Can metal halides be completely enclosed?

[LeslieS]

I have a lot of cats so my aquarium canopy is pretty heavy duty and completely solid on top (no screen or holes). Can metal halides go in this type of set up. I have only seen them suspended or quite high up from the tank.

I will have a chiller.

 

[jenniebutterfly]

i would add some 4 inch fans on the sides of the canopy. would not be hard. when i had my 60 set up, i had an open top, and my cats jumped up there, their back ends fell in, and they learned not to jump on the tanks anymore

 

[LeslieS]

One of my cats is obsessed with water!! I cannot get a glass of water from the sink without him jumping in!!! If I leave water in the sink, he soaks himself and the kitchen, and I have to chase him around to dry him off...

Crazy!!!

 

[House of Laughter]

Leslie,

That is definately crazy since cats are genetically predisposed to not like water :scratchch

I echo Jennifers sentiment - if you are going to do halides, you MUST have a way to exaust the heat - even with a chiller, it's like lighting a candle in the freezer, somewhat defeats the purpose.

You can also augment the heat by putting a small 7" clip on fan on the same timer as your halides. It should go over your sump and will cool as mush as 5 degrees depending on the conditions.

Hope that helps,

House

 

[masterswimmer]

Leslie, I agree with Jennie and Jim. In addition to their reasons, you will get a longer useful life out of your bulbs, if you can cool them. As with any electrical component, heat always has a negative impact on the life of it. Bulbs included.

swimmer

 

[jhale]

i agree, all you need are fans.

take a look at my hood, just click on the link in my signature, the sps bank,
i have 3 250's in under the hood, there's a fan on each end blowing in, and one one top blowing out.

one of my cats likes to sit on top of the hood and play with the air coming out. yes there are fan guards :bigeyes2: :catsmiley :meow:

one of our members, herman, was cleaning his tank with the hood off, one of his cats jumped on the bracing then fell in. he got out faster than you could imagine, and that was a deep tank also

 

[PalmTree]

Once a cat knows what saltwater feels like he'll never go back in! Trust me! I think a few fans and your chiller should do the job just fine>:flower: :meow:

 

[LeslieS]

Sorry guys, tanking no chances with :cat: :cat: :cat: :cat: :cat: :cat: :cat: . I decided to go with the Tek T5 listed on my new shopping list. Thanks for all of the input. I am happy to know all of my options.

:fish:

 

[jhale]

is that 7 cats? ohh those vet bills must hurt! :Yikes: :catsmiley

Leslie the tank is still going to have to be enclosed to keep the cats out right? the T-5's are a fine choice, but you can still have the metal halides if you want. even with the T-5's your going to have to vent the hood with fans, otherwise you'll be baking your poor coral and fishies.
either way your coral will grow, it's just the look of the lights for your own pleasure. You will have to see for yourself. the halides are a hard light source and impart a nice shimmer in the water, the T-5's give a flat light output.

 

[PalmTree]

Spoken like a true hero jhale. I went from PC to T5 to MH. I love the shimmer from the MH. Looks just like the sun!:flower:

 

[PalmTree]

BTW.. My coworker has 10 :cat: !!! He's got you beat!

 

[LeslieS]

10!!! That is full on crazy!!!! And YES, our yearly vet bills are astronomical. We are the only people in our neighborhood who have to book a day at the vet for checkups. This year, I am going to see if she will make a housecall.

Have to convince B. Fishy on the MH. He thinks they have to hand from the ceiling and use too much energy. He also worked out a formula for how much heat the T5 will add to the water. (He's a math guy.) He thinks adding ventillation to the cover will be very adequate. I am going to check out a few setups, and go to the LFS this weekend to take pictures of my future tank (in the wrong color) so I have a fresh picture in my mind.

In the meantime....reading, reading, reading...

 

[Reefer420]

I'm lucky- my finance's father is a vet!!! Free vet care for life!!!

But I dont have any pets besides my tank so it doesn't matter...

Hoping to get a bulldog puppy at some point though- Iwanted a cat too, but cats can get smelly in a small apartment right?

 

[LeslieS]

Bulldogs are super cute! I think you have to order the puppies way in advance because they are only about 3 to a litter and they have to be delivered surgically. You should check out Bulldog Rescue. I hear they are great dogs for city living because they like to lounge, but super stubborn. There used to be one on my floor, and the owners were always arguing with him to, "come on Winston!" Once he was done with his walk, it didn't matter that he was in the middle of the street. He just sat down.

Cats can be stinky if you aren't careful. B. Fishy works from home so he is pretty on top of the litter box. Also, they are trainable to some extent. I think people don't realize that you have to spend time training kittens just like puppies. It is also important to look at different breeds and colors. Just like dogs, different breeds have different personalities. My vet swears that different colors/fur patterns also have different character traits. You can still adopt them, it is just good to have some idea what that cute torty kitten is going to act like when she grows up. That said, if you want one of mine....Just kidding!

 

[jhale]

reefer cats are not stinky, people who don't clean the litter box are stinky!

clean it every day and there is no stink, you also have to clean the whole thing out every one or two weeks. just think if you never flushed the toilet, yuck, you would stink too cats make great pets for the city, it's better to have two so they have company when your gone. If you want to meet two great cats come over to my place and you can see coco and mocha. sorry for the catjack Leslie

 

[Reefer420]

i love cats! my parents had seven when i was growing up. just in a studio things can get bad fast when you don't work at home...

any thoughts as to those mechanical litterboxes that sense when kitty has gone, then sweep the litter into those little containers?

i have to say before her parents got their bulldog i would never have thought they were all that great- but they have the friendliest disposition and other than the expense of keeping them healthy (which can be a problem w/ pallet surgery, etc they they sometimes need) they are amazing animals...

anyway, sorry to highjack - back to topic!!!

 

[LeslieS]

I adopted Lucky when I lived in a studio apartment, and there was never any stink. Beware, once you have one....

I like the mechanical litter box.
B. Fishy hates it.
I like corn litter.
B. Fishy likes recycled newspaper.

B. Fishy cleans the box. He can have whatever he wants!

As far as breeds go, my favorite is persian. Very personable and smart and almost dog like. You can find them easily through rescue groups.

OK, back to fish....

 

[LeslieS]

p.s. Just spoke to vet. she agreed to a housecall for everyone's yearly checkup. YEAHHHHH!

 

[joseney21]

I'd suggest getting halides. being that your tank is a room divider i'd probably put all holes and all fans on top of the hood (out of sight).

 

[Josh]

I have 3 cats, all Abyssinians, water cats. They used to be really interested in running water (especially the shower), but we bought them one of those drinking fountains and I think they got over the idea of staring at moving water.

When I got the 3rd one as a kitten, I wrapped my entire tank and stand with saran wrap to make sure he couldn't climb into the sump.

Also, my cats like to sit on all heat sources (cable boxes, stereos, external hard drives, halogen lights!), that is something to think about cat proofing if your cats are like mine.