New Lighting Heights

Hey all... made a stop at lowes today (finally) and after about 2hrs of searching the store for a solution to elevating the lighting off my tank (after even picking up 15
' pieces of tin gutter extentions, pvc, glass wall bricks ect.... even the little topper to go on mailbox for name and address) I found the track shelving... that I had past a couple billion times anyway.. here is what it looks like... had to really convince fam that it would not come out of the wall.. using heavy duity screws (and the little anchors)

but how many inches or so should it be off the tank.. other than the obvious answer of high enough to not bother temp and low enough to get the most lighting...(or maybe I just answered my own question.... hehe oh well...

her is the pic

yeah, just one.

hmmmm interesting way of attaching it with the racking there!!

Ian's just bolted our new 250w MH security light to the wall above the tank, i went and hid upstairs cos i was scared it was gonna bring the house down or something

very clever way of doing it actually! u can get the best height that suits u!! wish i could do that with my lights lol!
nice job!
and yes u answered your own question

Hey.. tank update (verry happy right now)

today's readings its like it went from crap to whoo hoo...

SG 1.020
Temp 78.8
pH 8.3
ALK 300 mq/L
dKH 10
Ammonia 10ppm
Nitrite 10ppm
Nitrate 80ppm (YIKES time for a water change?)

Calcium 320
Phosphate 0


Thanks guys..... the fixture is verry light (hehe) and secured to the wall mountings and the wall moutings are toughly in place. hehe

so excited!

off to work

Looks great, and a brilliant DIY . I'd leave the lights right were they are, you seem to get good cover with the lighting just where it is

Did you buy your LR cured/uncured and local/mail order?

SkiFletch said:

Did you buy your LR cured/uncured and local/mail order?

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Thanks

I got my LR online thatfishplace.com advertised as partialy cured.....

Then that makes sense. Let the cycle complete itself until there is no more ammonia present. Then do a 100% water change to remove the nitrate. After the change, wait a few days and see what happens. Wait for nitrates to stop rising then do another big change and you'll prolly be safe to stock. Because your rock was only partially cured and was out of water a while during shipping, there's lots of dieoff. Gotta get that under control first

awesome! that is what I wanted to hear.. gunna go test ammonia.. hehe... will let you know the readings in the moring (it is 10pm here) and it has been a very long day..

night all(or good morning)

Nalaundi

Great solution. Here is another idea if you need to try something else. I went to Wal-mart at 2am looking for ideas when i realized my new lighting hoods legs wouldn’t work on a tank with a lid on it. so here’s what I came up with:

4 screw in hooks @ .25$ each = 1.00$
absurdly long chain @ 4.75 = 4.75$
4 screws to hook chain to fixture @ .20 each = .80$

total of 6.55$ not bad

JJ1234567 said:

Great solution. Here is another idea if you need to try something else. I went to Wal-mart at 2am looking for ideas when i realized my new lighting hoods legs wouldn’t work on a tank with a lid on it. so here’s what I came up with:

4 screw in hooks @ .25$ each = 1.00$
absurdly long chain @ 4.75 = 4.75$
4 screws to hook chain to fixture @ .20 each = .80$

total of 6.55$ not bad

Click to expand...

exactly what I thought about doing.. only prob was that my fixture had no way of attaching chains to it. soo was left to other solutions.. though this one I like it seems to be holding perfectly... no falling or loosining which is a good thing for me.
if i ever upgrade I will use your solution becuase it seems much more practicle...

I was maybe thinking of putting a shelving unit it for my testing supplies and gloves and stuff that wont hurt anything if it falls.

today's perameters lookinin o so sweet!

Temp 78
pH 8.2 (will bring up with water change)
SG 1.022 (will bring up to 1.024 with water change)

ALK 240 mq/L
dKH 10 mq/L

Ammonia .... 0ppm
Nitrite 10ppm
Nitrate 40ppm

Ca 320 ppm
Phos. 0ppm
ready for Water Change.. (will do tomarrow after work when all my water has been going for 24hrs.. could do it tonight but didnt quite have enough made (had 13 g) when I need 18g... so I will do it all at once tomarrow.


now... I dont want to start stocking straight away but i want fishhies sooooo.... to cheat the system (since I am going to start a freshwater tank for all my 15 nieces and nephews so they leave my tank in my room alone) I am going to get some guppies to put into my sw tank for a week or so just to see if it is realllly ready.. then transfer them into their own tank (no toilet heavan for theses guys) and if they look to stressed i will move them out to thier own tank. I dont want to wait to see them die.. that is just mean and unjust for the fishies).. once i see diatoms... its time for my cleanup crew! whooo hoooo

question.... do i get all my clean up crew on the same trip... two trips or like the fishies one at a time with a good length of time inbetween? as I hav been watching others I am guessing they are fine all at once but... I have been confused on thisone!


thanks yaall!! (said in a utahan drawall)

Well to answer your question first, start with a clean up crew. I know its tempting to rush things, but you really dont want to do that. Its best to let things go the natural way. Your tank looks better for it in the long run. Ive noticed people that take time and do things right seem to have better coral growth, less diatom coverage or rocks and sand, better coraline algea growth, and healthier looking fish. It pays to take time and do things in order. Start with a few snails and a hermit or two if your interseted. Inverts are very very amusing and intersting to watch if youve never had them before. Heck Ive had SW for almost 2 years now and I still love to watch my inverts and their antics.

As for the light fixture, Im not sure what kind you have, but mine is a jebo (cheap knock off of a coralife fixture). The holes that the legs screw into are just the perfect size to slide a nut in behind the leg. the leg have holes for the tightening screws but you just slip a screw in there and attach it the chain, and there ya go. Ill do a close up in the morning if your interested.

Hey all!

Ive been away for the week and now just comming back to the real world... going to dog grooming school (harder than it sounds)
anyway.. I did a water change on my 20g last night which went wonderful... I think i have 90% of the dieoff gone and only a slight gross smell on two of my 5 rocks. soooo I will be waiting a bit to make sure things stay stable... here are my test results after a 90% waterchange

Time: 8pm
Temp: 78F
S.G 1. 025
salinity 34.5
pH 8.3
Alk 240
dKH 11
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 2
Nitrate 5 (from 40ppm)
Calcium 400
Phosphate 0


Rock looking colorful and starting to get diatoms at least the coloring on the rock itself.. Im excited to get some snails and such in but may wait till everything has stayed level for about a week ---or i really get diatoms..

I changed out my carbon filiter for filter floss in my biowheel and will start changing that every week, as for the Rena.. regular carbon, Pergen, and a foam which I will also change out every week.
sooooo what do ya all think?

Nitrite of 2? Thats a little high, everything else looks pretty good though

SkiFletch said:

Nitrite of 2? Thats a little high, everything else looks pretty good though

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I agree.. Im going to do another waterchange at the end of the week if it hasnt converted. Im obviously at the end of the nitrite spike... before I did the waterchange it was at 4, dropped to three and then stayed.. I did the wc and brought it down to 2. I will watch it. Ive got plenty of water and testing supplies ready to go. I want to see if the nitrites will come down on their own first ofcorse.. I need to change out my phosphate spong to see if that will help.

I just tested the nitrates again and they are down to 2.5 instead of 5. so things there are going great. I think.. think.. I have finally got ALL the die off from the rock... I did th sniff test and all passed with flying colors.

my lighting shelving thingiys came off the wall so I ran to walmart and got some heavy duty anchors and they seem much sturdier. so lighting should be there once and for all. I am hopefully going to look at buying a car on thursday and if I do I will have much more freedom to run arround town to find my cleanup crew. should be fun.

well, it's late, and i have to bee at work by 6am... ugggggg

night all!