ATS light question

[aquariumsforever]

After 3 months and previous advice of kuya seth about filtration. I figured I really need an Ats especially because my tank is a pico and maintining it would be the hardest task (parameters) Binigyan po ako ng dad ko ng .9 watt led light. medyo yellowish kulay niya. ask ko lang if it would suffice for my ATS. isa pa po what surface. ung paglalagyan ng algae ang best? ung madali lang rin pong mahanap since i'm only 15 and can't travel that far. I hope the experts would chime in.

[seth]

That kind of light will not suffice.

And since you have a really small tank, I'd rather do weekly water changes instead of employing several filtration systems. If you want something easier, make a small airdriven skimmer. Keep it simple. Water changes would be enough.

Here's a sample computation:

Suppose you buy one bag of blue treasure salt, which costs around 800 pesos and is good for 50 gallons.

You have a 5 gallon pico minus the water displacement by rocks so approximately you have around 4.5 gallons = approx. 17 liters.

If you are going to do 10% WCs, that would be just around 1.7 liters.

1.7 liters x 4 weeks x 12 months = 81.6 liters. A bag of blue treasure is good for approximately 189 liters.

Let's do more math:

For an 800 peso bag good for 50 gallons, that would equate to only 16 pesos per gallon. RO water from water purifying stations would be around 30php/5gallons so that would be 6 pesos per gallon.

16+6 = 22 pesos

So imagine you would spend approximately 22-50 pesos ONLY per MONTH, depending on the volume of water you will change.

Want another sample?

Let's say you use NSW for your water:

Say a gallon of NSW is around 8-15 pesos... that's the total cost you have to pay bi-weekly.

If you will employ lights and pumps for your ATS, compute the total wattage that you will spend on it monthly, aside from the initial cost.

Think about it.

And BTW, If I were you I would save the money to buy a better light fixture for your future corals and save some more for testkits and other essentials.

[seth]

PS

Please also note that I am not an expert nor a guru. It just happens that I had more blunders and misadventures in reefkeeping than you.

[aquariumsforever]

magkano po ba kaya aabutin kapag nagled na ako medyo binubudget ko na sarili ko. options ko kase ganto.
1. ung mga ictech fixtures kaya lang magkanu po b aabutin nun? ilang bulbs.
2. may nakita ko ad sa sulit. from cntco ren , floodlight 10 watt led. d ko lang alam kung may higher k sila. pagnagsearch ka kase sa google. cheap led solutions. nagulat ako sa results nung sakanya.

[seth]

Nasa thread na yung prices. Kung sa 5 gallon tank, isang 9w LED downlight sa ICTech, solb ka na.

Walang higher K ang cntco as posted before as well.

Please refrain from using txt speak as well, medyo nahihilo ako pasensya na.

[aquariumsforever]

Sorry po kuya seth. Yung po ba na 9 watt fixture nacucustomize? sa isang fixture magkahalo na blues and whites

[seth]

Yup, di ako sigurado kung magkano pero sakto na yun sa tank mo, tingin ko. Gawin mo mga 6" ang distance sa water surface. Tapos 6 blues, 3 whites.