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Rockstar
Journal Ben's Plant Pharm
Setup Date
12-24-24 (Day 0)
Goal
• Just to try and get back into it.
• No scape.
• Enjoying some farming.
• Maybe to test some different substrates
Tank
• ADA 60p
Light
• Twinstar 600S version 2.0 (I believe) running 10hrs daily
• Older model. I’ve had this light for several years and it has been on every day. So, I feel the output is greatly reduced. Carnivorous plants require super high output though, and it was bright enough to grow them, so it’s hard to tell.
Substrate
• UNS Extra Fine Black 13L.
• Looks brown but double checked the bag and definitely “Extra Fine Black”
• Is light in weight, but so far plants all being held down appropriately. It has been difficult to vacuum because of the light weight.
• Very little dust on set-up.
Plants
• TC plants from LFS
• Pogostemon deccanensis, Rotala indica ‘Bonsai’, Pogostemon helferi, Hygrophilia lancea ‘Araguia’, Eriocaulon cinereum, Staurogyne repens, Rotala H’Ra
• Bought on the fly. Didn’t have a lot of time to think about layout etc. Just bought some stuff that looked cool.
• Blyxa japonica, Crypt parva: added on 1-15-25
Fertilizer
• My tap water: KH 0.5, GH: 0.5, Ca 10ppm, pH 8.5, PO4 0.25, NO3 0, NH3 0.5.
• I haven’t established a regular fertilizing routine, but at water change I dose about 3/4 tsp CaCl2, 1 tsp MgSO4, and about 3/4 tsp K2SO4. I have a Macro Mix where 10ml gives me 4.5 ppm NO3/1.2 ppm PO4/6.5 ppm K. Being the genius I am, I didn’t realize my doser doesn’t have a 10ml mark, so I put in 15ml because well… WTH. I have been adding that 3-4x/week along with trace and some extra iron. Sometimes I add a bit extra PO4, Mg, and K based on nothing more than a personal disillusion of brilliance. It seems to be working.
• Next time I mix ferts, which is coming soon, I plan on making separate mixtures with NO3 and PO4 in one and Mg and K in another.
Filter
• Oase HOB BioStyle Theromfilter
• Is a bit loud
• The filter cartridges floated at first but that improved as the floss and charcoal became more saturated with water.
• Temp on the thermofilter is pre-set and can’t be changed. Set for 79F (26C). Seems a bit high.
CO2
• Using the 1.0 pH drop method. Currently it drops 0.8, and I just let it be.
• Solenoid on a timer coming on an hour before the lights
• Bar type atomizer diffuser placed into the Oase filter
• I got the idea for the filter with CO2 in it from a George Farmer video HERE. He put in his own heater. I would do that if I were to do this again. Also I bought white which was a huge mistake. I'd buy black next time.
Livestock
• None
Notes
• I’m trying to make this brief.
• I didn’t want to be someone who said, I’m back! And then never post again like so many people, including me, who try to make a comeback. So, this tank has been going now for a month. Now if I disappear, at least I have posted a final tank pic.
• I’ve set this tank up twice previously. I didn’t know what happened at the time, but I now know that both times I had pH crashes early on, and everything in my tank died. (Only plants. There was no livestock) I vacuumed them out and got them back going, but for some reason it was difficult from there on out. So, I burned out, took a few years off, and used the light to grow carnivorous plants.
• I got excited to get back going in the winter of 2023. So, I decided I’d go to the AGA in the spring, buy some stuff, talk to friends, get ideas, and the set up a tank. Two weeks after the AGA I was in the hospital for 5 days with norovirus and E coli. I lost 25lbs in 2 weeks and missed 3 weeks of work. I’m still recovering almost a year later.
• Dec 24, 2024 I finally got it going with plants in place and filter running. I went to mix some trace, and found that all my old supplies from 2020 had caked into rocks. The macros were fine, but the micros were bricks. I proceeded to panic buy a few things, and the tank almost crashed on me before I could get them in. I saved it just in time. See the pic with the white plants with some green trying to live.
• A month later, everything has gone well. I’ve been trying to grow aquarium plants since around 86, and I bought my first injected CO2 in 1996. This setup as been the easiest and most successful of any I’ve had. I’ve had no algae. I really don’t know the answer to why, but right now I’m leaning on, for the first time, having a better understanding of the importance of Mg in southern super soft water and an old light that is strong enough to grow plants, but not strong enough to encourage algae.
• My plants grow very slow which is another reason I suspect my lack of algae is light related. I thought they grew slow because they were transitioning from tc to submerged culture, but they are fully converted at this point and they still grow slowly.
• I’ve never grown P helferi this well. From here out I want to move the plants around and try some new things. I want a Xyris from Winston. He lives the next town over from me. I didn’t realize the Ludwigia was more of a low growing foregroung plant. I was just cherry picking stuff at my LFS that looked fun. I love the P deccanensis. I just wanted C parva. I don’t know why. I love it.
• Water tested today on 1-25-25: KH 0.5, GH 8, NO3 10-20, PO4 0.5, NH3 0, pH 6.2. 2ppm Po4 added.
Tank with just the Control Soil. The 13L of media gave me about a 2.5" deep bed.
Day 0 just after planting.
The Oase filter with CO2 going in. I'll put a notch into the side sometime. George Farmer inspired.
An example of where the lack of ferts almost killed my plants. You can see the dead areas with recoving green plant
One Week old. I was learning to use the fancy $$ camera here. Circled you can see more plants with dead parts and new growth in the middle.
The tank as it looked today on Jan 25, 2025. One month old.
12-24-24 (Day 0)
Goal
• Just to try and get back into it.
• No scape.
• Enjoying some farming.
• Maybe to test some different substrates
Tank
• ADA 60p
Light
• Twinstar 600S version 2.0 (I believe) running 10hrs daily
• Older model. I’ve had this light for several years and it has been on every day. So, I feel the output is greatly reduced. Carnivorous plants require super high output though, and it was bright enough to grow them, so it’s hard to tell.
Substrate
• UNS Extra Fine Black 13L.
• Looks brown but double checked the bag and definitely “Extra Fine Black”
• Is light in weight, but so far plants all being held down appropriately. It has been difficult to vacuum because of the light weight.
• Very little dust on set-up.
Plants
• TC plants from LFS
• Pogostemon deccanensis, Rotala indica ‘Bonsai’, Pogostemon helferi, Hygrophilia lancea ‘Araguia’, Eriocaulon cinereum, Staurogyne repens, Rotala H’Ra
• Bought on the fly. Didn’t have a lot of time to think about layout etc. Just bought some stuff that looked cool.
• Blyxa japonica, Crypt parva: added on 1-15-25
Fertilizer
• My tap water: KH 0.5, GH: 0.5, Ca 10ppm, pH 8.5, PO4 0.25, NO3 0, NH3 0.5.
• I haven’t established a regular fertilizing routine, but at water change I dose about 3/4 tsp CaCl2, 1 tsp MgSO4, and about 3/4 tsp K2SO4. I have a Macro Mix where 10ml gives me 4.5 ppm NO3/1.2 ppm PO4/6.5 ppm K. Being the genius I am, I didn’t realize my doser doesn’t have a 10ml mark, so I put in 15ml because well… WTH. I have been adding that 3-4x/week along with trace and some extra iron. Sometimes I add a bit extra PO4, Mg, and K based on nothing more than a personal disillusion of brilliance. It seems to be working.
• Next time I mix ferts, which is coming soon, I plan on making separate mixtures with NO3 and PO4 in one and Mg and K in another.
Filter
• Oase HOB BioStyle Theromfilter
• Is a bit loud
• The filter cartridges floated at first but that improved as the floss and charcoal became more saturated with water.
• Temp on the thermofilter is pre-set and can’t be changed. Set for 79F (26C). Seems a bit high.
CO2
• Using the 1.0 pH drop method. Currently it drops 0.8, and I just let it be.
• Solenoid on a timer coming on an hour before the lights
• Bar type atomizer diffuser placed into the Oase filter
• I got the idea for the filter with CO2 in it from a George Farmer video HERE. He put in his own heater. I would do that if I were to do this again. Also I bought white which was a huge mistake. I'd buy black next time.
Livestock
• None
Notes
• I’m trying to make this brief.
• I didn’t want to be someone who said, I’m back! And then never post again like so many people, including me, who try to make a comeback. So, this tank has been going now for a month. Now if I disappear, at least I have posted a final tank pic.
• I’ve set this tank up twice previously. I didn’t know what happened at the time, but I now know that both times I had pH crashes early on, and everything in my tank died. (Only plants. There was no livestock) I vacuumed them out and got them back going, but for some reason it was difficult from there on out. So, I burned out, took a few years off, and used the light to grow carnivorous plants.
• I got excited to get back going in the winter of 2023. So, I decided I’d go to the AGA in the spring, buy some stuff, talk to friends, get ideas, and the set up a tank. Two weeks after the AGA I was in the hospital for 5 days with norovirus and E coli. I lost 25lbs in 2 weeks and missed 3 weeks of work. I’m still recovering almost a year later.
• Dec 24, 2024 I finally got it going with plants in place and filter running. I went to mix some trace, and found that all my old supplies from 2020 had caked into rocks. The macros were fine, but the micros were bricks. I proceeded to panic buy a few things, and the tank almost crashed on me before I could get them in. I saved it just in time. See the pic with the white plants with some green trying to live.
• A month later, everything has gone well. I’ve been trying to grow aquarium plants since around 86, and I bought my first injected CO2 in 1996. This setup as been the easiest and most successful of any I’ve had. I’ve had no algae. I really don’t know the answer to why, but right now I’m leaning on, for the first time, having a better understanding of the importance of Mg in southern super soft water and an old light that is strong enough to grow plants, but not strong enough to encourage algae.
• My plants grow very slow which is another reason I suspect my lack of algae is light related. I thought they grew slow because they were transitioning from tc to submerged culture, but they are fully converted at this point and they still grow slowly.
• I’ve never grown P helferi this well. From here out I want to move the plants around and try some new things. I want a Xyris from Winston. He lives the next town over from me. I didn’t realize the Ludwigia was more of a low growing foregroung plant. I was just cherry picking stuff at my LFS that looked fun. I love the P deccanensis. I just wanted C parva. I don’t know why. I love it.
• Water tested today on 1-25-25: KH 0.5, GH 8, NO3 10-20, PO4 0.5, NH3 0, pH 6.2. 2ppm Po4 added.
Tank with just the Control Soil. The 13L of media gave me about a 2.5" deep bed.
Day 0 just after planting.
The Oase filter with CO2 going in. I'll put a notch into the side sometime. George Farmer inspired.
An example of where the lack of ferts almost killed my plants. You can see the dead areas with recoving green plant
One Week old. I was learning to use the fancy $$ camera here. Circled you can see more plants with dead parts and new growth in the middle.
The tank as it looked today on Jan 25, 2025. One month old.
103 Replies
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13087 views
Rockstar
I mention this plant on occasion, but no one ever comments. So I thought I'd make a post for others and me for future reference.
It is my favorite Erio. It is a darker green, doesn't get too big, and for me it has never sent up any seed stalks.
I find it easy to grow. I have high light but nothing crazy at 124PAR and high CO2, 50+ppm. It gets about max 3-4" and makes side daughter plants when large. I'm not sure my dosing scheme is. Sort of an EI daily dosing kind of thing.
What gets me is every autumn, it starts to melt. I'm not sure how it knows it's autumn with consistent light and a heater, but it must get a little cooler in the tank or something. The plant starts to turn brown and sends up (I'm not sure of the correct term) vegetative stalks with little plantlets on the ends. I've found you can plant these stalks into the substrate with the plantlet on top, and it will grow into a new plant. They've been easy to grow. This is the third year this has happened to me.
Pic of plantlets below. I'll try to get a better one sometime. All I had time for tonight was a crappy phone pic.
This year I divided one of the mother plants in hopes that it wouldn't fully melt and would regrow. That is still in progress.
Anyone else's experiences are welcome.
This plant is the same plant as the one on the right above.
It is my favorite Erio. It is a darker green, doesn't get too big, and for me it has never sent up any seed stalks.
I find it easy to grow. I have high light but nothing crazy at 124PAR and high CO2, 50+ppm. It gets about max 3-4" and makes side daughter plants when large. I'm not sure my dosing scheme is. Sort of an EI daily dosing kind of thing.
What gets me is every autumn, it starts to melt. I'm not sure how it knows it's autumn with consistent light and a heater, but it must get a little cooler in the tank or something. The plant starts to turn brown and sends up (I'm not sure of the correct term) vegetative stalks with little plantlets on the ends. I've found you can plant these stalks into the substrate with the plantlet on top, and it will grow into a new plant. They've been easy to grow. This is the third year this has happened to me.
Pic of plantlets below. I'll try to get a better one sometime. All I had time for tonight was a crappy phone pic.
This year I divided one of the mother plants in hopes that it wouldn't fully melt and would regrow. That is still in progress.
Anyone else's experiences are welcome.
This plant is the same plant as the one on the right above.
8 Replies
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229 views
Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
Anybody else stay up late to watch the IAPLC rankings. As usual, my choices would have been different. Some scapes ranked in the 40s got picked by some judges as the best, so at least I'm not alone in that. Highest ranking by a U.S. contestant was Ryan Noel at, I believe, 31. Congrats to Ryan.
0 Replies
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11 views
Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
Hello Welcome, justtankin
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @justtankin!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
0 Replies
·
11 views
Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
Hello Welcome, liamcsail
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @liamcsail!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
0 Replies
·
12 views
Rockstar
Journal 22 gallon long bookshelf
Time to start a new thread.
I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.
90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.
Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.
I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.
I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.
90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.
Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.
I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.
301 Replies
·
34042 views
I Donated 2026
I wanted to share my experience so far with a cheap flow meter from Aliexpress.
I am generally a “you get what you pay for” aquarist, but I have taken a gamble due to circumstances. It is still early days, but it feels like it may have paid off.
Looking to add a flow meter to help tune my CO2 in a newly set up 130L tank, I searched far and wide for the different options. They were few and far between, most were for far larger flows than I needed and those that were appropriate were ridiculously expensive to get to Australia. So I went searching on the various Chinese discount sites and came across the LZB-3WB flow meters. They are cheap… real cheap. Less than $30 Australian landed, which made me nervous, but felt it was worth a shot at that price.
Not knowing what flow ranges I would need I ordered a 6-60ml/minute model.
After installing it, it was clearly too high of a range for my tank, but it did allow for some visibility while adjusting CO2. It was certainly better than a bubble counter.
Here is a picture of it action:
As you can see, the reading is below the scale of the meter, but with a marker I could at least set a starting point as I adjusted my CO2 higher. Also the adjustment valve was useless, a tiny turn would shut the flow off or open it to max out the meter.
I ordered the below as a replacement:
2.5-25ml/minute seems like a good range for my tank.
As a bonus the valve is better than most standard regulator needle valves. I can adjust the flow in increments of about 1ml/minute.
Below is the valve in action:
They have been in service for 2 months total now, 1 month each, so still an early review. It has been a solid upgrade though and was an easy install. They come with big 8mm barbed fittings but they can be unscrewed to reveal 1/8 female threads that standard needle valves for aquariums fit. I have also got some 1/8 to push fit fittings that I am yet to install as I am heading away on holiday for 2 weeks soon and don’t want to make any changes for the house-sitters to potentially have to fix!
Pros: adjusting my CO2 was made so much easier by being able to see exactly how much of an increase I was making with each adjustment. Monitoring that the valve isn’t drifting has been easy also, a quick check of the meter tells me it is steady.
Cons: I doubt that the reading is accurate. This means little to me, as I am not using it for a calculation or comparison between tanks. As long as the reading is consistent, even if it is wrong, I am fine with that. Also, the max pressure is listed as 40psi. I am unsure if that is a failure or accuracy maximum. Again, it doesn’t affect me as I run a low regulator pressure due to using a reactor. If I were using a diffuser that needed a high pressure, it may make me nervous.
As always, with any cheap gear, your mileage may vary. But, I thought it was worth sharing as it may help those with limited access to flow meters of appropriate sizes. So far it is proving to be the second best $25 I have spent on this tank, second only to the super red bristlenose I have in the tank.
I am generally a “you get what you pay for” aquarist, but I have taken a gamble due to circumstances. It is still early days, but it feels like it may have paid off.
Looking to add a flow meter to help tune my CO2 in a newly set up 130L tank, I searched far and wide for the different options. They were few and far between, most were for far larger flows than I needed and those that were appropriate were ridiculously expensive to get to Australia. So I went searching on the various Chinese discount sites and came across the LZB-3WB flow meters. They are cheap… real cheap. Less than $30 Australian landed, which made me nervous, but felt it was worth a shot at that price.
Not knowing what flow ranges I would need I ordered a 6-60ml/minute model.
After installing it, it was clearly too high of a range for my tank, but it did allow for some visibility while adjusting CO2. It was certainly better than a bubble counter.
Here is a picture of it action:
As you can see, the reading is below the scale of the meter, but with a marker I could at least set a starting point as I adjusted my CO2 higher. Also the adjustment valve was useless, a tiny turn would shut the flow off or open it to max out the meter.
I ordered the below as a replacement:
2.5-25ml/minute seems like a good range for my tank.
As a bonus the valve is better than most standard regulator needle valves. I can adjust the flow in increments of about 1ml/minute.
Below is the valve in action:
They have been in service for 2 months total now, 1 month each, so still an early review. It has been a solid upgrade though and was an easy install. They come with big 8mm barbed fittings but they can be unscrewed to reveal 1/8 female threads that standard needle valves for aquariums fit. I have also got some 1/8 to push fit fittings that I am yet to install as I am heading away on holiday for 2 weeks soon and don’t want to make any changes for the house-sitters to potentially have to fix!
Pros: adjusting my CO2 was made so much easier by being able to see exactly how much of an increase I was making with each adjustment. Monitoring that the valve isn’t drifting has been easy also, a quick check of the meter tells me it is steady.
Cons: I doubt that the reading is accurate. This means little to me, as I am not using it for a calculation or comparison between tanks. As long as the reading is consistent, even if it is wrong, I am fine with that. Also, the max pressure is listed as 40psi. I am unsure if that is a failure or accuracy maximum. Again, it doesn’t affect me as I run a low regulator pressure due to using a reactor. If I were using a diffuser that needed a high pressure, it may make me nervous.
As always, with any cheap gear, your mileage may vary. But, I thought it was worth sharing as it may help those with limited access to flow meters of appropriate sizes. So far it is proving to be the second best $25 I have spent on this tank, second only to the super red bristlenose I have in the tank.
32 Replies
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2329 views
Got on the tree build kick in past 2 weeks to make somthing I like for 36g freebie build to replace the huge tree turd #2 in there. I got 6 stumps ready today to get built for smaller tanks, 3 done today 3 waiting. Built the larger 17 tall 16 wide tree pics added other day to journal but gonna a build 2-3 more larger trees and the 6 smaller. Sell the ones off on eBay and etsy I don't want.
The larger stump 2nd post pic s 16" tall 15 wide plan to use in future scapes smaller. I've been using Amazon branch packs 15.00 for 25-35 pieces and amazon spiderwood 6-8" 5 for 12.00 for small trees. The large tree I made was a 10.99 piece I tore apart and used the 3 larger branches and built onto them to get the large tree in added pics cost me in end around 22.00 .... I have 10 pieces coming in mail Friday 5 large and 5 medium all spiderwood to make larger trees with this weekend.
Bought a ton of Amazon wood on Amazon lol 2 for 17.00 10-14" so I glued some of them together for larger usable pieces. some came out cool and well worth the 17.00 for the pieces glued together.The 1 has natural plant pots on top. The v shape last 2 pics 12" deep and 16" wide
After literally glueing a finger to a rock today Imao I quit! I ended up used all the accelerator I had anyway so Friday or sat before I can finish my smaller trees. will update as it goes, It will be a forest of trees when its done.
The larger stump 2nd post pic s 16" tall 15 wide plan to use in future scapes smaller. I've been using Amazon branch packs 15.00 for 25-35 pieces and amazon spiderwood 6-8" 5 for 12.00 for small trees. The large tree I made was a 10.99 piece I tore apart and used the 3 larger branches and built onto them to get the large tree in added pics cost me in end around 22.00 .... I have 10 pieces coming in mail Friday 5 large and 5 medium all spiderwood to make larger trees with this weekend.
Bought a ton of Amazon wood on Amazon lol 2 for 17.00 10-14" so I glued some of them together for larger usable pieces. some came out cool and well worth the 17.00 for the pieces glued together.The 1 has natural plant pots on top. The v shape last 2 pics 12" deep and 16" wide
After literally glueing a finger to a rock today Imao I quit! I ended up used all the accelerator I had anyway so Friday or sat before I can finish my smaller trees. will update as it goes, It will be a forest of trees when its done.
8 Replies
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171 views
Journal High-Tech 90P Build
Hi guys!
I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.
The starting point:
I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.
I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.
Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.
I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.
I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.
These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.
That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!
I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.
The starting point:
I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.
I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.
Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.
I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.
I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.
These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.
That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!
74 Replies
·
5408 views
Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
This month's theme is: plant, hardscape and fish
This one is going to be tough but I hope some of you take up the challenge. Take a picture that captures a plant, some hardscape and at least one fish in the same picture.
Be as artistic and creative as you like.
The rules:
A $25 store credit from BurrAqua thanks to @Burr740!
This one is going to be tough but I hope some of you take up the challenge. Take a picture that captures a plant, some hardscape and at least one fish in the same picture.
Be as artistic and creative as you like.
The rules:
- Submissions are allowed between October 7 and October 23.
- Voting will start on October 23 at 12:01 am Eastern time.
- Voting will end on October 31 at 11:30 pm Eastern time.
A $25 store credit from BurrAqua thanks to @Burr740!
5 Replies
·
251 views
Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
Hello Welcome, guernsey
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @guernsey!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
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