Hi Ari,

I have to concur with Ruslan. The quality of today's for home use fl/pl bulbs are suitable. I tried some Phillips and Osram tubes and they work well. Good but not great at the fraction of the cost. The only problem is we can only get it in standard 2ft or 4ft for fl here. I can safely say that special or shop bulbs the difference is minor once you exceed the threshold of what a plant needs.

MH is not for the beginner. least of all typical MH for reef tanks which pack more than 300W with not so useful actinic lights. More lights means everything is sped up and it will be a nightmare if there's an algae outbreak. Dosing/trimming/WC routines become a chore when everything grows so quickly.

For me DIY is still a good thing till you can afford something better. There's always the top brands out there whom the founders started as DIY people.

Regards

Stan

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So many aquascapes, so little time...http://www.my-mac.net/forum/

Are those rectangular type of mh flood light suitable for planted tank?

It just stated on the bulb something like hqi-ts 150w 240v. Not sure what is the k value but the output looks like sunlight.

well..what can i say...its your money and your plants , use the house tubes if u want.i rest my case.....a donkey will always be a donkey no matter how good the saddle is

this tank is fitted with a twin common house flo tube,
note the blyxa japanica, the eusteralis stellata on the left and the heteranthera dubia on the right...note the height of each species.....the foreground as usually botak for a newly planted tank


over a month later...the stellata and dubia are almost touching the water surface, while the blyxa hasnt grown a bit...the foreground is suppose to be fully covered by now but its still botak.


while this setup has flo tubes design for aquarium use. look at the size of the blyxa...they are growing wild at 90days

man ...i would really love to see house flo tubes dish out stuff like this

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Everyone Has a Photographic Memory..........some just dont have film!

probably it is not only your lighting that affect it? I use philips and china made one before, and my glosso grows like crazy too. So i guess things like CO2, base fert, liquid fert and water chemistry do affect the growth too other than lighting. Not everyone can afford those more branded one. RM10 saved per tube can contribute to other stuff to try out. Just my cents

yup agreed...every rm10 saved can contribute to other stuff, but just think about this...that very rm10 u didnt spend was the reason why that diffcult plant didnt grow! time wasted is one thing, then u decide its time to get the real stuff...and the house flo tube ends up in the store room.
glosso grows like crazy anyhow, throw it in some cool spot in your garden and they will still grow.
do not limit yourself to only that certain selection of plants which lightings doesnt really play an important part...imagine what u are missing if u didnt try.
its going to be an uphill task trying to keep a red plant species in prime red condition with house flo tube...no amount of iron , co2 ,base or liquid fert is going compensate that very lighting reds requires.
if the intention of just sticking to common easy plants...then house flo tube would be a good buy.
one of my cichlid tank have no lightings at all...yet java ferns grow like mad...

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Everyone Has a Photographic Memory..........some just dont have film!

Really expert talking... the tank look so nice and also the discussion also have fruitfull valid argument.....
I think it is still back to the basic question:how much you willing to spend and what do you expect to get. Ofcause, high expense/cost=perfect looking tank. Nevertheless, DIY and low expense/cost can also get good result too if we pour in more time and effert to balance off the offbalance....

Hi Ari
Can you share with us your lighting configuration in your tank and what is the brand of FL tube you use?

if u reffering to the one with byxla
1 Hagen 18000k Lux95 20w=rm24.50 (12noon to 9pm)
2 Hagen 2800k Lux100 20w=rm25.00x2 (10am to 6pm)
2 Hagen 6800k Lux135 20w=rm27.00 x 2 (12noon to 6pm)

6 blast fr Pudu pasar =rm8.50 x 6
5 meter of wiring =rm3.00
3 timers =rm14 x 3

the one with stellata
twin white flo tube rm4.50 x 2, with makw shiff pvc holder

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Everyone Has a Photographic Memory..........some just dont have film!

Ari, the man, can u included ur pics and setting out layout of ur lighting.

Have anyone uses, PL-L36w 845 flo bulb for tank??

Saw some old forum long back dated in 2004 in here.

So any comment for these type of flo?? Trying to used in on to my 4' tank.

2nd, getting these e-ballast is quite hard, any place can get these joker?? of course I'm looking for miniature type, not the large type (size 8cm x 3.5cm x 2.5cm H).

3rd, I was deciding to use 2 PL-L 36w 845 and 1 36w845 normal flo. Is this combination recommended??

Hi Ari
Just to double confirm is your Hagen tube made in Japan?
I purchase 1 unit (Hagen Sun Glo 20w) at RM 12.
I hope I don't buy a fake tube.

I notice that you have about 100W for your tank.
Another question is how do you control your water temperature?