Low/High Tech Tank Question.

[kashif314]

I like to quote myself again:

So in other words a tank which is using liquid carbon like excel isn't high tech? You mean high tech means where we inject co2 and not liquid carbon? I am asking because I believe even with tge excel your tank can be classified as high tech if you dose liquid carbon and fertz. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Bert2oo1]

Originally Posted by kashif314

I like to quote myself again:

So in other words a tank which is using liquid carbon like excel isn't high tech? You mean high tech means where we inject co2 and not liquid carbon? I am asking because I believe even with tge excel your tank can be classified as high tech if you dose liquid carbon and fertz. Please correct me if I am wrong.

There is no right or wrong answer really. A lot of people will have different views of what’s low tech and what’s high.

Personally I believe that if u have a PAR over 50 at substrate level (lighting measurement) and your injecting co2 then your high tech.

If your below 50 and your using excel your low tech.

I disagree about using only excel as a carbon source in a high tech tank. Not only is it extremely expensive but there is no way u could hit the 30ppm target of co2 with excel.
4xt5’s is a fair bit of light but a lot of people would be running 8x on a tank that size on a high tech tank. Get up around 150 par at substrate and you would have an algae farm

[TMaier]

Personally I believe if the question is so complicated (PAR, PPM, Ferts, Macros, Micros etc) you need to know all this stuff then it’s High Tech.

[kashif314]

Originally Posted by Bert2oo1

There is no right or wrong answer really. A lot of people will have different views of what’s low tech and what’s high.

Personally I believe that if u have a PAR over 50 at substrate level (lighting measurement) and your injecting co2 then your high tech.

If your below 50 and your using excel your low tech.

I disagree about using only excel as a carbon source in a high tech tank. Not only is it extremely expensive but there is no way u could hit the 30ppm target of co2 with excel.
4xt5’s is a fair bit of light but a lot of people would be running 8x on a tank that size on a high tech tank. Get up around 150 par at substrate and you would have an algae farm

Originally Posted by TMaier

Personally I believe if the question is so complicated (PAR, PPM, Ferts, Macros, Micros etc) you need to know all this stuff then it’s High Tech.

Thanks. I actually see some nice high power bright tanks running on excel at fish store. Mainly nano ones because excel is affordable for a nano tank. However I did see very bright lights and definitely those plants couldn't thrive without liquid carbon or fertz. I just hesitate to call that setup low tech because of the needs of plants.

[Mebbid]

Originally Posted by Bert2oo1

There is no right or wrong answer really. A lot of people will have different views of what’s low tech and what’s high.

Personally I believe that if u have a PAR over 50 at substrate level (lighting measurement) and your injecting co2 then your high tech.

If your below 50 and your using excel your low tech.

I disagree about using only excel as a carbon source in a high tech tank. Not only is it extremely expensive but there is no way u could hit the 30ppm target of co2 with excel.
4xt5’s is a fair bit of light but a lot of people would be running 8x on a tank that size on a high tech tank. Get up around 150 par at substrate and you would have an algae farm

It depends on the fixture, if I ran 8 of the t5ho bulbs I was using it would result in a par of about 250 at substrate.

[ZxC]

Would another factor be which species of plants are involved? You can have low light/easy plants in a high light excel only tank and they will grow very well, but throw in some high demanding plants in the same situation and I don't believe they would grow very well (compared to a high light + CO2 tank).

High/Med/Low tech IMO is exactly that, an opinion. That being said, the "general" guideline I am familiar with is:
high tech: high light, CO2 strict fert doing.
med. tech: med/high light, excel and fert dosing.
low tech: low/med light, some fert dosing.

[Delapool]

I think there used to be a watts per gallon breakdown definition someone did (but all went out the door with LEDs). Even the reflectors (grouped or single) for bulbs might throw that old guideline out.

[kashif314]

Originally Posted by ZxC

Would another factor be which species of plants are involved? You can have low light/easy plants in a high light excel only tank and they will grow very well, but throw in some high demanding plants in the same situation and I don't believe they would grow very well (compared to a high light + CO2 tank).

High/Med/Low tech IMO is exactly that, an opinion. That being said, the "general" guideline I am familiar with is:
high tech: high light, CO2 strict fert doing.
med. tech: med/high light, excel and fert dosing.
low tech: low/med light, some fert dosing.

Well said yes. I think plants that are co2 demanding will need pressurized co2. In my case my plants are less co2 inclined so they are doing fine with excel only and with fertz.