Pet Forum / Aquaria / Plants / December 2004

I am researching this very thing myself, seeing I am about to set up a new
122cm(4ft)/200L(50G) very shortly.
I get the tank itself on Jan 05 /05 and because I am "between jobs" I have
to research a lot and find the best prices:

Optimally I would like a planted tank containing a variety of Tetra (Black
Neon, Hockey Stick, Serpae, Head and Tail Light, Congo and perhaps
Cardinals), 6 Giant Danio, 6 Boezmani Rainbows, 4 Flame Gourami and 3
Paradise Fish.

My experience so far:

I was going to build a tank hood for the new tank out of dressed pine I
managed to obtain from an old packing case for a sign, but the cost of the
tools I need are too much for someone of my means - I have settled on a
Thorn 2 tube 36W "hood" (Ref: TBAR236), which was recommended to me by my
local Electrical supply guy. It's going to cost A$38.50 all up and it comes
with two T12/8 tubes, which I presume are standard 3400K tubes.

Bunnings near me carries a few specialty tubes and I've settled on the NEC
HG Aquarium type (A$23.96) and a Philips Aquarelle (A$18.94). I've settled
on this combination for cost, plant health, lumen output and appearance
reasons - The Philips tube, according to my spectral information on it is a
little lacking in the red end of the spectrum, as it seems to be peaking
more in the orange/yellow. The NEC has definite pronounced spikes in the
red, so my logic says that combining them will give me the lumens (they are
both tri-phosphor I believe) and a fair degree of longevity over this
period.

If the Neons don't light up as I expect them to do I am going to add a
computer type blue cold cathode to the hood later (about A$20 from my local
computer store). This fish thing is also determined by the incidence angle
of the light, so some experimentation will be in order. I noticed my Black
Neons and Hockeys absolutely fluorescing like mad yesterday when a shaft of
afternoon summer sun made it into the tank - it's incidence angle was very
low (the sun was setting) but they looked magic!.

The two 36W tubes will be on one timer (A$5.98 from Bunnings), and the
Cathode will be on another so I can stagger the on/off times and hopefully
not stress the fish. I plan to run the fluoro part 12 hours per day, and the
cathode as needed.

As for the hood; it's already got a matte white reflector surface inside but
I intend to make this as reflective as possible, and in the process alter
the side angles using styrofoam inserts, so the majority of the light hits
the water surface at 90 degrees or as close to it as possible. I am using
some 3D ray-tracing software to trace the rays from the tubes, so I should
get somewhat close to optimal.

I have discovered a cheap mylar reflector too that's better than aluminium
foil: it's the right time of year for it too! There is a type of Christmas
wrapping paper sold in the $2 shops around here that has a pattern on one
side and a mirror mylar back side - I plan to line the inside of the hood
with this material using a photographic roller to get it smooth. My main
worry with this is that the hood's ventilation may be affected (heat
shortens the life of and dims output of fluoro tubes). I have a couple of
spare computer fans lying around so I am going to modify the hood to mount
these if heat becomes a problem.

All in all, I reckon I'll get a good looking tank, that grows plants (I'm
going the DIY CO2 route later as well), is pleasing to view and cheap-ish to
run. By my calculations the whole tank should cost about $50.00 per year in
electricity to run, which is a small price to pay for the enjoyment it
theoretically will bring me.

Oz