Moving my plant stand

With the changes in my life, come changes in where I can keep my furniture. I had put my plant stand in the sliding glass window, as I always kept the shades open. Now, it was deamed too annoying to fight closing and opening the blinds around the planter. It had to be moved.

Aquarium and plant stand  I moved the plant stand in front of the window in the extra bedroom – the ‘project room’. The 45 gallon tank got set up in there. You can see that it has LED lights on the tank. I think this works pretty well. It’s not very bright, but for around 20 watts, on a 4 foot long tank, it’s not to bad. I have 2 aluminum gutters sitting on top of the tank I think I will be setting them up for hydroponics/aquaponics. One will be a raft system, the other ebb and flow I think.
I think I can make an automatic fill/flush system where I fill the raft unit, let it overflow into a temporary tank, when the temporary tank fills full, it starts a siphon, which rapidly fills the ebb&flow unit. The ebb/flow system will then have the fill -> flush siphon built into it as well, so once it fills, it will rapidly drain. If I size and balance things right, it should just automatically work passivly on a single, continuously running pump.

Florescent and LED grow lights I am playing around with the different grow lights to augment what little natural light comes in my north window. I have tried the $10 stick florescent tubes from Walmart which don’t work so well and burn out bulbs like you wouldn’t believe. Then I put in a nice t12 florescent fixture that I really do like a lot. I am also playing with LED lighting as well. These plants are going to be set up to be watered out of the fish tank on an automatic timer. I had to move the tubing around to the other side and yet have to set it back up.

Florescent and LED grow lights The boxes the African Violets are sitting on are LED light boxes. I know, the red LED light box would probably help the violets flower better, but, I need to cast a little light into the taller section that the Aloe Vera are in, so I thought I would give it a try. It’s interesting to play around with this stuff at least.

LED aquarium light hood Here you can see my LED lit 45 gallon tank with a single Molly in the tank to cycle the tank. I think the Jack Dempsey will go into this tank, as she will like the lower light level from the LED lights. The Molly has been in the tank for 3 weeks to a month now. Patience is a virtue that is often overlooked in setting up aquariums. Many people buy a tank and the fish rush home, set everything up and wonder why all their many fish died in a day or two, keep buying lots of fish repeatedly and still wonder why the keep dieing.

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1 Comment

  1. Led lights are great because they are long lasting and consumes less electricity.;~;

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