worries bro, I'm curious too...

Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:12 pm GMT   Reply      

No it doesn't help with evaporation. It just looks nicer than without as I don't have a hood. My PC light that I found in the garbage puts out a bit of heat and I have an extra fan that I mentioned to blow that off. I have on my 100 gallon 24 inch deep tank: 4 65 watt double VHO flourescents, and 2 95 watt double PC flourecsents. 1/4 of the bulbs are blue and the lights are getting old. There is still good plant growth with my anubias, Amazon sword, Java moss and Java fern.

Mon Mar 10, 2008 3:49 pm GMT   Reply      

If I'm correct, it seems that the actinic bulbs do work for freshwater plants. Does that also go for the blue (not true actinic) light as well? I'm a little overwhelmed by all the different light characteristics, but that would make your shopping a little easier. Personally, I don't mind a little blue on my plants as looks go, but having more of a warm light looks better IMO. Those little clamp on halides for $300 or something are sweet as I've seen them in use and the surface ripples look really nice on the plants and other features in the aquarium. They're small, pack a lot of light, and are asthetically appealing to me.