A few questions for the holiday season...

16 posts • Page 2 of 2

Discuss all topics related to freshwater and planted tanks.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
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Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

Is that one 15 w bulb? Is the tank currently getting any natural light? How many hours per day do you leave the lights on?


DanDman18
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:56 am

by DanDman18

What size tank is it?


liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

by liam1995

It is one 15w bulb in a reflector compartment. The tank does get natural light all day and direct sunlight for about 2 hours in the morning. The tank is 20 gallons and I leave the lights on at least 9 hours a day in school holidays and about 6 hours a day when school is on. I have to turn the filters off in the day at school because I live in a house powered by solar.


natalie265
Site Admin
 
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Nov 01, 2008 9:48 pm

by natalie265

I don't know if the problem is too much light, not enough light or neither! I would move the tank so that it is not getting any direct sunlight (or filter the light with a blind or shade) and add some more/better lighting. One 15 watt bulb is not much. On the other hand, two hours of direct sunlight is usually too much. Turning filters off during the day could be a problem too. Your recent test looks good, but i'm wondering if the lack of filtration is causing a problem that that test didn't pick up.


DanDman18
 
Posts: 115
Joined: Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:56 am

by DanDman18

#1 I personally think your tank could use more lighting, nowadays with all these new lights its less about the wattage and more the lumens, lux, etc. with that said it is more important the kind of lights over wattage, and up to you if you want more, however i don't know how much excess power your have with solar panels if you must turn off your filters during the day, which brings me to my next point.
#2 I don't know exactly how solar panels work,( i have a good idea) but turning off your filters is probably the worst thing you can do in an aquarium, for two reasons, all the bacteria can die, so your tank would always be in the cycling phase, and also most disolved oxygen comes from the filters providing current on the water, so your fish will have less oxygen to breath when they're not on I do not understand why you would NEED to turn off your filters during the day wth solar panels, i would think if anything you would turn them off at night when there is no more solar power being obsorbed.


liam1995
 
Posts: 51
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2010 2:33 am

by liam1995

The filters need to be off in the day because it gives the solar batteries a chance to rest and absorb as much energy as possible so that at night when there is no sun I can still use electrical appliances. The battery life is severely affected if their charge gets below 70% for long periods of time.

It is very hard to follow advice and keep to the fish keeping requirements with a solar powered house. I do my best but it's hard. Haha.

DanDman18- Do you reckon you could find the best light for me? I am in Australia.

I have another tank as well. It is 8 months old and houses a yabbie. It rarely gets any direct sunlight and does not have the brown algae problem.

It has the same substrate and filter as my tropical tank.

Natalie265, I seem to recall that you are Australian. If not, who is? What sort of lights do you have? Where did you get them from?

Cheers

Liam

A few questions for the holiday season...

16 posts • Page 2 of 2

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