Confused with watts & amps calculation

[JimB]

Many years ago I kept a tank of fish. Neons, Tiger Barbs, Black Moors, Gouramis.

The tank was lit through the day by a flourescent tube in the hood of the tank.
At night I would switch the tank light off and the fish would start swimming around at an angle of 15 or 20 degrees off the vertical.
They were confused by the change of light and were swimming so that the room light was overhead.

JimB

 

[skmdmasud]

Are the fish blinded by the high power LEDs?

lol fish seems to love it...


This is nothing compared to sun light. Aquatic plants require such high lights (something close to sun light) and in nature this plants thrive so do fishes.

In reef tanks people use over 1000w of lights in a 5 feet aquarium for their corals and they also put a chiller (something like a refrigerator) to cool the water lol. Some people do the same in planted aquariums.

 

[MrAl]

Hi.
My aim is to make it a planted tank. I will put soil and put some foreground plants and then put some small tetra fish like neon's etc.

Do you have aquariums or fishes in ponds etc?

Regards.

Hi,

Well not anymore. I actually studied ichthyology for a while way back when and knew a lot of the species by name and a lot of other related stuff. That was a long time ago though and i have forgotten most of it.

I have some stories that i always remember though...

I had an eel once that jumped out of the tank when i wasnt home one day. When i got home i looked into the tank and saw that it was gone. I figured it must have jumped, so i looked around the floor and found it pretty dried up laying on the carpet. Luckily only it's skin was dried up so i put it back in the tank and after a couple days it was swimming around again.

I had two guppies that were born attached stomach to stomach. I knew they would both die if left as is, so i got a very sharp razor and cut one of them off. It died of course, but the other one lived. It was a toss up, one had to die so the other could live or they both would have died. They were fancy tail guppies back then sold for about 20 dollars a pair.

Had a catfish that *supposedly* didnt eat anything but stuff on the bottom of the tank. I read about this catfish in various very good books. It's too bad those good books were all wrong. One day i was sitting in front of the tank looking in and then looked away for a few seconds, when i looked back into the tank one of the fancy tail guppies was missing. I looked and looked, then noticed something sticking out of the catfishes mouth. It was the tail of the missing guppy! I quickly got a screwdriver and reached into the tank and knocked the catfish around with it (gently) and he eventually spit out the guppy. The guppy was ok after that The catfish was moved to another tank.

I also built a huge outdoor tank once way back then. It was fiberglass with a plate glass front.

We have a stream out back but i dont think there are any fish in it.

 

[skmdmasud]

Hi,

Well not anymore. I actually studied ichthyology for a while way back when and knew a lot of the species by name and a lot of other related stuff. That was a long time ago though and i have forgotten most of it.

I have some stories that i always remember though...

I had an eel once that jumped out of the tank when i wasnt home one day. When i got home i looked into the tank and saw that it was gone. I figured it must have jumped, so i looked around the floor and found it pretty dried up laying on the carpet. Luckily only it's skin was dried up so i put it back in the tank and after a couple days it was swimming around again.

I had two guppies that were born attached stomach to stomach. I knew they would both die if left as is, so i got a very sharp razor and cut one of them off. It died of course, but the other one lived. It was a toss up, one had to die so the other could live or they both would have died. They were fancy tail guppies back then sold for about 20 dollars a pair.

Had a catfish that *supposedly* didnt eat anything but stuff on the bottom of the tank. I read about this catfish in various very good books. It's too bad those good books were all wrong. One day i was sitting in front of the tank looking in and then looked away for a few seconds, when i looked back into the tank one of the fancy tail guppies was missing. I looked and looked, then noticed something sticking out of the catfishes mouth. It was the tail of the missing guppy! I quickly got a screwdriver and reached into the tank and knocked the catfish around with it (gently) and he eventually spit out the guppy. The guppy was ok after that The catfish was moved to another tank.

I also built a huge outdoor tank once way back then. It was fiberglass with a plate glass front.

We have a stream out back but i dont think there are any fish in it.

Hi MeAl
nice experience and stories. I never kept eels but may try them out some day. Till date fancy tale guppy's are expensive, did you buy the attached guppy's or do you use to breed them? My friend has lots of those fancy tales they look pretty. These days i concentrate more on plants then fishes in my aquarium. If you do plan to start again try out planted tank, there are ways you can start a planted tank with no additional cost. also diy few thing like lights, timers etc make the hobby even more enjoyable.

Le me know if you want to start a planted tank i have written some articles on the topic.

Regards.

 

[MrAl]

Hi again,

I did breed them for a while. I had a lot of fish at one point and several tanks some of which i built myself from the ground up using various building methods. One was simply sheets of glass glued together with silicone rubber. I used that for the 'delivery' room, where i would place the mother. One end of the tank has lots of densely placed plants, the other end very few. The mother stays in the clear end because the plants on the other end are so closely spaced so she doesnt fit between them too well. A light is also placed on the end with the dense plants. When she delivers, the little tiny guppies instinctively swim toward the lighted end and thus into the dense plants so they get hidden from the mother and she cant eat them. Without that there would be no baby guppies in the tank the next day cause she would eat them all.

I dont remember how many fish i had at one time back then but it was quite a few.

Yeah there is more to it than just the fish. Lighting, pumping, heating, tank decor

 

[skmdmasud]

Hi
Seems like you were well attached with the hobby... why did you stop?

 

[MrAl]

Hi,


Good question
Got into other things i guess.