I added egg crate to my 55

[muppet]

In anticipation of picking up a diamond goby soon.

I also switched my return nozzle out for a loc-line y splitter with flexible tubes that I jury rigged a bit.

My tank no longer ripples on the top so much. I've got to keep an eye on my pH I think, but I suspect that I may have less evap now without the "hump" I was getting from my return nozzle previously.

The egg crate looks sorta ghetto, LOL. I'm tempted to spray it black, but I think that will reduce the PAR of my lighting and even if it's only a little I don't want that.

When I shut off my return, the sump almost overflowed. I'm not sure why the level I marked is no good anymore. Maybe the return was sitting lower than usual.

Which reminds me, I forgot to drill an anti-siphon hole in my new return. I've got to undo it all tomorrow now and drill the hole before I try doing a WC and forget about it. :P

Someday I'll be able to do a project ONCE. Hehe.

[muppet]

(Yeah at my level, adding egg crate and fabricating a return from threaded fittings and silicone counts as a "project". Wanna make something of it?)

:-P

[fishfry101]

my blue spotted i picked up at PC during the sale jumped through the egg crate the other day. Found him dried up on the floor.

[muppet]

If I have a fish jump through this I'll just take it off and forget I ever did it. It's ugly anyway.

I'd like a clear screen top but I'm too lazy to make one. I'd need an irregular frame because of my overflow and hang-on return.

[zach jay]

hey muppet where did you pick up the loc line? I'm looking to get some- hopefully locally.

[muppet]

I ordered it from Marine Depot but I've got to say that I feel like they overcharge for shipping for what you get. My order was around $15 before shipping, then they charged $7 for shipping and it took a week to arrive. I dunno if that's ordinary for most online vendors. I do most of my online (not necessarily reef-related) shopping on Amazon and I'm used to way better service/value than that.

[muppet]

I couldn't find all the fittings I needed so I glued the loc line to a barbed fitting with tons of silicone. :-) It's holding really solidly after I allowed it to cure for over 48 hours, but I think I'm restricting the flow from the pump so the flow in my tank is a bit less than it was with the old nozzle. I'm going to redo it soon.

[Reefir]

no tops , topless , its about the corals not the fish , right ? u cant have the best of both worlds , have ur cake and eat it too , go no top and fish that serve a purpose , dont take away from coral so some fish dosent commit suicide ....IMO..lol

[chingking327]

Tell em ryan, he told me the same think i took it off and i love it.

[Reefir]

u ever sit in an elevator and look up , its two 4ft florecents , put some eggcrate and u spread the light and u can stare at the fixture , it obviously blocks light . unless u had to damper your light its only good for frag racks and drip trays . basically you cant get a good tan with sunglasses on , unless you want the rocky racoon look or starving corals. thye fish r benifiting on a trap, most of us have more money in coral than fish so you have to decide which way u want to go . all coral means no light restrictions ....none ..ASMUCH LIGHT AS U CAN WITHOUT ALGEA BREAKOUTS , imo , u want fish go with a closed in no light setup , u just need the lighting to show off ur fish , me i turn down the lights to show off my small fortune in coral ..lol

[mylifeismyown66]

Thats why I used the BRS screens. Doesnt really block any light like a glass top with water on it or egg crate would.

[usctrack]

What is brs screen? Nevermind. I looked it up. Looks interesting. I take it you have had success with it and no light blocked?

[mylifeismyown66]

What is brs screen?

Bulk reef supply sells 1/4" and 1/2" plastic grid screening to make tops with.

[muppet]

I'm almost definitely picking up this light at the end of the month, so I'm not too worried about PAR issues... ;-)

http://www.aquacave.com/finnex-48-ledt5-combo-br-aluminum-light-fixturebr-4-x-t5--21-x-led-2552.html

Just waiting on the IRS to get their thumbs out of their... ears.

[muppet]

I also added my Koralia 750gph to the left side of the tank, which made the xenia very unhappy, so I had to move them. They're pulsing again, though.

I moved my small gorilla nipples frag to the left side under the powerhead and they don't seem to like it. I'll see how they're doing in the morning.

A bunch of my frags that had started to get pale are coloring up real well under the new bulbs I got a week or two ago. Can't wait to get 4 bulbs going plus the LEDs for shimmer factor.

[Reefir]

its funny to read a post from last night when i had to many beers , my last post was preatt distorted , lol , good luck with that muppet , u will figure it out , trial and error . but seriously dont diffuse what little light u got now . and even with that new light u will decrease par a great deal with the eggcrate . I wouldnt recomend it , but u like to do things ur own way anyway so I dont think you really want my opinion anyway ..lol

[muppet]

My own way? What makes you say that? LOL

I won't keep the egg crate if it's making my tank look sad. I'm dreading having to take my new return apart and do it right, but I tested and it drained like half my tank lol.

[muppet]

Hmm the lights have come on this morning and there is a LOT of reflection off the top of those egg crate pieces, just visually it's quite dazzling. I may have to rethink this thing. :(

Though, I gotta say, visually, the TANK doesn't look different. I even took one side of the egg crate off and compared and I can't tell a difference. I can see from the reflection off the top that there's gotta be a difference, though.

[gar732]

A bunch of my frags that had started to get pale are coloring up real well under the new bulbs I got a week or two ago. Can't wait to get 4 bulbs going plus the LEDs for shimmer factor.

Just a heads up, your not going to get any shimmer from those leds. they will just be drowned out by the T5s. If you want you could add a couple 48" reefbrite leds along with the fixture you already have and that should give you some shimmer as well as give you some nice color. Either that or just go with an ATI sunpower fixture. ATI bulbs and fixture are as good as they get and its actually cheaper than the fixture you're currently looking at. Another option is to spend another $150 and go all LED with some reefkoi fixtures.

[muppet]

I'm not sure 4 T5's are gonna drown out 21 1w LEDs, but if they do, then I'll just dial them down and use them for moonlights instead.

[Reefir]

i have two 4 ft led blue on my 6 bulb t 5 setup when the lights r on u can turn them, on and off and u dont even see them , they only work at night , and they r damn nice , i wouldnt have it any other way , those leds r not going to do a thing especially if they r white . come see mine and u will have no more questions about that .

[IDrawFish]

Just use this and get rid of your ugly egg crate... http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/store/products/miscellaneous/miscellaneous-items/clear-1-4-screen-netting-7-x-3.html#

[muppet]

My tank isn't reef ready, so fabricating a net cover would be a major PITA. I don't want to deal with it. :)

[JoeBellz]

You can get all the materials to build the BRS netting at Depot except the actual netting.

I picked up the aluminum framing, frame corners, spline, & spline roller really cheap and got my netting a few days ago. I'm going to put it together tonight and not have to worry about jumpers. I'll post pics when I'm done.

[renogaw]

eggcrate when facing the correct way can amplify your light. when facing the wrong way, it can decrease your light.

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic24384-13-1.aspx