New attempt - Version 3

[Floyd R Turbo]

Oh yeah - 210 gallon system, 8x24W = 192 W....I missed that.

Your growth will skyrocket with the T5HOs...

[mikepao13]

No, not one bulb per side...but one unit per site - each unit is 2 x 24

[Floyd R Turbo]

Yeah, but you will need equivalent watts for the tank water. Right now you're using 8 x 23W CFLs You need 8x24W T5HOs. So if each unit has 2 lamps, you need 2 units on each side.

[mikepao13]

The plan was to put two tubes (one 2x24w unit) on each site

A unit of 2 x 24w is approx Euro 80. Cannot get four now - plus im a bit reluctant whether this will work or not...again and dont want to spend money for no reason again

I've seen some designs in here of people using approx the same size screen size as mine but with 2 tubes each site...with quite good results

how efficient is that?

[Floyd R Turbo]

having only 2 tubes on each side would meet the bare minimum of 0.5 watts per gallon.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=68

But I think in your case, it would be better than the CFLs oriented as they currently are. I think you should start by putting 2 fixtures on one side (all 4 lamps). Then on the other side, see if you can work on making better reflectors for the CFLs. This way, you're taking a step forward, because you will have 1) more watts of lighting power, overall, and 2) proper coverage on at least one side of the screen, versus minimum coverage on both sides (which is what you have now).

[mikepao13]

Many thanks for your response.

This is a very interesting approach and i will possibly go that way. Put two units (4 tubes) on one side and after few paycheques add another two on the other side.
This way i can also monitor the change and differences between the two sides of the screens.

[linx]

Hi sorry for the late reply, test week!
What i meant was that the closer your parameters get to zero the greener your growth get.


Black/oily growth, but no green: Clean every last bit of it off every three days.

Dark brown growth, but no green: Clean all of it off every 4 days.

Light brown growth, but no green: Clean most of if off every 5 days.

Mostly brown growth, but some green: Clean all of the brown off every 6 days, but leave some of the green.

Half brown and half green growth: Clean most of it off every 7 days.

Mostly green growth: clean most of it off every 10 days.


but it looks like you have nailed the problem.