Cooling down the tank....

[Anonymous]

Thanks Gretzky!

Wassel, it's been shrinking ever since we left for vacation (~2 weeks ago now)

Andy - no air ducts on that wall, and no sun hits it either.

I installed egg crate - cut it to size

bleedingthought - it was found in the lighting section at Home Depot.

I'm not sure I'm crazy about how it looks - it seems to redirect a lot more light out of the tank than the glass did...but it could be misleading because now there's NO glass to go through to hit the water. I do need something to support the blocks of wood (1"x1"x6") that act as a stand for the pc lighting.

Thanks everybody... I'll let you know if the temp drops some more.

If you think the crate is blocling some light you might try and turn it over. Some has a slight wedge shape.

 

[Anonymous]

An awesome accessory you can get: a temperature controller (I got a single-stage Ranco one from diyreef.com).

It has a temperature probe you put in the tank, and based on tank temp controls an electrical outlet (that you can hook your fan up to).

This way it turns the fan off and on automatically to keep your tank at your chosen set temp (I like around 80) without your having to remember. It is the most awesome thing ever (IMO).

jayo

 

[Anonymous]

I did an small experiment with eggcrate and a lux meter. For MH light it decreased the light by a slight measurable amount. For Flourescent lamps it increased the light consistantly.

This was with VHO though, not PC. Next chance I get I'll test with PC.

 

[Anonymous]

I did an small experiment with eggcrate and a lux meter. For MH light it decreased the light by a slight measurable amount. For Flourescent lamps it increased the light consistantly.

This was with VHO though, not PC. Next chance I get I'll test with PC.

you got me curious as to how you did the experiment-it seems counter intuitive that any light reading would actually increase, if an opaque object (the walls of the eggcrate) is placed between a light source and it's target object (?)

 

[Anonymous]

It's obvious that it blocks some light. It also takes some of the stray light that would normally be lost and points it down to the water. It might just be as simple as VHO reflectors being inferior to MH reflectors but the effect was measurable.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok cool! The tank is now at ~80-81 and stable!
Thanks for all the help!

 

[Anonymous]

The leather coral is starting to get a bit larger again... must have been the temp. (It didn't shed any skin either).