Journal Joel Armstrong - My journey

[Joel Armstrong]

Currently I'm curious about solving my green dust algae issue that accumulates on the glass.

Current light settings - 2 x Week Aqua a430





#GDA

 

[Art]

Hey Joel,

Thanks for updating. That is one cool looking app for the lights.

Do they give you any guidance or indication what the sliders are doing to the spectrum you are providing your plants? I see you have UV set to 100% while blue is down at 50%. Why did you set that?

I don’t think this has anything to do with your GDA issue. Just curious.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Hey Joel,

Thanks for updating. That is one cool looking app for the lights.

Do they give you any guidance or indication what the sliders are doing to the spectrum you are providing your plants? I see you have UV set to 100% while blue is down at 50%. Why did you set that?

I don’t think this has anything to do with your GDA issue. Just curious.

Hi Art,

The app is fine once you get your head around the couple of glitches. The 'time programming' was the most frustrating part. I reached out to Luqman Aziz for help with this. I believe you are FB friends with him.

As for the guidance and indication of what the sliders are doing to the spectrum, Week Aqua gives no indication. I seem to remember you mentioning something about the lack of information provided by light developers. It would be extremely beneficial if the developers would provide more information in regard to spectrum and PAR levels etc.

And as for why I chose those particular settings... I wish I could give some scientific, more intelligent answer here, but I can not. Before I started using the lights, I first reached out to Dennis Wong for assistance and he suggested these approximate levels, and then upon speaking with Luqman Aziz, I found that he also was using the same settings/levels. Since both Dennis and Luqman have spectacular tanks with excellent results using the a430 pro units, I simply followed their advice.

Cheers

 

[GreggZ]

Before I started using the lights, I first reached out to Dennis Wong for assistance and he suggested these approximate levels, and then upon speaking with Luqman Aziz, I found that he also was using the same settings/levels. Since both Dennis and Luqman have spectacular tanks with excellent results using the a430 pro units, I simply followed their advice.

Cheers

Therein lies one of the secrets to success.......study those who succeed!

 

[Art]

Thanks, Joel. As Gregg said, following what successful people are doing is certainly the right thing to do.

That said, I do wish manufacturers did provide more thought and guidance on their products. For example, if you are saying your product is for aquarium plants, then tell us what research you did to confirm that the light spectrum your product puts out is, in fact, for aquarium plants. Honestly, I could create an LED that looks great for our eyes but doesn't really make sense from a photosynthesis perspective.

Apps are great but what goes does it do to give me sliders for each color? Sure, I can tweak until it looks good to me but I'm not a plant. What is it doing for my plants? No idea.

 

[PBITAWA]

Currently I'm curious about solving my green dust algae issue that accumulates on the glass.

Current light settings - 2 x Week Aqua a430

View attachment 1103

View attachment 1104

#GDA

I found them thanks .

 

[Joel Armstrong]

I found them thanks .

Pleasure

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Whoever reads this, I hope you're well.

Been a while since I've posted a pic of my tank. Still a lot to learn, trimming techniques and plant placement are the most obvious.

Recently recovered from a small bout of hair algae. I freaked out a bit, but I'm happy it's behind me now.

I think I'll give my soil a deep clean again soon, I'm hesitant though.. 6 months ago I did a deep clean of the soil and things didn't go quite as well as what I would have liked. I seemed to get a lot of GDA on some plants. Thinking I may not plant out the tank on the same day as the deep clean this time around. My thinking is to wrap and store plants, and do large water changes each day for 2-3 days before replanting the tank. From memory, Dennis Wong suggests this method.

Ciao for now!

 

[Joel Armstrong]

I paid to get my Week aqua a430 pro lights PAR tested today.

I'm currently using 80% power, the apogee meter registered at 130 PAR at substrate.

I had the guy test at 90% and 100% also.

- 90% power = 170-180 PAR at substrate.
- 100% power = 190 - 200 PAR at substrate.

The spread of the lights are quite even, and don't taper off as much as I thought toward the edges of the tank. There is a noticeable difference (higher PAR) right in the centre of the tank between the 2 lights.



Recently dialled down the white from 36 to 0.

The readings above were taken with the lights set at RED 83, GREEN 75, BLUE 50 & UV at 100

 

[Joel Armstrong]

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Images like this make me jealous of the ability to dial in certain colors. I like my Twinstar S II but it looks so washed out compared to the tunable stuff available now.

 

[BigWave]

This is looking great Joel.

 

[Art]

Joel, congrats, man! That tank is beautiful. Way to go!

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Thanks fellas!!

Today I've torn it all down! Deep clean of the soil.



My soil, ADA new version II, is very dirty at the bottom of the tank, and broken down quite I bit too I imagine. I suspect it's a main cause of some poor growth of some plants.

I'm on 2 weeks holiday at the moment, I wouldn't have been able to do it otherwise. I have my work cut out for me that's for sure.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Took me pretty much all day to clean.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

You know you're to blame for this @GreggZ

 

[GreggZ]

You know you're to blame for this @GreggZ

LOL Yes you probably aren't the first one to cuss me out for something like this. But in my experience after a short adjustment period the tank will be easier. Keep us posted I am looking forward to seeing how things work out.

 

[Freshflora]

Curious to hear how you went about it @Joel Armstrong. Did you just deep vac every part of the soil?

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Curious to hear how you went about it @Joel Armstrong. Did you just deep vac every part of the soil?

Hi,

I used a gravel cleaner with a long hose attached, syphoned the mucky water to the garden, at the same time I had another hose adding fresh dechlorinated water to the tank.
I vacuumed, but also used my hands to move all the soil around.

 

[Freshflora]

Hi,

I used a gravel cleaner with a long hose attached, syphoned the mucky water to the garden, at the same time I had another hose adding fresh dechlorinated water to the tank.
I vacuumed, but also used my hands to move all the soil around.

Okay so pretty much exactly how Greggz goes about it. Good to know!