The Chiller

Yes, I had to bite the bullet. My apartment has western exposure, and the wall where my aquarium is located, between two windows, radiates heat 24/7 all summer long, from the end of May until well into September. Last year, it drove me nuts, for I was concerned all the time that I would end up with an unplanned fish soup. By the end of May the temperature was stuck in the mid-eighties again, and by now (July 4th) it would have been high eighties or low nineties. Amazingly, last year I did not see any direct losses from the heat, but I no longer wanted to agonize over this issue. I already have a radiant barrier behind the aquarium, but it is clearly not enough.

I got myself this JBJ Arctica(R) 1/15 HP Chiller, which is working like a charm. It runs about 10 times a day, lowering the temperature from almost 80F down to 78F, so that in practice it maintains an average of 79F So far I have used a small Hydor Circulation Pump to pump the water through, which works fine, except that the intake screen is not really fine enough, and some Malaysian Trumpet Snails are being pulled in, and in one case blocked the impeller. That incident could have caused the chiller to burn out... not a good thought. So, next, I will rig up a ATI sponge pre-filter, as it provides maximum protection against such incidents, and will also make the water safe for inverts and babies, so they cannot get sucked into the chiller.

In practice, since the chiller requires service every six months, I will simply service it at the end of the season. When I do so, I will install some Eheim Quick Release Double Taps on both sides, which will make it easy to disconnect the chiller from the aquarium, and also to simply reverse the flow by hooking up the pump to the outflow hose for a while, and blowing out the chiller (not into the aquarium of course). As an alternative to the pricey Eheim double taps, you can also do a DIY quick connect shutoff. One way or another the quick connect solution is what will make servicing this unit painless, just as they would for a canister filter. That is all I should have to do for service.

This chiller claims to be very energy efficient, and it certainly seems so to me. In terms of electrical consumption, it evidently uses some power, running about 10 times per day, but it does not seem to be excessive. For my first month, I barely saw an increase in my kWh consumption compared to the prior year, and it will be running only 4-5 months out of the year. Not bad for a lot of peace of mind.

The pH testing report

OK, testing pH is important, and it becomes burdensome when the number of tanks grow.

I've been making changes in my setup, in search of both accuracy, reliability and convenience.

At the moment, I operate only three tanks, which is near max capacity for the place where I live.

I've been writing about the experience on the forum at Everything Aquatic, as well as on this blog. Presently, things have changed quite dramatically with the arrival of a Hanna Instruments HI98121 pH/ORP/Temp probe, to complement my old HI98100 as well as replace a 17-year old Hanna ORP tester, and my trusty API pH test (the one with the 5 ml sample bottle and the 3 drops).

The specs are as follows:

• API pH Test Kit. Range 6.0-7.6, accuracy (implied) 0.2 (at least in the middle of the scale, where it matters)
• Hanna Instruments HI98100. Range 0.00 to 14.00 pH, resolution 0.01 pH, accuracy +/- 0.2 pH.
• Hanna Instruments HI98121, combined pH/ORP/Temp tester. Range -2.00 to 16.00, resolution 0.01 pH, accuracy +/- 0.05 pH.
• Seneye Reef: pH-monitoring comes as part of a comprehensive monitoring of ph, NH3/4, Temp, and light. Range 6.00-9.00, resolution 0.01 pH, accuracy +/- 0.15 pH. In this system changing the slide once a month is tantamount to re-calibrating the probe.

I have had extensive consultations with Hanna about the care and keeping of their testers, and with experience it is clear to me that these are worth having if you keep large numbers of tanks, but financially it is questionable when the convenience pays off, since I currently only keep 3 or 4 tanks. My 4th tank is really an emergency/hospital tank.

Notes from Hanna support

Here are some of the notes from email exchanges with Hanna Tech support, about the need to change and clean the electrodes and re-calibrate them:

Previously, they had suggested calibrating the 98100 at least weekly if it were in daily use, or simply weekly if I were using it weekly. The manual of the 98121 suggests a minimum of one calibration a month. It should be noted that the 98121 used more calibration liquid because the probe is bigger, I figure roughly one full 20 ml package of calibration liquid, vs about 5 ml per calibration for the 98100.



quote

When you change out the probe make sure you clear the calibration from the meter.

Here is the directions from the manual.

Turn meter on.

Place meter in calibration mode.

Press and hold ON/OFF until “CLr”

is displayed. The meter will now be

at default calibration. No tags will

be shown in measurement mode

until calibration is performed.

I would suggest you also calibrate the HI98121 regularly just like the HI98100.  Cleaning the electrode by soaking it in the HI7061L general purpose cleaning solution is also recommend at least once a week perhaps twice if using the meters many times every day.

You mention you are comparing equipment.  Keep in mind the HI98100 is an inexpensive tester.  It has an accuracy of +/- .20 so when you are in the pH7.01 buffer a reading from 6.81 to 7.21 would be within spec.
unquote (Hanna Support, May 16th, 2017)

quote

We do suggest frequently but since you are comparing it to the Seneye if they are reading close then calibration may not be needed.  In the end it is up to you how often you want to calibrate. 

You will need to clean the electrodes.  When you do use the cleaning solution you will definitely need to recalibrate the meter.

Clean the meters as followed:

Place into the cleaning solution for 15 minutes.

Remove, rinse in distilled water and place them in the HI70300L storage solution for 1 hour.

Perform the calibration before using the meter again.
unquote (Hanna Support, May 16th, 2017)

Economics

The simple comparison is this:

• API pH-test: 250 tests for $5, plus 5 minutes of your time for every test.
• HI98100 $41, plus a new probe every 6-12 months at $12, plus the chemicals for calibration, cleaning and storage, about $2/month. The testing takes only a minute, but you do have to do calibration and periodic cleaning, so for a small number of tanks it takes just as much time as the API test, if not more. If you need to calibrate this one every week, one 20 ml package of calibration liquid can last up to 2 months, because you only use 2-3 ml per calibration if you use a 5ml sample vial. I am assuming one package a month, at $1.50 each.
• HI98121 $179, spare electrode $55, plus chemicals for calibration, cleaning and storage, est. $3/month. Note that this device gives you pH/ORP/Temp. Calibration, cleaning and storage are similar to the HI 98100, maybe slightly less. If you need to calibrate only once a month, you need a 20ml package every time, for this probe is large.
• Seneye Reef $199 (basic configuration), with monthly new "slide" at $12/mo, or ca. $150/year. Note that Seneye gives you pH, NH3/4 (ammonia/ammonium), Temp, and light conditions, and they are working towards potentially including other measures. You an spend $300 more for the wireless, on-line version that works with WiFi, and is not dependent on a computer. Requires almost no time, except the seconds to look up the conditions in the tank, and once a month the few minutes to replace the so-called "slide."

In short, the comparison does not quite work, because the third and fourth options include so much else besides pH, so you have to look at your total requirements, and, particularly if you keep a planted tank, or a reef tank, the information on lighting is critical.

Convenience

For convenience the Seneye has it, hands down, but at the end of the day, it is the winner for economics also, if you realize the value of real time readings of free Ammonia, and the various other parameters, particularly lighting for the planted tank and reef tank keepers. You could have a fish tank and if you test for ammonia every 7 days, you might never know a fish died until you miss him, but if you see a sudden ammonia spike, you know either someone died, or your filter has a problem. The only alternative is the Seachem Ammonia-alert and pH-alert, which are $7.50 each and last 6 months, but they are quite hard to read by comparison. I would recommend them for any new tank setup however. It pays to watch the nitrogen-cycle build up in the early going, and to know exactly where you are. With Seneye, I can check the pH, ammonia and temperature on my smart phone anywhere on the planet, practically in real time.

I remember at one time having a 125 gallon tank in my living room, and when I traveled I was always concerned with the state of affairs in the tank, and my wife was not about to do any water tests... With Seneye, I just know.

The Program

As per the above, my first benchmark will be against the Seneye, once a week in the main tank, and if it matches closely fine, if not, I'll use an API pH-test as the referee, before doing a calibration (and cleaning as needed) on the HI testers.
I will continue to document the findings in a spreadsheet for at least six months, the normal (or at least warrantied) lifespan of an electrode, I'll do the comparison of all four. Weekly the 98121 against the Seneye and the 98100, and API pH-tests as and when needed.

I will publish the conclusions here, or maybe even interim results, if there is something interesting to discuss.
Meanwhile, thanks go out to the people at Hanna, Seneye and the indefatigable Carl Strohmeyer at American Aquarium Products for their great support.

Evolution and a Revolutionary Change

OK, the revolution part was a complete reworking of my filter system. I replaced a Hydor Pro 150 with a API/RENA Filstar XPS, and in the process I replaced my ATI Prefilter II with a model III, because it allows higher flow rates, the output of the filter is plumbed into the Vecton200 UV filter, and continues with the Hydor 200W in-line heater, and finally that flows into a Vecton #600 Fluidized Sand Filter.

Here is the tank as it looks now:

29G Planted tank

 And here are the components of the new filter solution:

1. ATI Filter Max Pre-filter III (replacing a No II, because of the higher flow rate)
2. API Filstar XPS canister filter
3. TMC Vecton 200 UV  sterilizer (that was in place before)
4. Hydor ETH 200W 1/2" in-line heater
5. TMC Vecton #600 fluidized sand bed (FSB) filter

The addition of the sand bed filter seems to be making a clear difference in the clarity of the water. For the record, the TMC Vecton product line is very well represented in the US by American Aquarium Products, which always stands out for its expert advice, both on its sales site, and on its Everything Aquatic forum. The quality of responses you get from them always stands out.

TMC Vecton #600 FSB filter behind the tank.

I will assume that the Filstar XPS is not technically a better filter than the Hydor Pro150 which it replaced, except for the somewhat higher flow rate. The biggest difference is that it is much easier to prime, thanks to its quick disconnect, and the fill-tube. That process is vastly superior than the manual priming pump on the Hydor and many other canisters, which was always hard to do because of where it was located under the tank. Better priming solutions are now one of the exciting features of a newer generation of canister filters.

API Filstar XPS

I have become completely hooked on the Filter Max Pre-filters, because they keep debris and inverts, as well as babies, out of the filter intake, which also reduces filter maintenance. It is mounted on the intake to the canister, and you cannot see it, except from the side of the tank, because it is entirely hidden by the big plants on the right side of the tank.

What I am hoping to see is that this new filtration setup will alleviate my algae problem somewhat. I have added in some black mollies, but I am not entirely sure that will be successful with my pH 7.0 water, on the other hand, I religiously use Wonder Shells to add some electrolytes to the water, and I believe that will make a difference for my ability to keep Black Mollies. Time will tell.

One thing I got to validate by accident almost is that UV will lower your ORP readings. My UV bulb had been out for a few months and I used the occasion of all the changes I was making at this time to do the bulb replacement at the same time. I tracked the improvement in ORP in the following week, and I found the number coming down by about 100 points, which is potentially very significant about the overall health of the water.

The next project is a new round of monitoring of water and lighting parameters, to see if I can get conditions to stabilize in terms of the plant growth. There is no question that the plants have caught on and are doing really well, but my lighting setup allows for a great deal of control to achieve optimal levels. My problem is becoming how to trim the plants, and I also am giving away plants to any other fish keepers I know, as well as to my local pet store.

Conceptually, what I feel like with this excellent filtration setup is like my tank becomes like a little pond in a (simulated) larger body of water. It is true that there is competition between the filter and the plants for nutrition, for the fish waste is used by the plants to grow, but it is also broken down in the filter. To me that conflict translates in to a shifting of the parameters, including the increased bio-load I can support in a small tank. I had wanted to add some black mollies to combat algae, and I did, and in the first two weeks it seems the water parameters are doing just fine, I am not seeing any uptick in Nitrates.

Shrimp Tank Flourishing

This is just a short report.

My 10G shrimp tank is flourishing, expecially since I installed a MicMol G1 Aqua Air 20W Planted Tank lighting strip, which was surprisingly affordable at $69.99.

First, I'll let the picture speak:

10G with LED lighting & lucky bamboo

The longer these lucky bamboo are in there, the better they seem to do, they are doing amazingly well. My plants are doing so well that I am harvesting them all the time and giving them away to other aquarists, and to the local pet store. In the interim the colony of RCS (Red Cherry Shrimp) is growing steadily, and they are becoming one of my favorite animals to keep, even though in the picture here you'd barely notice them - you have to be up close to catch them in a picture.  Here's a nice write up on Red Cherry Shrimp on Aquariadise. I started with about 15 of them in the summer, added in three batches over a period of two months. Presently I probably have about 70, and I am told that this size tank will sustain 100-150. To really enjoy them, you have to get close and just watch their activities for a while, but I can stare at them for hours.

As you can see the plants are thriving too, and there are no algae problems, between the shrimp and the snails that is totally under control.

Third time, three aquaria in two years...

If you want a planted tank, in an attempt to create a natural environment in your aquarium, you will encounter an argument in the hobby about whether or not to do a hi-tech tank, with intense lighting and CO2 injection. I don't believe there is an argument in reality, it's all a matter of what you like, and what trade-offs you like.

A "natural" aquarium is an aquarium proper

To make it simple: in a natural tank, you will be limited to "easy" plants, that are not too fussy about low levels of CO2 uptake, and also emergent plants are good, because they can take up CO2 from the air (and produce Oxygen under water). In a hi-tech tank with CO2-injection, you can achieve a greater variety of plants, including species that require more intense lighting, and those which need the extra CO2, because otherwise they would be out-competed by other plants.

When I grew up, I had the books of Dutch authors Heijmans and Thijsse, which advocated aquaria as a way to study the life in your local waters on a smaller scale, and the emphasis was very much "ecological" in nature: understanding the natural system, and the interactions of plants and fish, and all other water critters. There is a site inspired by this tradition, The Egological Aquarium.

Since I've been living in the US, I was always amazed to hear this referred to as the Dutch Aquarium, but in a further, more cultured evolution, it has also been popularized as simply the natural aquarium, and one of the big names is the Japanese Aquarist Takashi Amano. And there have been interesting contributions from Germany, including by a company called Dupla, and these days from Dennerle. These days Diana Walstad and Matt Owens are the proponents of this more natural way of keeping an aquarium, in which re-creating a natural balance on a small scale is the central focus.

Even Diana Walstad, who currently is one of the leading proponents of natural aquariums in the US, is not against "tech" per se, but her preference is trying to establish a balance between plants and fish with minimal help. She will however use an internal filter for water flow, and strongly recommends UV sterilization - which in my view isn't "not natural" because in nature waters are getting UV irradiation from the sun. She evidently does not like the high-lighting and CO2 injection, which in my view could be argued the same way to be as natural as anything else about an aquarium. In short, it's all in the eyes of the beholder.
What does matter is the distinction: between a fish tank and an aquarium.

• A fish tank is a tank with water for the purpose of displaying fish, and usually kept under control by artificial means, without regard to the natural environment, including chemical filtration, etc. Mostly, that's what the pet stores cater to these days.
• An aquarium proper is an effort to recreate a "natural" environment on a small scale. Studying the ecological processes becomes the central focus, including the interactions between plants and fish, filtration (mostly mechanical and biological, not chemical), lighting, CO2, UV. The focus becomes on life processes, water parameters, and the food chain. It can be "low tech," but not necessarily, it will seek to approximate natural conditions, and strive for biological balance.

The Walstad Method

For some documentation on the Walstad method, begin with her book: Diana Walstad - The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium

Next, listen to these interviews with Diana:

• Interview about the book
• Mycobacteriosis

Next, here is even more about the Walstad Method

• Explaining the Walstad Method, an Introduction
• Explaining the Walstad Method 1
• Explaining the Walstad Method 2
• Explaining the Walstad Method 3

Beyond that, it's all about common sense and observation.

Matt Owens and the food chain

Matt Owens in his book An alternative aquarium: A robust habitat focuses as much on the overall ecological equilibrium between plants and fish, but adds a strong focus on the food chain, and recommends that you start your own refugium to in effect breed live food for your main aquariums.

Two years on: Third Time Aquarist has Three Aquaiums

Between all this reading, since I restarted my hobby two years ago with a single 5 gallon tank with a betta, and since then it has grown into a collection of three aquariums:

• My original 5 gallon Aqueon Cue, since all pimped out with better lighting, and a ATI sponge filter. Now it serves as a refugium to grow inverts for food in my main tank, many are barely visible, but the tubifex come out in droves when you feed them wilted lettuce (that's also the way to catch them), and the scuds (gammarus) are very observable. Here are the species included:
• Tubifex (note that by being in a refugium without fish, they cannot carry fish pathogens)
• Gammarus
• Copepods 
• Daphnia
• Planaria
• Rotifers
• Ostracods
• My main. 29 gallon tank
• And a 10 gallon shrimp tank, which also houses other inverts.

Here are some recent pictures:

5 Gallon Aqueon Cue - invert refugium, with Dracaena

10G Shrimp tank with Dracaena growing out

10 G Shrimp tank with Dracaena

Main tank, 29G, neons, rasboras, aneas cories, pygmy cories, otocinclus, amanos, MTS 

Of Plants, pH, CO2, Nitrates, and Water Quality

Starting up my new 29 Gallon tank has been the slowest setup I've ever done, in part because I became really focused on learning as much as I  could about water quality in the process. And plants definitely came before fish, to the ludicrous extreme that for too long already my plants have been starved of nitrogen: my nitrate readings have been zero for months now. I almost "had" to add more fish to introduce some pollution, because the fish wastes are food for the plants - so I'll be back to watching the water parameters like a hawk. This week I added three Otocinclus catfish and a school of a dozen Neon Tetras, which by accident included a single Lambchop Rasbora, which is a very interesting critter, with hilarious consequences...

About that lone Lambchop Rasbora

OK, so that lone Lambchop Rasbora was included by accident. What are you gonna do? Just watch what happens next...
Initially, it seemed as if he was just falling in line with the school of Neons. But then, after a few hours, a hilarious pattern emerged: the Rasbora falls in with the school for a while and then wanders off on his own - after all, he's a breed apart. So he explores the tank on his own, that is... until he sees a Neon that became separated from the school, and like a shepherd dog, he starts chasing him, and he continues to chase the Neons until the school is together again, and then for a while he swims with the school, until he is satisfied, and the pattern repeats itself. It will be very interesting to watch if this continues.

For now, I do not want to add more fish until I have a firm handle on the changes in water quality again, though considering my heavy plant growth, I think the new fish will barely move the needle on nitrates, but I also think it will take one or two months before I can tell for sure. I am continuing to take my time to find the right balance between fish and plants.

Hanna Instruments pH tester

Then it was time to turn to the mysteries of pH, that all important parameter, or so it seems. By the way, many smart pros in the field warn against an obsessive focus on pH, other parameters are at least equally important. As per usual, the some of the best source of information are the sections on water quality on the American Aquarium Products site:  Nitrogen Cycle, Redox Potential, and Carbonate Hardness (KH) - the point being that if you lose sight of the KH parameter, you are asking for pH instability.

Like most aquarists, I had forever been using the API water test kits for everything, including pH. Amazingly, I had been involved in some technology pertaining to drinking water, and had a set of electronic testers for that reason. Originally, I had kept them at my office, but when I brought them home, I forgot about them until recently, as I became deeply interested in aquarium water quality. My Hanna Instruments ORP and TDS meters were still in good working order, but my pH probe proved unreliable (they had all been purchased in 1999). Quite an amazing outcome, actually. I bought a new Hanna pH probe through American Aquarium Products (Hanna InstrumentsChecker (R) Plus pH Tester - HI98100). It has +/- 0.2 pH accuracy, and automatic calibration. After carefully calibrating it, I began to find that the API pH test (with the drops, I already did not like the strips...) is reasonably unreliable, but the greater accuracy of the HI98100 is worth it, because it provides a more precise and unambiguous reading. I am not saying the API test is unreliable, but it can be harder to read, however, you must be aware that the PH tester needs to be calibrated regularly, and for aquarium work the only calibration that matters is with the pH 7.0 reference liquid. You should do the calibration every time if you only use the pH probe irregularly, but then of course if you have multiple tanks that's still more convenient, and more accurate. If you test daily, Hanna recommends calibrating the tester once or twice a week. Sometimes I do have episode where I'm testing the water daily.

With three tanks, already the convenience of the electronic tester is a significant time saver, and the extra accuracy is a bonus, but I will be monitoring very carefully how all various measurements validate and reinforce my newly accurate pH readings, and to be sure I will periodically recalibrate my pH Checker, but I am sold on this product for any serious aquarist.   

Hydor CO2 kit

A good reference chart on KH and pH is the one on Think Fish, here. The bottom line is, for good CO2 levels in a typical freshwater tank, your KH should be between 3.5 and 10 dH, or between 50 and 200 ppm, which reinforces what I said above about not focusing on a single parameter. Now depending on the level of lighting, you may need some CO2 injection, for the plants otherwise may not get sufficient CO2.

In my quest for CO2 on a budget, I scooped up a Hydor CO2 Green NRG Advanced kit, which I would not recommend, because it is discontinued by the manufacturer. I only found that out after I bought it. If you can still find it, they're usually cheap, but you're buying a dead-end product, for which you can get no support. I should have checked the Hydor site first, and I would have realized that the product was orphaned, but... hindsight is always 20/20.

Having said that, for doing CO2 on a budget, the thing actually works sort of OK. I am quite a Hydor fan, so I can only hope some day they would come out with a new and improved version of this design. So far, the main problem I found with it is that it takes some effort to adjust it right, and the valve does tend to drift, so you need to check your bubbles once in a while. You can find a host of YouTube videos on this piece of equipment, such as this one, it's a nifty design, but don't mount it vertically like this video shows... it will work better horizontally, as shown here.

Besides the adjustment problem I've experienced, the fact is that it does not have a solenoid valve, which in and of itself would cost nearly as much as what I've paid for the whole system. I did put it on a timer however, so at night the CO2 (12 bubbles per minute), just bubbles up and escapes, whereas during the day the diffuser runs and that works really well, so the CO2 is really absorbed into the water very well. It is a nifty system that uses a little motor, similar to Hydor's Bubble Maker, for oxygenating your tank. Again, since it has been out of production for 8 years already, you cannot get any replacement parts for it any more, and it is only a matter of time until I will have to get a serious CO2 system. Economics also plays into it, for even on my 29 Gallon tank, I am now going through on 74g CO2 cartridge in 4-6 weeks, and they cost $10 each, where as a five pound CO2 tank would probably last a year or more on such a small tank, particularly with a solenoid valve, so it would be shut off at night, and a single charge costs me $20 around where I live.

CO2 wish list

I've been speccing CO2 systems for a while, and my guess is that my next move would be the Complete Ultimate CO2 System form Aquariumplants.com, here. That system truly looks awesome. The truth is a completely automated CO2 system is the way to go, especially for a larger tank with serious plants. Number one, by shutting it off at night, besides saving some CO2, you are reducing the risk of over supplying CO2, which is not good for the occupants. Your plants exhale CO2 at night, while they inhale CO2 by day. I used to have such a system when I ran a 125 Gallon tank for nearly 20 years, and it was quite the thing, to be able to simply regulate your pH automatically with such a system, rather than counting bubbles, as you have to do with any system that you need to regulate manually. (I do it once a week with my Hydor system, to make sure...)

Conclusion

Once you get serious about plants, you have the low-tech way, in which you balance fish and plant population, because fish waste is plant food. Diana Walstad is the big proponent of that model currently, but it is a very traditional approach, and all my earliest tanks in my childhood days were based on that principle. You should see this review by Dustin, and this interview with Diana Walstad by Aquarimax. 

If you are open to go hi-tech, with lots of lighting and CO2 injection, you may be able to get by with a manually regulated CO2 system in smaller tanks, and there are numerous options on the market. Generally speaking, the cheaper they are, the more work they require. Once you get into larger tanks, an automated CO2 system with a pH-probe that controls the CO2 diffusion is the way to go. At that level the idea that CO2 injection is extra work no longer applies. It will actually reduce the work, though you will have to trim your plants more often.

Seeking Enlightenment about Lighting

The first time I got serious about lighting, in the 1980's, I had a 125 Gallon aquarium in my living room, and I had twin 175 Watt Metal Halide lights suspended from the ceiling, I had a Dupla CO2 system that was completely automated (controlling the pH at 6.8), a wet/dry filter and a large Eheim Canister filter. I had done everything in that tank so that, with an automatic feeder in place I could travel for two weeks and never worry about the tank. The tank was heavily planted with jungle val along the back wall, and a big piece of driftwood in the middle, and plants everywhere. Still, I was not as much on top of water quality as I am today. Which is not to say I don't make mistakes. I do. Yet, I stay focused on just learning as much as I can about what is going on with water chemistry, and the ecological balance between plants and fish.

Lighting a 29G tank: 30" x 18" x 12" - deep!

Lighting is key, that much is clear, but I am a long way from being totally clear about lighting. I did come to the conclusion very quickly that the traditional hood that came with my main 29G tank was not enough, and besides switching the fluorescent to a Hagen Flora-glo, I also added a Marineland "hidden" LED, and I actually run a 3Watt LED floodlight as well (Deep Blue Solar Flare 3W). now I am in observer mode as to how the plants are doing. Generally speaking they do fairly well, and I'm not going too crazy with ferts, but typically once a week I add some Excell, some Iron, and some Potassium, and maybe a little flourish. With that regime and fairly easy plants the results have been fairly good, but I want to do some experimentation to see what works better.

To begin with I'll be adding a Hydor CO2 Green NRG Advanced, It is a discontinued product, and they are being sold out... the reviews are mixed, but to me it seemed worth a try because I've taken a liking to Hydor products. Time will tell how well this works out. Online I can get 74G CO2 canisters for $20 for 2, so that should probably last me for a year. Worth a try. And if it does not work out, I'll have to get a serious CO2 system... the reason to mention it here is the better your lighting, the more your plants need CO2 to sustain growth.

So, back to the lights. Some of the best sources of information about lighting are:

• Aquarium Lighting page on AAP. Always a favorite.
• Planted Tank forum on Lighting. A treasure trove of discussions!

 Here is the configuration of my 29G tank:

• Main hood: Hagen Flora-Glo, 20W, 2,800K, 650 Lumen, or 32.5 Lumen/Watt
• Additional: Marineland Hidden LED 21",  6,500K (72x .06W white LEDs, and 16x .06W 460 nm blue LEDs), PAR/Lux at 12" 25/1121, and at 24" 11/377 
• Spot light, Deep Blue Solarflare 3W Micro LED 6,700K

29Gallon tank as of June 20th, 2016

As an alternative for the main tube, I also have a Hagen Life-Glo tube, which is 6,700K, and I may try to alternate those two for like 2 months at a clip, to see if I can tell the difference. It definitely has a much higher light output, at 1,470 Lumen, or 73.5 Lumen/Watt.

In the end I suspect I may get hunches, but you'd have to engage serious light meters to tell the difference. Most importantly, with the above combo I have barely a hint of algae, certainly not to any problematic levels. I may wipe the glass clean with an algae sponge once a month. Note that I do have Duck Weed and Hornwort, which are surface (Duck Weed), or floating (Tropical Hornwort), plants that tend to filter the light.

As I'm still struggling to understand all the parameters, and have precious few means to monitor them exactly, let me try to put some order to the mess:

1. Color "temperature," this is important as it relates to the absorption of light by the plants. Notable that the higher K lights (14,000K & higher) penetrate deeper, but may cause too much algae, and therefore should usually be avoided in planted tanks. You might however be able to combine a 2,700K light with a 6,700, or even a 18,000K light.
1. 2,700-2,800 Kelvin is usually known as 'warm white,' and it's sort of the temperature of an incandenscent bulb. It seems to be decent for plants, hence Hagen's "Flora-Glo" is 2,800K.
2. 6,500-6,700 K is the color temperature of the sun at high noon, and offers the greatest depth penetration, and in general seems to do well with plants, note that this is the color of Hagen's Life-Glo and also of the little spot light I have in my tank.
2. The Nanometer range (note that the yellow and green is not well absorbed by plants, which is why we see those colors so well). Note that many lights will display on the package what range they put out:
1. 400-420 nm: Violet
2. 420-440 nm: Indigo
3. 440-490 nm: Blue
4. 490-570 nm: Green
5. 570-585 nm: Yellow
6. 585-620 nm: Orange
7. 620-780 nm: Red.
3. Lumen the quantity of light, and LUX is light intensity, one LUX being one Lumen per square meter.
4. PAR stands for Photosynthetically Active Radiation, and generally the range of 400-700 nm, which is the part of the light spectrum that is most helpful to plant life. You need a special meter to  measure PAR, called a Quantum Light Meter.
5. RQE, PAS & PUR - Quality of Light, Useful Light Energy.
1. PUR (Photosynthetically Useful Radiation).
2. PAS (Photosynthetic Action Spectrum).
3. RQE (Relative Quantum Efficiency) indicates the efficiency of photosynthesis.
6. Watt equals one joule of energy per second. People used to talk about watts per gallon, but the term has lost all meaning because of today's lighting options.
7. CRI (Color Rendering Index) has to do with the appearance of the colors, and a normal incandescent bulb has a CRI of 100.
8. UV - Ultra-Violet Light - has little to do with the issue of plant growth etc., but everything with the health of aquarium water. As per usual, my favorite source of information is this article on UV-C Sterilization on the AAP website. Do you need UV? Apart from all of the technical discussions, note that in nature, water would receive plenty of UV radiation from the sun, and there is the fact that UV-radiation tends to lower ORP of the water, which should make the water healthier. In short, there are a lot of common sense reasons to consider UV as part of your lighting solution. 

Hopefully the above helps as a guide to much about the discussion of light, and in general, you want to be aware of the fact that the typical old aquarium hoods are often under powered for serious plant growing. In the model above I've used such an old-line hood with a high quality fluorescent tube, and added some extra LED lighting, and, judging by the results sofar, this is a workable compromise. What remains to be seen if it is sufficient light once I start up my CO2.

The alternatives all involve throwing out the old hood, and using an open top and using really serious hi-tech lighting. Nowadays LEDs is pretty much the way to go.

• American Aquarium Products offers a great selection, here.
• Aquarium Plants also offers an impressive collection, here.
• And you can always find critiques on the various forums, and youtube.

A 10 Gallon tank

For my 10 Gallon tank I've used the existing hood as well, with a good quality bulb, and I've added another of the Marineland hidden LEDs, in this case a 17" model, and plants are thriving, so that combo seems to be effective.

Five Gallon nano-tank

For my five gallon tank I am running an 18W NemoLicht Aqua Fresh, at about 50% of capacity by day, and at the lowest setting by night. Sofar, this light has proven to be a good value, with its built-in controller, and a moonlight setting.

Conclusion

Obviously, you can search for yourself, but if you want to grow plants, I would advise you to study the advice from people who specialize on plants, for many of the popular, cheap lights, especially LEDs, will let you down if you want to grow serious plants. In most cases the complete tank setups will also be inadequate, unless you are really sure they come with light suitable for plant growing.

To be continued...