Recent content by stano

Ok I have determined that glass does not block UV. Now my question is does UV need to be blocked from a Metal Halide? The amount coming off a 175W bulb is substantial, however I do not have any reference as to whether high amounts of UV exist is reef areas (near the equator, crystal clear water...

Ok did some more checking and acrylic does however block UV-A 100%. Which is weird because I would have swore it was the other way around? Anyway interesting stuff. Stano

Group I just finished hooking up my new DIY MH lighting system. The hood is a bent aluminum sheet with remote ballasts. The system looks great. I intended to potentially add a piece of glass below the bulbs once installed. The glass would be to shield the bulb and to block UV light. Well I...

I just picked up a GE Chroma 7500K 4' bulb today to try. I put it into my system and the light is pretty white compared to my other 50/50 and 10000K bulbs. I attached a pic for comparison. The question here is, has anybody tried these bulbs (which I understand are fairly new) in their reef...

I would like to offer all people in the algoma district and upper peninsula of michigan to join a new saltwater aquarium club, called OCEAN. It is the Open Coral Exchange And Network. The club is based out of Sault Ste. Marie, ON. The purpose is to facilitate the exchange of information, coral...

Louey Thanks for the comments. I am glad to hear somebody recognize that maybe we (aquariusts) might have some options. I talked to a guy at champion (very helpfull) and he suggested that as long as the fixture has a M59 type ballast that most all MH bulbs should work just fine. He also...

Question 1 Can someone explain to me why it is such a terrible idea to use an outdoor completely sealed commercial fixture over a reef aquarium? The fixtures I have been looking at, seem to be exactly what I want. They are sealed, they have tempered glass covers, they have a very nice mounting...

Thanks for the responses My lighting is really due for an update. I do have 8 40 watt bulbs, but I must admit some are far too old. I am in the process of saving to purchase some MH pendants, and get rid of most of the flourescents. That will likely not be until August I suspect. The coral has...

I have an established 90 gallon (3 years) reef tank. All corals are doing quite well and are growing. Fish are very good, 5 in total. The only real problem other than a bit of red slime algae is a bubble coral I bought about two years ago. For the first 6 months the thing was quite good. Then...

I recently made a bunch of rock using aragonite gravel. I am also following the GARF plans. I soaked mine in a lake for about 5 weeks, and am now soaking it in saltwater. I did put one small piece of rock in my reef tank as an experiment. So far no problems. I will keep you posted as to how i...