Finally i got my stuff from Germany, for some strange reason the parcel went to Lübeck instead of going to me the first time, but now the second time it found it’s way to me.
It’s two new dimmabe T5 ballasts and one dimming module for the IS-aquastar.
It’s going to be fun to modify the lightning and to see the result, according to the manufacturer of the ballast is dimmable in the full range of 1-100%.
As an extra bonus for those who does not have a IKS to control the light, there is an switch input.
It works as follows, if you push the switch (instantaneous) quickly the lights goes on and off, but if you hold the switch it will dim the light up and down. this means that you could do a simple dimming solution by a timer and a relay.
I made a time lapse movie today to have as a reference when i get my stuff for light dimming, it’s going to be fun to see the difference.
My parcel with the light stuff has been somewhat troublesome.
First the parts i ordered was not in stock (that you will have to accept), Then the parcel was shipped and went half the way, received a address not valid label and went back to the sender. The parcel is now sent again and on it’s way to me.
When i looked et the aquarium from the couch last nigh, I thought that it actually looked quite nice so i took a picture from that position.
I usually take the photos straight on from a distance of about 1.5. but this is in an angle and about 3m away, i think this gave a new and interesting perspective and depth to the picture.
I just came to think of the fact that if i can reproduce the phenomena of the straight conductivity graph and the even start and stop values of the week, I will be able to adjust my auto dosing automatically with the IKS conductivity adjustment.
Of cause i will not be able to adjust the different substances individually, but it works great now so i will be able to use the current concentration and as muck as needed to keep the conductivity constant.
Here are the graphs i promised, these are quite representative for the trend, the vecka6 (vecka = week in Swedish) in the oxygen graph might be a bit low.
The weeks are not according to the calendar, vecka / week 16 is the current week and weekly backwards.
There has been a lot of bubbling the past week, so what is the difference?
1. I rotated the spraybar to spray vertical instead of 45 degrees out / down (i don’t think this is the main reason).
2. 20ppm NO3 instead of 10ppm.
My guess is that when i have had 10ppm it has occasionally dropped to low at some points during the week even though i have auto dosing to keep the level.
The past week i started with 20ppm and it actually stopped at 20ppm as well.
This week i have made the same thing and two days after the water change it still bubbles as good as last week.
Ending levels last week:
NO3 = 20ppm
PO4 = 2.5ppm
Fe = 0.3ppm
Theoretically ending levels without plant uptake according to calculations:
NO3 = 32ppm
PO4 = 3.2ppm
Fe = 0.8ppm
This gives that the tank has consumed roughly:
NO3 = 12ppm
PO4 = 0.7ppm
Fe = 0.5ppm
I have also seen that the uptake is higher than before on the conductivity, the oxygen level is also very high in fact it is as high as when i had MH even though i now have 80W less with T5.
I’m very happy for finding a level that works….. (tonight i will try to add some graphs).
