MY 1.8m tank project...

Hi all
I am busy getting stuff together for another project.
I have a 1.8m tank (180 x 45 x 45) I want to make it a heavily Planted tank...
My Question is How much light will I need?
I went to a local hardware store here and asked them for the longest T5 lights they have(1.6m) and I asked for the Balusters and end caps witch would work me out around R300 for a double T5 unit that include the tubes and stuff

I want to put in 4 T5 White and 1 T5 blue to clear the water up is this enough or am I going overboard because I don't have that much cash to spend on something that is not needed?

 

what about metal halide?

 

depending on pricing, you might be better off with 2 metal halides perhaps, less hardware with more light. but as you said, its the price factor. why not do some price checking on the possibility

 

Will do so price shopping over the weekend and see what I can find
would say 8 1.8 T8 work (60w if they go that high, not to sure) I mean that would work out to about 480W right.

 

my boooi 1 watt for every liter of water so you'll need 365 watts of lightning - thats what other people said on this site -Strongs

 

no as far as I know 1w per Gallon so that is 5x T5 at 80w and that would cost me R3000

 

Oi.. Gareth.. where's the pics dude.. You can't say you got a new tank to set up and not show us. C'mon!

 

Will Post this weekend Zoom...lol

 

lol. the pic mob seems to have slowed down.

 

Depending on what sort of plants you want to keep, and how much natural sunlight there is, that could be serious overkill for the lighting.

I rate you'd be better off trying to stock medium to low light plants and keeping the lighting minimal. Eskom is going to be your worst enemy with 500w of lights on for 8 hours a day!

Edit: I've got a 3ft tank with plenty of plants in it doing beautifully with absolutely zero lighting! It's in front of a window, so I just keep the curtains open and nature does the rest. And before you all start crying, there is almost no algae and the plants are doing beautifully. There really is no substitute for nature

 

I agree with you 100% Whipme.
I have actually decided on 260watts in total and I have placed the tank in front of a biggish widow witch gets sunlight for part of the day.

I am almost done with the tank then I will post pics of the hole setup.

 

Just as a side note, make sure you include some algae-eating fish in your stock list, they'll keep whatever algae you might get under control. I'd recommend Otocinclus or Siamese algae eaters. The latter will really enjoy a nice big tank like that

 

I am thibking about getting 4or 6 Otocinclus but I was wondering do they eat all types of Algea or just some and how big to they get?

I will post my stock list tomorrow they you guys can tell me if there is to much or if I can add more.
And I will post pics I promise.

 

The Otos stay pretty small, mine are all well under 10cm.
Unfortunately they don't eat all types of algae, that honour goes to the true Siamese Algae Eater. Which is relatively difficult to find, but well worth the effort

The SAE grows to about 12cm and is an attractive and very active fish.

 

Ok an update.
the fish that I have put in are as follows:
12x Black widow Tetras
10x Bronze Corries
6x Angels
3x Paradise Fish
4x Purple Kribs
and a few Guppies that I an taking out again becuse the Angels eat them...lol

I still want to add
4x Angels
8x Black widow Tetras
10x Corries ( 4x Bandit and 6x Panda's)

Do you think there is enough space for all these fish or am I over stocking the tank.
I do water changer once a week but I am looking to only do it once every 2 weeks.

 

That doesn't sound overstocked to me, as long as your filter system can handle it.
In my opinion the best way to reduce your water change frequency is to add plants.

And where are the pics? It's well overdue

 

Gareth caution with the Paradise and Angels

 

will Post pics soon
@Khalidmanack, why should I be cautious is there a problem between these fish or what?

 

Gareth... the angels might be a problem when they grow up... You know the size they can get to, and I think 10 adult angels all fighting for their mating space would cause a bit of tension?

 

Also be wary of purchasing SAE, they can be rather aggressive towards large passive fish, we had some instances where the SAE would sucker onto our Discus and eat their mucus, caused right havoc! (They are also very difficult to catch, kinda like cockroaches)