My water lily made a lily pad
- Thread starter Evilameba
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Aquarium1
Aquarium Advice Addict
pics? lol
clint252010
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Yeah I wanna see some pics! I cant wait for my lilly bulb to grow a pad. How long have you had them in the tank?
okay, so actually its a nymphae lotus. basically same thing. i've had it for a very long time, but when it was in other tanks and i didnt really take care of it, it never grew. or else got eaten by various fish. about a month and a half. maybe two months. not sure. thats when i put it in a 10g that used to belong to a frog. my filter messed up so the tank was very.. fertilized already. so i took out the frog, added more water, then put in a gatorade bottle co2 thing. sorry for the strange wording, im tired. it started growing very quickly... first it made a whole bunch of underwater leaves. each new leaf was bigger than the last. eventually it sent up a leaf that looked a bit different. the edges were smooth and not wavy. it was also thicker and waxy. it reached the top and uncurled today. pics in a bit, lemme get the camera
clint252010
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
From what I understand nymphaea's are actually water lilly's. They are sometimes referred to as a water lotus but they are not true lotuses. Just look up Nymphaea Sp. on google.
I put mine in two weeks ago and it sprouted immediately. I have decent lighting but no fertilization or CO2, other than the nitrates and what not that are already in the water from cycling (the tank has been set up since christmas), and phosphates from food etc.
It has been growing pretty good and its only been two weeks since i put the bulb in the tank. Its already forming underwater leaves. I think lighting is the key.
I put mine in two weeks ago and it sprouted immediately. I have decent lighting but no fertilization or CO2, other than the nitrates and what not that are already in the water from cycling (the tank has been set up since christmas), and phosphates from food etc.
It has been growing pretty good and its only been two weeks since i put the bulb in the tank. Its already forming underwater leaves. I think lighting is the key.
what kind of lighting do you have? i wouldn't mind taking a shot at growing one...would love to see one flower
clint252010
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Well I am messin with the homebrew lighting cause Im a poor bastard! I want to get a larger tank but cant afford it right now, I just have a measley 10gal and I am gonna have to upgrade cause between the growth of my fish and these plants its already to small of a tank!
But when I first started out the bulbs (for the first week and a half or so), I just had em under the original lighting the hood came with, which aint much. Just two incandescent 15 watt bulbs. The bulbs startyed sprouting and growing vigorously even under such poor lighting.
However, after about a week and a half or so I got to thinking about ccfl lighting and such and started brainstorming on some free ccfl sources I had laying around. Well I instantly thought of my laptop! The screen has been shattered for like a year and I never got around to replacing it, and now Im bout to just save up and get another laptop.
Well the screen may have been shattered but the backlight still worked. Most laptops have either ccfl or LED lighting these days, and the way you tell is you read the labels on the bottom of your laptop (or lcd screen). If it says "dispose of properly blah blah contains Hg (mercury)" then it certainly has a ccfl in it. So I busted apart the broken screen and removed the ccfl and inverter board, hooked it up to the laptop and it lit right up and was shining bright as ****! So while it was hooked up I used a multi-tester to figure out the voltage inputs. Its designed for a laptop (running off battery power) so its extra effecient and only pulls maybe a few hundred milliamps at the most. I mean we are looking at 5-10 watts max and thats pushing it! But the **** thing is brighter than 30 watts of incandescent any day! I figured out it took a 12V input, a 3.3V input, and a dimmer input of .8-3.3V. I just so happened to have an older xbox 360 psu laying around and they produce 12V and 5V, so I built a circuit using a variable v. regulator to make the 3.3V from the 5V, and ran the 12V straight to the inverter board. Oh yeah and I just jumped the 3.3V input directly to the dimmer input so its full on full brightness all the time.
But anyways! The ccfl (the whole thing reflector and all no thinner than a few toothpicks, and about 15" long) was mounted inside my hood with epoxy. I drilled a hole and ran the wires to the top, which I hooked up to the inverter board. Then I got the inverter board wired to my V supply circuit and the whole shebang mounted via velcro.
So in short I have about 5-10 watts of ccfl light and 30 watts incandescent. The ccfl I noticed is heavy in blue spectrum, and by itself it makes the tank look blue, but its very bright. The incandescents by themselves look terrible after the ccfl, they are all dim and dull looking and give the tank a dull look. But the incandescents are very heavy in red spectrum, so when the two are on together they mix and provide a very nice bright day-glo! It even enhances the natural colors of stuff in my tank to!
In the future Im either gonna buy a bigger ccfl thats a fuller spectrum (and more made for tanks) and or buy some compact flourescents. You just cant beat the amount of lumens per watt a flourescent provides compared to an incandescent. Not as much as an HID light (yes Im thinking back to my herb growing days lol) but they dont get hot! Thats the best part, my whole ccfl inverter and homemade circuit get no warmer than the palm of my hand, while the incandescents keep the hood toasty!
But when I first started out the bulbs (for the first week and a half or so), I just had em under the original lighting the hood came with, which aint much. Just two incandescent 15 watt bulbs. The bulbs startyed sprouting and growing vigorously even under such poor lighting.
However, after about a week and a half or so I got to thinking about ccfl lighting and such and started brainstorming on some free ccfl sources I had laying around. Well I instantly thought of my laptop! The screen has been shattered for like a year and I never got around to replacing it, and now Im bout to just save up and get another laptop.
Well the screen may have been shattered but the backlight still worked. Most laptops have either ccfl or LED lighting these days, and the way you tell is you read the labels on the bottom of your laptop (or lcd screen). If it says "dispose of properly blah blah contains Hg (mercury)" then it certainly has a ccfl in it. So I busted apart the broken screen and removed the ccfl and inverter board, hooked it up to the laptop and it lit right up and was shining bright as ****! So while it was hooked up I used a multi-tester to figure out the voltage inputs. Its designed for a laptop (running off battery power) so its extra effecient and only pulls maybe a few hundred milliamps at the most. I mean we are looking at 5-10 watts max and thats pushing it! But the **** thing is brighter than 30 watts of incandescent any day! I figured out it took a 12V input, a 3.3V input, and a dimmer input of .8-3.3V. I just so happened to have an older xbox 360 psu laying around and they produce 12V and 5V, so I built a circuit using a variable v. regulator to make the 3.3V from the 5V, and ran the 12V straight to the inverter board. Oh yeah and I just jumped the 3.3V input directly to the dimmer input so its full on full brightness all the time.
But anyways! The ccfl (the whole thing reflector and all no thinner than a few toothpicks, and about 15" long) was mounted inside my hood with epoxy. I drilled a hole and ran the wires to the top, which I hooked up to the inverter board. Then I got the inverter board wired to my V supply circuit and the whole shebang mounted via velcro.
So in short I have about 5-10 watts of ccfl light and 30 watts incandescent. The ccfl I noticed is heavy in blue spectrum, and by itself it makes the tank look blue, but its very bright. The incandescents by themselves look terrible after the ccfl, they are all dim and dull looking and give the tank a dull look. But the incandescents are very heavy in red spectrum, so when the two are on together they mix and provide a very nice bright day-glo! It even enhances the natural colors of stuff in my tank to!
In the future Im either gonna buy a bigger ccfl thats a fuller spectrum (and more made for tanks) and or buy some compact flourescents. You just cant beat the amount of lumens per watt a flourescent provides compared to an incandescent. Not as much as an HID light (yes Im thinking back to my herb growing days lol) but they dont get hot! Thats the best part, my whole ccfl inverter and homemade circuit get no warmer than the palm of my hand, while the incandescents keep the hood toasty!
clint252010
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
But yeah you can see the growth results on my other thread (what kind of bulb is this?). I got pics of the lily in that thread to. Also I have another mystery bulb that I need help identifying! Pics are all in the aforementioned thread.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
BigDog, lets see some pics then, I am looking for a small lily or lotus for my 210.
WhiteDevil
Aquarium Advice Addict
Nice, I got some red lotus now from a member on here and its growing well but I tihnk lily pads will offer more cover for my discus.
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