Alex's Hobbies » Aquarium

JBL Novo Guppy fish food

AnA — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:39:38 +0000

I had tried many kind of fish food for my fishes. So far, this JBL Novo Guppy is one of this best for my Endlers.

For endlers, flake is still the best as they are mainly the top feeder. I noticed some colour improvement on the fishes after using this food. I think the valuable Carotinoide promote the rich colouring.

During feeding, the fishes seem to love it very much. Some of the smaller pieces could be easily consume by the baby endlers. Thus, do not need to get another food just specially for the babies. This Novo guppy is good enough of all endlers in my tank either adult or baby fishes.

Anyway, I will continue to use this JBL Novo guppy fish food until I could find something better. Cheers!

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Philips 28w T5

AnA — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 10:56:50 +0000

Recently, I visited selffix and found these 28w daylight T5 from Philips. Decided to give it a try.

I know a 28w will never compare to a 54w tube in term of light density. But, I would like to give it a try and see how my aquarium plants react. Since, I planted mainly moss, it should not be a problem. As my Osram’s eBallast could support varies wattages tube, why not take advantage of such feature and save some energy. Also, at 28w, the eballast should run cooler as compare to running at 54w. I have yet to confirm this. But, logically should work that way.

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OF CO2 regulator with Solenoid

AnA — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:16:13 +0000

Finally, my UP’s CO2 solenoid give way. My previous purchased industrial solenoid and valve could not fit this UP setup and thus, I went to hunt for a new CO2 regulator w/solenoid set.

In the market, many CO2 sets are available… namely, JBJ, Aquatic, UP and OF etc. After some comparison, I decided to get this OF (Ocean Free) CO2 regulator w/Solenoid. It comes with the same type of solenoid as my previous UP’s set. This kind of solenoid will not be hot at all during operation as compare to those normal industrial solenoid. It uses very low power to during operation; only 0.5watts. However, not sure if it is reliable; but for now just enjoys. Cheers.

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Osram vs Elbiru eBallast

AnA — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:29:49 +0000

I have tried the Osram’s and Elbiru’s eBallast as below. Notice that the Osram measured 108watts and Elbiru measured 78watts when using them to drive 2x54w T5 tubes.

The lighting brightness from both eballast is about the same but if see closely, Osram seem to produce slightly brighter light. Only slightly.

For a saving of 30watts, think using the Elbiru’s eballast seem better in term of electrical bill saving. However, the Osram’s eballast will have other benefits like the pre-heat features, power shutdown if detect tubes faulty, lower distortion…etc.

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Glass Thermometer for Aquarium

AnA — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:15:53 +0000

For those whom do not like the use digital thermometer due to the need to change battery. Glass thermometer will be a good choice. I personally like digital type as it has the accuracy up till one decimal place. But sometime, for aquarium use, we may not need to have such accuracy. Moreover, it seem like most digital thermometer does not last. Sometime, it does not get to work even if you change a weak battery to a new one. I am not sure why but this kind of digital thermometer does not built to last. I know digital thermometer is not very expensive nowadays; but if you like, you could opt for glass thermometer without to worry about battery or anything else as it should last a long time; maybe forever unless you break it.

Anyway, below is one good glass thermometer which has a clear reading. Get those which has bigger interval markings and thus easier to read at a glance. Cheers!

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Water Conditioner for Aquarium

AnA — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:10:46 +0000

Should we skip using the water conditioner for Aquarium? Well I think better be safe than sorry. Once, I had all my yamato’s shrimp and Cardina fishes dead in one water change without the use of the conditioner. One bitten twice shy, it a hard lesson learnt and from then on, I will use some kind of conditioner especially water more than 50% of the whole tank.

Below are 2 main types of water conditioner I had used. Both are equally good I think.

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UP CO2 regulator solenoid

AnA — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:20:07 +0000

I have been using this UP’s CO2 regulator solenoid for the pass 7 years and it still running fine. The good thing about this solenoid is that it does not get hot as compare to normal industrial solenoid. The power consumption is also very low. Actual measurement is about 1 watt. The industrial type solenoid should consume about 5 watts of power. But, to date, there is no replacement for this UP’s solenoid. If it faulty, we have to get the whole new set of UP’s CO2 regulator with the solenoid. No separate spare parts available.

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Aquarium Thermometer

AnA — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:10:10 +0000

I had purchased many type of Digital Aquarium Thermometer in the past. Not many is as good as the one below. The brand is “Aquarium Thermometer”. But I have seen many similar design from GEX or Five Plan. This one I got is only S$6 as compare to others which cost about S$25 each. Really value for money to get this “Aquarium Thermometer” brand thermometer. It has the accuracy to one decimal place. Good enough for aquarium use. I will buy more when I visit the shop again. Cheers!

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LumenAQUA Aquarium Lighting

AnA — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 11:58:29 +0000

Today, I have been to the shop to take a look at this amazing aquarium LED lighting; named LumenAQUA. Will definitely consider such LED lighting once to price come down a bit.

Actually, I was unable to really test it out fully due to time limit. But in general, the light colours are totally not the same as those T5 6500k tube. I had tried different manual setting combinations by adjusting each individual colours (RGB) but still unable to achieve the colour temp like 6500k. But, the set come with a setting chart which you could use to adjust to the colour temperature you desire. I never request for the chart from the shop owner since I was in the hurry. Maybe during my next visit, I will request for it. For the plants, it maybe all right with wider colour temperature settings. But for human like me, I prefer the colours looking close to 6500k. So, setting to this 6500k is very important for me.

The light penetration may not seem very good too. In generally, it seem dimmer than my T5 lighting. At the bottom of the tank, the sand looks a little not lighten up. Maybe I should have compare it side by side with a T5. I will definitely do such comparison if I am buying it.

For those whom like “waves” form under the moving water surface; this is the LED you will love. It is like those “waves” form by MH lighting. For T5 or PL, not such “waves” form.

All in all, it is a great set of LED lighting for aquarium. I think in near future, all aquarium lighting will be make this way.

More information could be found here.

Aquarium power consumption

AnA — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:58:47 +0000

As I have a Power monitor plug to measure the actual power consumption. It will be more accurate if we do a actual measurement as compare to just take the the power as rated on the equipments. Below is the comparison using the Aquarium Calculator from AquaticQuotient as to illustrate.

List of all equipments for my aquarium and the power rating are:

Eheim 2028 filter – 25 watts
T5 lighting – 54 x 2 = 108 watts
Electrical Fan – 5 watts
CO2 solenoid – 15 watts

Actually reading using the Power Monitor Plug:

Eheim 2028 filter – 9 watts
T5 lighting – 38 x 2 = 76 watts
Electrical Fan – 2 watts
CO2 solenoid – 1 watts

Notice that the results are very different. For this case, power rating shown on the equipment itself are higher than the actual operating power rating. So, this is a good example as we pay less than it seem to be. Sometime, certain equipment may not reflect the correct operating power consumption and it actually consume more than the rating shown. So, if you have such power measuring device, use it. Cheers!

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