My 65 Gallon Low Tech Planted Tank Journal

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Yep. From what I've heard, zoo med uses pretty crappy reflectors, but aquaticlife's are said to be good. I don't know how much of a difference it really makes though. I wish someone would do a par test with all t5s but with different reflectors
 
I would imagine alot im sure there are study's out there essentially ur taking a bulb thats emitting light 360 degrees an containing it to one area of 180 or less the bulb is emitting the same light but its just focusing it more into one area so if one reflect directs the light better i would say its a way better fixture
 
Talk to Brian! He uses the Ray 2. I think you may need two of them for highlight, but do you plan on any red stem plants?
 
Talk to Brian! He uses the Ray 2. I think you may need two of them for highlight, but do you plan on any red stem plants?

I've PM him and begged him to follow this thread early this morning:D. I'm still waiting on him to chime in on this topic. Yes, certainly red stem plants in the future to brighten up amid the green plants i have.
 
I'm currently doing a mini dutch, and Brian said the Ray 2 is a no go for red plants. He said the spectrum doesn't support them and they eventually washout to green.
 
I'm currently doing a mini dutch, and Brian said the Ray 2 is a no go for red plants. He said the spectrum doesn't support them and they eventually washout to green.

what was the red stem plants you had in mind?

also what do you mean by "washout to green"?
 
He said the red stems like Rotalas and Ludwigias. He said they end up reverting to a shade of green. Talk to him. I ended up going t5.
 
He said the red stems like Rotalas and Ludwigias. He said they end up reverting to a shade of green. Talk to him. I ended up going t5.

it's slightly off topic. but i had ludwigia repens in my Fluval Chi 5gal fish tank and the stems that grew right under the LED have leaves that are really red. these same ludwigia are later taken to my 29gal because they grew too tall and put under a coralife t5 dual fixture. the redness has faded a little. and now i'm again relocating them to the 65gal. but you can check out how red they still are

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I wanted to respond to your pH issue.

My water tested the deep blue on regular ph test (7.6) but if I use the high range test it comes out to 7.4

I have dw and rock in my tank and last I tested my water was on the soft side. I currently am stocked with swordtails and RCS.

So I don't think you'll have a stocking issue pH wise.
 
I use the ray 2 on my 36 gallon also, its very, very bright, but its really blue heavy from what I understand, you should look into the finnex monster ray, its a more full spectrum version of the ray 2. I'll be adding that to my 75 gallon soon
 
I wanted to respond to your pH issue.

My water tested the deep blue on regular ph test (7.6) but if I use the high range test it comes out to 7.4

I have dw and rock in my tank and last I tested my water was on the soft side. I currently am stocked with swordtails and RCS.

So I don't think you'll have a stocking issue pH wise.

thanks for inputting. i try to keep the pH as neutral as possible because apparently my parents like the idea of having a few discus in the future along with GBRs and some rainbows. so i'm trying to play safe here and accommodate for every fish that i might potentially get. i will test my pH again using other test kits/strips and see if there's a jump between different methods.
 
so this is really troubling. Two issues at hand:

1) the water is still cloudy after a week, although the clarifier did clear things up bit like i mentioned. the particles in the water is really annoying and seems like going no where. Anyone with some suggestions?

2) I got a Zoo Med light last weekend as well with two 6700K bulbs. I have a timer that allows the light to shine 6hrs a day. It's been 5days and i was hoping that i would get some green algae. But no, NONE AT ALL. What i do have is some clear/transparent things cling onto the driftwood and when touched, it feels very slipper. Is this some hair algae that people are talking about? I didn't like the feel and I scrubbed it off the driftwood
 
I'd blame the fluorite, it's extremely dirty from my experience. I just switched my nano tank from fluorite to Eco-complete and I prefer Eco. It's more expensive, but sooooo much easier and things seems to be growing way better
 
I'd blame the fluorite, it's extremely dirty from my experience. I just switched my nano tank from fluorite to Eco-complete and I prefer Eco. It's more expensive, but sooooo much easier and things seems to be growing way better

yes, i've had eco complete before as well. i put it in my 5gal Fluval chi but without the dirt. very clear very nicely looking. the only reason why i got flourite in the first place was because it was on clearance in Petsmart. $4/bag. I couldn't resist the tempation
 
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