reef theJ

[redrooster]

Yeah those snails can get pretty big. I bought one about 2 months ago that is a little smaller than a baseball. I'd never seen one that big except for cowrie snails which I've seen as big as a football. I got it for $5. He cleans a huge area every night. I've gone from cleaing my glass every 15 days to like every 21 days. He is so heavy though that when he does leave the glass for the rockwork he tends to pull off pieces of the stack that are small.

 

[returnofsid]

J, get a hold of reefgeeks, let them know you're unhappy with the legs. I'm sure they'll allow you to return them. Trade them in for the hanging system. No, it doesn't come with the hanging system. I've got the same legs you have and I'm very happy with them...except that they seem to be a little wide for my tank. They're very heavy duty and very stable for me. As for sunglasses, it may not have been in this thread...but if you read the post I started about my own Tek 5 fixture, you'll see that I did state that sunglasses were mandatory!! lol. Great lighting isn't it??

 

[theJ]

Mike, I came home from work today and the tank was at 84F!!!! thats a 5 degree jump, over around 8hrs, with the legs all the way down, the bulbs are about 3" off the surface of the water. Did you notice a temp change like that? How high are your bulbs?

I turned on the venturis, turned off the middle 4 bulbs, and will be raising the legs an inch or so, hopefully that helps as I have no other means of cooling at the moment... Well, I do have a box fan somewhere, but...

man, I am worried about my animals, 5 degrees is quite a swing, and im trying to bring it down slowly, I hope they are ok

 

[theJ]

Yeah those snails can get pretty big. I bought one about 2 months ago that is a little smaller than a baseball. I'd never seen one that big except for cowrie snails which I've seen as big as a football. I got it for $5. He cleans a huge area every night. I've gone from cleaing my glass every 15 days to like every 21 days. He is so heavy though that when he does leave the glass for the rockwork he tends to pull off pieces of the stack that are small.

Yea I was really surprised how they looked in my tank, I mean they were big in the store but when they started crawling around my existing rock it was surprising hehe

 

[returnofsid]

Hmmm, I noticed a small rise in temp but definitely not 5 degrees. My lights are about 5" above the water. My tank tends to run about 75-78, but does rise to about 80-81 at times. Everything seems to be doing fine though. I do have a ceiling fan above the tank...well, kinda above it...but it's not always on. I'm curious to see what my new HOB closed loop with the Mag18 does to my temp though. I may have to put a fan in my stand, blowing across my sump/fuge or something.

 

[theJ]

Over 8 hours or so I got the temp back down to 78.3, But hasnt dropped any lower than that. I have 2 maxi 12's blasting venturi action all over the rocks, the lights were off during that time, and heaters are off. house temp 68F. Thankfully the girlfriend had the day off today, so she is on light/temp duty. We raised the hood about 5in from the top, and dropped the photoperiod 2 hours, hopefully this helps :/ Oh, and I didnt take any pics last night One pic I think should be shown is the acrylic shield purchased seperately for the tek light hood SAGGED from the heat of the lights. seriously, wtf?

 

[theJ]

ok after all my gripes about the tek light, I want to assure that I really do like the hood, and happy with the output. REALLY happy. I love the spectrums, and can see the effect of each bulb individually when I bring respective colors over to the tank (dayglo stuff yay!). To address the temperature issues I mentioned earlier, raising the hood to 5" before the surface, killed any temp increase I had previously. The tank sits at a high of 78 degrees, where it was before the lights. I will be bringing this down more though, with a thermostat controlled fan DIY something or other in the sump.

I finally got some shots of this beast in action, check em out!

bulbs:
1 x 39W 11000K Aquablue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent by Giesemann
2 x 39W Blue Plus T5 HO Fluorescent by ATI
1 x 39W 10000K AquaSun T5 HO Fluorescent by UV Lighting
1 x 39W Super Actinic T5 HO Fluorescent by UV Lighting
1 x 39W 3000K Daylight T5 HO Fluorescent by General Electric

all 6 bulbs:
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=73
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=80

outside bulbs (Super Actinic up front, Blue Plus in back) :
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=63
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=64

 

[theJ]

I also promised a few more pics of the SCWD mod, so check em out:

Chopped up:
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=85
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=86

Zip tie reinforced door (was broken clean in half):
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=92
The tips of the large zip tie were cut and do not hand off the sides of course

View through assembled cleanout adapter showing repaired door installed:
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=95

View through 3/4" reducer showing pinwheel:
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=98

Assembled (before I filled the gaps with ABS glue):
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=99

Installed:
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=78

It works great, and was worth the $25 for the broken SCWD and $4 in ABS/PVC parts to get the extra flow action.

Things I would do differently:
Use ABS to glue the cleanout adapter to the SCWD body
Drill both outputs out as wide as they can go, without letting water leak by the door
Close the ball valve for the return pump before removing the pipe in the overflow for SCWD install

 

[theJ]

Oh and heres some chaeto!

http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=12&pos=71

 

[returnofsid]

Hmmm, the acrylic shield purchased FROM Greg melted? I'd definitely give him a call about that. He's really good about fixing problems. When I had a PC bulb end up giving out on me shortly after purchasing it, I called him and he sent me a replacement free, no questions asked.

 

[returnofsid]

Great pics. I'm sorry you're having issues with your lighting. I feel bad since I recommended them so strongly!! Tank's looking great!!

 

[theJ]

Mike, dont feel bad, I am absolutely in love with the hood, just didnt like the legs, and my own user error caused the temp to rise so much. Hey dude you missed a great meeting this weekend, but no one was trading frags yet, so gear up for next time!

 

[theJ]

Guess what? I got a frogspawn!!!!!!!!!!! GORGEOUS under these lights!!!

http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/100_4106.JPG
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/100_4111.JPG
http://thejerrod.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/100_4116.JPG

Oh, and my SCWD door broke again, so this frogspawn is stuck with laminar flow for a couple days until I get it fixed again

 

[returnofsid]

Very nice looking Frogspawn!! They don't like a whole lot of flow. I had to move mine around quite a bit before finding a spot where it was happy. Now I'm having to do it all over again in the new tank. They're also a great indicator of water quality. If parameters get a lil' on the bad side, they'll definitely let you know. I just picked up a nice blue Hammer from Barbie last night. I'll have pics of it soon.

 

[Fishead77]

It looks like the cat is enjoying the tank!

 

[ecobalance]

nice work

Where have i seen that thing before??????Hmmmm

 

[theJ]

http://thejerrod.com/100_4105.MOV <- shot of existing flow w/o SCWD. Doesnt look like too much for the frogspawn, any 2nd opinions?

 

[theJ]

Ok, so I am going on vacation, and I have a tank sitter for 4 days, and a nice little checklist in the works. I finally have everything on timers, the ATO setup and bugs worked out, It should be an easy task for the sitter and I dont expect anything too bad to go wrong, but I just got this frogspawn, and I am paranoid. Basically he will be checking no2/no3, SG, water level in sump, top off ATO if needed, electronics, and checking the frogspawn for brown jelly.

Anything I might have missed?

 

[theJ]

Where have i seen that thing before??????Hmmmm

Don!!!! haha, thanks for the SCWD! It broke (again), damn plastic doors... They should have made these things from something less crappy, like TITANIUM!

 

[rocket]

Nice forg spawn man! Where did you get it? looks like things are coming along nicely.