Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

btw Cool white Flourescent are the best to use if Proper plant light is not being used.

I wonder if the problem with old lights is that one of the phosphors wears out more quickly (probably red). This would mean that our eyes would adjust to the changed colour (perhaps more bluish). Anyway, if they wear out but still look ok you could probably sell them on to your neighbours.

Looks good, Dave. Get building...I hope to be corresponding with the student organization about shipping tilapia soon.

Have found with my "plants" that they benefit more from fluro's(if you have to use them) if the lamp is right up close to them.....the usable wavelength from the fluro isnt proportional to the visable light.

I have found that leaving the lamps no more than 6inches has worked best. If you mount them too far away its just like pissing in the wind.....no point in doing it, unless you just wanna highlight the fact you got plants in your system lol

bundaberg kid: I think what it comes down to is the plant will stop operating if the photon flux (Einsteins) drops below a certain level. Below this level the plant considered it night and shuts down. So putting the lights closer will increase the photons / m^2 and allow the plant to switch on.

(The above is hypothesis, and may be wrong)

yeah, but have found in practice that having it closer...maybe different for my "funny tomatoe plants" (but I doubt it) and cycling thru the day and night cycle it has grown better. Check out a few sites on growin "funny tomatoe plants" or "growtrons"...thats what they recommended if you werent using the MH/high discharge type lamp and I gave it a go a couple of years and it worked ever since ....but you still have to change the lamp ever 6 months .....


and for legal reasons I never said any of this and was never here

Got excited last night.

I think I can get another one of these racks and use two together to mount the whole dang thing. I can get 100 gallons of water and 100 gallons of gravel (mixed with perlite to not overload it), and have something to mount the styrofoam and lights to.

This is the view of the nook above ground. I could make an L-shaped enclosure here to not rely so much on artificial light, and to keep the greenhouse section affordable. I could open up some holes in the sill plate to run the water up from and down to the basement.

Just a question njh, i'm a fan of the cfl in general, but am concerned that they do not have the ideal spectrum spead for plants. With traditional stip Fl you can buy a variety of types catering for differing specturms, hence the "grow lights". Have not seen any in CFL.

My 20c worth is that if you're going to be using anywhere near the 100 W mark woth for flourescents then just go get yourself a 150 MH light. THE most efficent watts to PAR type of light for our appications, nad also the one with the closest spectrum to natural sunlight. As a bonus for your basement setup they do emmit wuite a lot of heat, so you can use that to keep your room warm

from memory useful life spans range from 5,000 to 10,000 hrs which is between 6months and 12 months on 12/12 day/night.

As ron mentioned, just cause they "look ok" doenst matter you'll be spending more kw per PAR and in the case of MH light risking a higher probablility of lamp rupture.

The lights above my tropical tank still look fine, but i've had SHITE plant growth over the last 6 months. They want too much money for the growlights though.

I've held off putting a 150MH light above it because 1) i think its a bit excessve of a power usage for a 4ft aquarium, 2) i'd only light half the tank (becasue its not a linear tube like a FL) 3) i'd need to mod my hood

STeve

Looking forward to seeing your 2007 system come together Dave. I have also thought about the basement for fish and pumping up to an outside grow bed. Funding problem for me as this would be in the big house. Love the idea.
No snow there yet?

Nope no snow. Maybe global warming isn't so bad after all.

We have lots of varieties of CFLs here. But if those WP measurements are correct, tube lights would be better (and I should have kept my mouth shut).

The more efficient a light, the less waste heat

Can you get sunlight onto your tank? I read about a tracking mirror for adding extra light in winter in renew, might be interesting to try that for your tank

Hi Steve
Yes you can get CFL grow lights. but they are expensive and the light spectrum demishes at about the same rate/hours as standard flouro's so not really economical.

5 or 6 parts white light, 1 part blue light, that's what the old research tells me - this results from studies done in New Jersey in the '30's into plant and animal growth under artificial light, either by use of colored roof panels or incandescent lighting.

I would have to dig deep to find the books now, but it's there. these guys didn't have access to the variety of artificial lighting we have now, but the principals will still hold.

I got hold of this research in the '70's, when every man and his dog were growing dope in a back room - not that I got into that too much myself - I found that artificially-grown dope, especially cold climate stuff, gave me a tummy-ache. North Qld stuff was fine - Vic stuff - blecchh !!

DD i got my dog from kogan outside toowoomba. he is now three years old and has a small red female dachshund for company. SHe is one third his size but has it over him already.

When it grows up, does it want to be a Rotti