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[APD] RE: little tank



> I was using an incandescent to flourescent conversion factor of 4.62
instead 
> of the 7 recommended by Hieber.  The intensified lighting should allow
Barr's 
> recommendations to work.  I'm confident they will work.  I've seen
pictures of 
> some of his tanks.  They are very impressive.

The smaller tanks I have are non CO2 and require little fiddling or work. 
A conversion factor of of the best Quartz 12v DC light vs the basic T-12 FL
is about 17 lumens/w to 70/lumens per watt.
so 5-7 is about right. The Azoo clip on lamp looks good, has a PC light(7w
or 13w) and cost less than 20$ and has a nice color temp of 7200K which is
the same as a Triton bulb.   
If I was going to use a non MH/FL bulb on a smaller tank, I'd use a Quartz
MR-16 12v DC light, the GE color Precise bulbs have the best color. You can
find these are any Lowes or Home Depot etc.

> You're supposed to adjust intensity of the light by varying the distance
of 
> the light from the substrate or by changing the wattage or both.

You can do all that funky stuff if you want to, but for a 2.5 gal tank, I
think I can eye ball the needs easy enough.
The 7 w PC light would spread better than the incad anyway and also not
heat up the water as much and actually give you more light than the 40w.
The color temp will look better to your eyes also. It's only 20$. 

> At this point I have 20 pounds of CO2 which is more CO2 than the 2
gallons of 
> water in the tank.  So, I'm pretty committed to the CO2 route.  I'm going
to 
> push light, CO2, N, P, K and trace elements as much as practicle. 

The faster you go(adding more light), the more likely you will crash the
tank. It's fine if all you want to do is experiment around. The long term
issue will be very tough though.  People do this on larger tanks, say
20-125 gal tanks, if you reduce the tank size down also, then it becomes
even more difficult to maintain stability.

Ther other main issue for me, pruning the plants.

If the plant is growing an inch per day in a high light CO2 enriched tank,
how long do you have before you need to prune on a 2.5 gal tank? A day or
two.
The plants and the tank never have a few days to settle in and stabilize. 
You blow it off for a 3-4 days, and the tank will get over grown very
easily and cause issues.

But the tank is small so it's not a lot of work.  

 If the tank 
> gets out of hand I'll get a bigger tank.  Success in such a small tank
would 
> be a validation of the methods.  Having to change 1/2 gallon of water
every 
> three days is fun.  It takes five minutes including the dosing regimen. 
It's 
> the weekly water tests that are no fun.  Someday I hope to be good enough
at 
> this to not have to do so much testing.  I even test the test kits with
other 
> test kits!  I use standard solutions and ask for second opinions on the
readings. 
>  The plants themselves are the ultimate test though.
> Sincerely, George Mangen

I think you ought to just get yourself a 20 gal and then enjoy the
aquascaping, larger groups of plants etc. 
This is an ideal sizxe tank for a new person and someone wanting to play
around.
40w FL or 55 PC or if you are nuts, 110w PC. If you are really nuts, drop a
150w HQI MH pendent over it.
You can get these for 150$ with bulb and they are nice a small/lower
profile than the 175 regular bulb versions which also cost more and look
ugly.  

Since you a 20 lb tank with CO2, T off the regulator and add another needle
valve so you can add CO2 to any number of tanks independently. All you need
is a T and another needle valve. Should cost 20-22$. 

Test for awhile to get a feel of the rates, make sure the other
things/parameters are in good shape before concluding. 
Also, if you plan on keeping such a small tank, dosing with standard liquid
solutions will be better since using 1/4 teaspoons of dry fert's will not
be very accurate.

Regards, 
Tom Barr






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