Quote:
Originally Posted by VaughnH
Doing the test in a single tank, with water mixing between the two areas would not be a good test. Algae could start up on one side, then move to the other in the water. Green water and GDA would migrate easily between the two halves. And, if the plants grew faster on one side than the other, you would have to be very careful to have very good water circulation back and forth between the halves or the faster growing side would deplete available nutrients for the other side. I think two separate tanks would be the only way to do this.
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I agree with this. There is more variation of algae causal factors within the same tank than could ever be correlated to lighting scheme. Variations such as localized flow patterns due to walls or neighboring objects bringing nutrients to individual leaves, localize ammonia concentrations, general vigor of individual plants and individual leaves on the same plant. Localized soil condition due to individual root patterns and root health. The manner in which ambient light in the room strikes the tank. Temperature variations within the tank. Local nutrient leeching from soil or leaves.
Any conclusions drawn from a single tank would be speculative. Since it's impossible to keep everything the same across tanks or even within the same tank you would need to test hundreds of tanks of either configuration in order to draw conclusions that would be statistically relevant. The difference in the two configurations would have to produce results significant enough to take into account the normal variations that occur in most tanks otherwise you'd have nothing more than random results.
Cheers,