Let there be (more) light!

Yesterday I finally managed to come home early from work for once. Looked at my aquarium and thought... why the heck is the grass growing so slowly when everything is growing like mad?! Could it be that the grass is all the way down in the tank and there isn't enough light reaching it? Maybe... considering the fact that the lights are on the behind-half of the tank. Since I still had a small portion of the aluminium reflector, I thought I'd cram in another 36W PL-L tube at the front portion of the hood.

Went shopping in the morning and started working at noon. You'll need a PL-L tube, 40W electronic ballast, relfector, clips for holding fluorescent tubes and one of those wiring block things. Might as well attach the 2 DC fans to the hood so I can fully close the hood.

Fan grills help to smooth out the holes and make it look slightly more elegant. The left one blows onto the water and the right one sucks hot air out. Gotta flushmount the fans properly one day.

So now I have 80W + 36W = 116W / 45 gallons = 2.6 watts per gallon. I guess that moves me into medium lighting territory. Hopefully the grass will grow and algae won't.

Here's what it looks like after 28 days

Trimmed the Cabomba and Hydrocotyle leucocephala because they've already reached the surface and started growing horizontally. Added Rotala marcandra in the back and middle of the driftwood, hopefully to add more colour to the scape. Split the Hygrophilla difformis to try and cover up the driftwoood a bit. Also bought some unknown small-leaved plant.

Day 20 - A new background

Here's what it looks like now. The Cabomba has grown quite madly, about 3 inches in a week even without CO2, thought its looking a bit yellow. Lilaeopsis Brazilensis is starting to branch out too, but not as fast as I'd like it to be. For the week that my CO2 tank was being refilled, some black beard algae started growing on the Echinodorus Amazonicus and some green spot algae appeared on the glass. Cleaned off the green spot algae, hopefully the black beard algae will go soon too.
I've added a blue-tone background and bought 3 more plants: the Tiger Lotus Lily on the mid right, Anubias nana in front of it and a reddish plant at the mid-left, not sure of the name of it for now.
Sorry about my photography skills... not much space between the front of the tank and the wall in front of it =p

Specs:
Standard 3-footer ~180L
Eheim 2215 external filter with bio rings, JBL Micromec and foam
Pressurised CO2 with Nirox diffuser
4 x 20W Nirox lighting with DIY reflector
JBL Aquabasis Plus topped with Holland Sand
Fertilised with weekly JBL Ferropol and daily Ferropol24

Flora:
Echinodorus amazonicus
Hygrophilla difformis
Cabomba caroliliana
Lilaeopsis braziliensis
Anubias barteri
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Microsorum pteropus (Java fern)
Java moss (been trying to grow them without much success)
Tiger Lily Lotus
One not-yet-identified red plant on the mid left side

Fauna:
Paracheirodon innesi (neon tetra)
Corydoras sterbai
Otocinclus
Golden algae eater
El-cheapo shrimp as garbage collectors

Forgot about our neighbours! Silly me!

Well guess what? Just as I posted the entry yesterday about the PS3, I found out that the PS3 has already been launched in Singapore. Check out the goodie bag:

*drool*

The 60GB Blu-ray whizbang version retailed at S$799, so that converts to RM 1869. Can't find anything on the castritic-inflicted 20GB version. Hopefully with this, the grey imports in Malaysia will drop in price from its current incredulous price of RM 3800 with 3 games!

Curiously, I'm starting to develop a serious itch on my right trigger-finger... *scratch scratch*

10 things to make the PS3 worth buying

We've heard it all haven't we? There's more negativity surrounding the PS3 than the southern magnetic pole of the earth. Gamespot has an interesting article which has a collection of 10 things Sony can do to make the PS3 worth buying. You can read it here.

What stops me from buying a PS3 is the price. Sony Malaysia... please launch the console proper so that the grey imports dont cost RM3.8k... At least please launch it before the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4. I am loyal to Sony having owned the PS1 for 7 years and PS2 for 5. But my loyalty is wavering...

Discus Jungle - Day 14

Well... not really. Since I didn't really plan on doing a journal, I'll call this "Day 14" since I reworked it about 2 weeks ago.

Echinodorus Amazonicus and Vallisneria (I think) have been growing for about 6 months now. The Hydrocotyle Leucocephala at the rear left. Java Moss on the driftwood and unidentified small-leafed plant on the right have been in there for a month or so. Latest additions are the Lilaeopsis Braziliensis foreground, Microsorum Pteropus on the top of the driftwood and Hygrophila Difformis (one of my favourites).

Next plan? Would like to get some Anubias nana for the midground and some red plants for the background, probably of the Rotala family, just to add some contrast to the tank. And also to figure out why my moss is melting...

Finally the tank is going my way! =]

Cheapoman Lighting For Your Aquarium

Last weekend I finally decided to DIY a reflector for my aquarium lighting. I've had 4 20W tubes of lighting in the aquarium but most of it gets out and blasts the top cover and the ceiling. So a reflector is in order to focus the light into the aquarium. I decided to get to work because I found a shop selling polished aluminium deflectors! It's called Hup Seng Lee on Jalan Dato Kramat if you're interested.

Here's a pic of the old lighting arrangement. Crude huh?

Relfector that I got from Hup Seng Lee. Ask for a "2x 20W" reflector and you get this one. Had to cut it down to size to fit my 3-footer. Kitchen scissors worked remarkbly well on the thin sheet. You can see the remaining 1-foot sheet behind. Nano tank ideas flooding my neurons...

Here it is with the tube holders and lights mounted. I used normal fluorescent holders, some nuts and bolts and my trusty power drill.

Shot of the back with the ballasts and wiring. Probably a good idea to somehow protect it from splashing water...

Haven't take a shot of the aquarium after installation... because the water still damn cloudy. And also I was tired and cursed too much to care. Total cost of DIY, somewhere around 30 bucks not including the fluorescent tubes. Happy camper!