Choosing an LED Fixture by Tank Depth
Volume tells you nothing about lighting. The distance from rim to substrate decides which fixture will work and which will disappoint you.
Author
Vishal Rana
32 published guidesVishal Rana has spent the last decade tinkering with aquarium equipment on his own bench and in a friend's shop, mostly on canister pumps, heater controllers, and planted-tank lighting. He writes about the fixes that actually held up in the tank rather than the ones that only looked clean on paper, and he keeps three tanks running at home, including a 200 litre planted setup that has been the source of most of his opinions on CO2.
Published work
Everything by Vishal Rana
How to Cycle a New Filter Without Killing Fish
Fishless cycling needs a $4 bottle of ammonia, a liquid test kit and the patience to leave a nitrite plateau completely alone.
Wavemakers: Worth It in a Freshwater Tank
Pulsed flow was invented to imitate wave surge over a reef, and no freshwater habitat a hobby fish comes from has waves.
Are Filter Cartridges a Waste of Money
The replacement interval printed on the carton is a sales schedule, and following it costs you money every month and bacteria every...
Why Watts Per Gallon Stopped Working
One rule, two lamp technologies, and the moment a proxy measurement stopped predicting anything useful about what a plant receives.
Where to Place a Heater for Even Temperature
Same heater, same wattage, same dial setting: move it twenty centimetres and a long tank can lose most of its gradient.
Salt Creep on Electrical Connections
Crystallized sea salt does not sit still on a cable, it climbs, and where it arrives is usually a plug carrying mains...
Low, Medium, and High Light Plants
A species by species table of what each common aquarium plant needs at substrate level, and exactly how each one fails when...
Why Your Filter Flow Dropped and How to Fix It
Run the checks in cost order and most flow problems resolve for nothing, long before you reach the part that needs buying.
O-Rings and Gaskets: Replace or Reseal
The jar of petroleum jelly in half the fish rooms I visit has quietly destroyed more seals than age ever has.
Powerhead Placement to Clear Dead Spots
Aiming a powerhead at the debris pile scatters it for twenty minutes, while aiming it to close the circulation loop clears it...
CO2 Diffusers vs Reactors Compared
Dissolution rates, working pressure, flow penalty and running cost for five ways of getting carbon dioxide into aquarium water.