Greenwater System for Filter Feeding Animals?

>>2466954
A two liter bottle with lights aimed at the sides. Mounted to and drip feeds into the tank like a DIY brine shrimp feeder.

>>2466968
I guess that might work, but I was thinking more of a recirculating system that feeds the waste-laden main tank waters back into the phytoplankton chamber to nourish them.

>>2466983
>>2466968
Of course there's a way to drip one-way, in other words, but is there a way to set up a sort of algal turf scrubber, except it's phytoplankton instead and it recirculates REALLY, REALLY slowly? Like a drip into the main tank, but also somehow main tank water returning via a drip to the greenwater culture?

>>2466985
put your culture under lights in the sump. Have a dosing pump feed the DT. Then run a box overflow for return.

>>2466990
>dosing pump
Is this a thing? Or do I have to set up a pump on a timer or something?

>>2466996
this is a thing.

you can buy ones that can be programmed to run at certain intervals or you can get ones that run constantly at very slow speeds or you can jut get one and hook it to a separate controller.

>>2467000
Any tips on lighting? I've been out of the practice for so long, but I think LEDs are the only new thing that's happened. Metal Halides used to be the only way to replicate full sun. The LED lights I see in my LFS seem weak as shit, and they're still expensive as fuck.

>>2467007
I use a dimmable 165w full-spectrum LED I bought on ebay for $95. I suspect it's way too strong for what you're planning but I'm not sure because I'm also running a UV sterilizer and a skimmer so I don't have much plankton of any sort.

I'd probably use a couple CFL's, you're just growing algae, right?

Holy starving flame scallops, these dosing pumps are expensive as fuck!

>>2467012
>I suspect it's way too strong for what you're planning
For the river species, yes, likely. Not for the marine species, also the question about lighting was for lighting in general - mostly for reef and pond aquariums that require full sun.

>I'd probably use a couple CFL's, you're just growing algae, right?
Oh for the small tank I want to build immediately, it's just for some asiatic clams and shit so the lighting's not terribly important, but yeah, see above.

165w doesn't sound that strong. I have a 68w (300w equivalent) CF that I tried to grow plants with, but it's dim as fuck. I'd also like to grow vegetables and herbs indoors. Also Lepidopteran host plants. Also everything lol.

>>2467017
>Not for the marine species
>165w doesn't sound that strong
I used it to replace a 400w metal halide fixture.
it's brighter than the halide was. At full blast it burns everything to death in a cone to a depth of about 2 feet.

>>2467021
>I used it to replace a 400w metal halide fixture.
>it's brighter than the halide was
Wtf?? Is that your perception or are you talking objective measurement here? You got a lighting fixture that produces sunlight equivalent for a hundred bucks??? What, specifically, do you have? Is this on a reef tank with Scleractinians?

>>2467027
it's brighter than sunlight. It literally burns coralline algae and green algae to death.

I didn't believe it either until I bought one. Now I'm never going back. No more replacing bulbs, no more buying actinics every couple months.

>>2467028
Tell me the model! Have you had experience with other LEDs?? You literally found what I've been looking for for years.

>>2467038
I'm using one of these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WELLPAR-165W-LED-Aquarium-Light-Dimmable-Full-Spectrum-Marine-Reef-Coral-SPS-LPS-/181686921507?epid=2008503293&hash=item2a4d626923:g:7aMAAOSwsS1Zi8O6

they're just generic Chinese crap but they'll burn the shit out of your rock and corals at full power. They're more diffuse than my old halide lamp, but they light the whole tank (65g) better than a halide spot did.

I've never tried other LED's and I probably never will. I plan on using this cheap crap on all my future tanks. I don't like the red and green in there, but I love they heavy actinic and cold white. Plus you can dim the blues and the whites+other colors separately if you want more of one light or the other.

File: P8280116 (800x705).jpg (280KB, 800x705px) Image search: [Google]

280KB, 800x705px

>>2467038
Here's what it looks like on the tank. It lights up the whole room. I have some macroalgae and a bunch of coralline growing but you can see that the rock directly under the lamp is bleached white as a bone. Nothing grows directly under the light for a couple feet down.

>>2467258
Do you choose to make it that blue? I like a whiter, more natural light. Also, lol, that light is cheaper than the ones in the LPS that suck.

>>2467276
that's how the camera captures it.
to my eye it's just cold white.

doesn't help that the tank is starphire glass, so it looks a bit blue anyways.

>>2467276
>that light is cheaper than the ones in the LPS that suck.
it might still suck, I don't know. I just know I like it and it burns stuff like my halides never did. You might hate it.

>>2467299
Why did you have halides? You don't sound like you have any corals.

>>2467300
I haven't run halides in 8 years.
I don't have any corals under this light.

The way it grows coralline and macros I have no doubt it will grow corals. And I've never seen a metal halide bleach live rock like this light will unless you hang it right over the tank.

but you're correct, I don't grow corals in this tank. I have grown anemones, and they glow like you'd expect under the actinics, but none of them survived more than 3 years which is actually a record for me because I suck at keeping anemones.

>>2467300
>Why did you have halides?
I kept softies and SPS for about 10 years.

>>2467305
>SPS
fuck, that's LPS. shouldn't type and drink...

>>2467304
>The way it grows coralline and macros I have no doubt it will grow corals. And I've never seen a metal halide bleach live rock like this light will unless you hang it right over the tank.
Does it maybe (and I know this sounds insane) possibly just produce more heat than MH?

>>2467319
no, that was my first thought as well. I can get a sunburn in less than 5 minutes under a 400w halide. And they raise the temperature of my entire house while the LED runs cold.

It might be more UV, that's a possibility I've considered. Like it's emitting so much UV it's sterilizing anything directly in its path.

I'm not sure about that, but I can say it grows high-light algae like my halides never did. Stuff that I used to grow directly under the lamps now grows only at the edges and shadows of the tank.

but overall the lamp runs WAY cooler than halides both underneath and above.

>>2467322
That was my second thought. Spectrum. It doesn't look like it could grow SPS as well as MH.

>>2467329
yep, I've never tried either one on SPS.

are you planning on growing SPS?

>>2467332
Eventually. But more pond plants or other terrestrial plants, like I said, like Lepidopteran host plants.

>>2467334
this lamp sucks for plants. It was really weak at growing hair algae and cyano which both require high reds.

The same Chinese homunculus make some nice grow lamps though. The pot grow operation across the street from me uses them religiously, and they're fucking billionaires.

>>2467329
>It doesn't look like it could grow SPS as well as MH.
this is where I was 8 years ago until I tried it.

and it's fine, I'm not a shill. I don't make a fucking dime off china selling another lamp.

but once you try it you'll see for yourself. Metal halides are like incandescent bulbs in your house. Not just outdated, but outdated by 3 generations now.

you don't have to switch it up, you don't have to upgrade.

but when you do you'll wonder why you didn't do it faster.