Cookiemunster

yes of course, using heat shrink would be best. It would provide splash proof protection. I didn't do it cos I was lazy. But I would recommend it for safety. I will probably do it one of these days. The plastic g clamps are great!!! And very cheap!!! They have a slight rubber tip so slipping is not really possible. I used 2 clamps to be safe but actually even with just 1 clamp on one side was enough to hold it in place. And because of the angle, it can still hang on even if the screw in part breaks. Of course I have to add.....pls do this at your own risk. If you want safe, go look for the nice clip on by eaquarist. The dymax really looks nice and cool!

bro size should not be the main concern for chillers. Cooling power should be the main concern. Silence of operation next. If you get a smaller chiller, will it be able to cool your tank?

The nipple only applies to DE bulbs. All DE bulbs have a molded end on one side of the middle of the DE bulb. Its a small nobbly thing. I am using it nipple face down towards tank. So far my bulbs have no worse off performance neither have the colour changed. I have tried on BLV and SAKI now for about 9 months. But don't see any difference. And I certainly dun see a shadow of a giant nipple in the tank. hahaha However, I will try to face it upwards the next time I change bulbs to see if there is any difference. There isn't any 250W version. Unfortunately. I was hoping to find it too. But only way is to DIY and change the bulb holder. However, I was not sure the light casing can take the heat so I decided to stick with 150W. The exposed wires are a danger no doubt but if you know what you are doing, it should be safe. The live neutral is not exposed and the entire casing is earthed because I use a three pin plug with earth wiring. On the contrary, the open back helps to keep heat away from the water surface....and no light shines backwards out of the light casing.

Thanks for the comments so far brothers. However, can anyone tell me where I can custom cut out a piece of replacement glass?

The best place to get nori is chinese herbal shops. They sell the made in china unseasoned dried seaweed for 70 or 90 cents per big pack which lasts me for at least 3 months. Do not get seasoned nori which you eat straight from the packet. Make sure it is the raw dried types. And please do not spend more than $1 for a big pack of nori. Its not worth it. I bought the princesses from PR for $8 each. Joe: yup they look great. Evansi is nice too but I am thinking bartlets look nicer. And alot easier to keep too. Well we'll just have to see what evansi looks like up close.

Hi there, can anyone tell me where I can get customized cut out UV glass? My RIGA light hood glass cracked. Thanks

Thanks guys, yes I do have excess bottles of phyto each time I harvest, every 10 days. I only need 5 bottles so I have 2 bottles extra each time. Dradttg, those are normal flourescent daylight tubes. Phyto dun need very strong lights. But just make sure you have 16hrs of light each day.

No worries roidon bro......actually in a way you are correct. Because as the tank empties, the no 2 gauge is useful to indicate that. But its never good to rely on that with cyclinder valve fully open as it can damage the regulator. And it also makes it hard to control or fine tune with the cylinder valve open fully.

hahaha thats great news. It might not be so bad after all. Ready food in the tank. Anyway I really don't think isopods can populate a start up tank so fast. They need to feed quite voraciously to survive and need much more food in order to reproduce.

Bro what Nutz said is true. Never go to fish shop to do top up as it will not be completely filled. And never go for immediate same day top ups as these will also be the same. Unless its at soxal. The gauge closer to the cylinder is the output pressure available (adjustable by opening the cylinder valve slowly...but can only increase cannot decrease so do it slowly.....only way to decrease is by releasing gas) The further away gauge (no 1) is the fine output adjustment pressure available to the gas output. Expensive regulators (german types or industrial types) have an additional fine adjustment allowing you to control bubble output in seconds. Keep the output (no 1) low at about 1 quarter. This allows easier adjustments. And never open either valves more than 3 quarter on a full tank or your gauge can be damaged easily. As for good regulators, I recommend the bioplast (german). It has 2 controls.

Hmmm actually I was wondering why not just place a mandarin and a few doctor wrasse in. Sure to kill them all in a week's time. Unless the pods overwhelm them of cos. But due to the poisonous toxins on a mandarin's skin, pods may not attack a mandarin. This could be an interesting research on using nature to combat nature.

Thanks for the tips guys. Nipple orientation? Hmmm I always thought it should be pointing towards your corals......well that was what edwin placed on for me when I bought the RIGA. I dun think theres much difference about the direction of the nipple is there? Anyone with more info about this? As for orientation of light it shouldn't be a concern as many wall fixtures allow for such 45 degree orientations. Even the parks use their mh lighting upside down and at 45 degrees facing the trees. So I guess orientation doesn't really matter.

I think they are beautiful. Much nicer than purple queens and apparently much more ready to take to prepared foods. Already feeding on my nori/mysis/cyclopeeze mix.

Side View

Plastic G clamp

Completed hang on

Front View with RADIUM bulb inside.

Back view

Hi just wanted to share a really simple to DIY and very very cheap solution to having MH lighting for your tank. Presently I am using this as a supplement to the exisitng light hood I am already using. This MH set is sold by Orgasbt. Its similar to the Victron set but unfortunately Victron set does not include the UV glass. Orgasbt charges a little extra for getting the UV glass and delivering to you. I bought my set from him for $80. You still need to do the L/N/E wiring. I used the $4.90 plastic lights sold at IKEA. I dismantled the light and used the plastic g clamp. It is totally plastic and very strong. The total cost of this clip on MH is only less than $90. Please note I am not selling it neither am I DIYing it for others. Please pm Orgasbt if you wish to buy the set. You need to wire it up and get the g clamps yourself though. A few brothers asked me for a solution to a hang on MH.....and a cheap one too....so here it is. This is for Bawater, Rumor and Deepblue.

Actually I really do not believe a DE bulb can be sufficiently UV protected. I have used BLV with a UV glass added to the hood. It still manages to burn my corals...especially LPS. For SPS the flourescent green effect basically means its trying to shield itself from UV burn....and it happened to my SPS frags. And I was using 150W DE BLV with UV glass added. If you are using 250W DE BLV 10000k.....good luck. I will guarantee UV burns without an EXTRA thick UV shield. Can check with Hon on his costly experience. But I must say BLV has good PAR but poor on SPS colouration. It just doesn't have the spectrum needed to colour SPS. But is great for SPS growth.

Hi bro sorry to hear about this. But could you provide some info about the isopods in your tank? Any photos? Not all isopods are parasitic. Some are herbivorous.

Well considering its not a $3000 plus dollar digital microscope, its results are damned good already. I was already surprised at how good it managed to take the photos. I just need an abbe condenser to better focus it. By itself, this is about the best it gets. By the way it only costs less than a $100.

If anyone can spare me or help me find an abbe condenser I would be able to mod this microscope to make it much clearer and more distinct. My next mod would be to use a 5W LED to replace the lousy light it has. Currently only using a simple mod of 5 x white LED to take these photos.

Another of a copepod.

another shot...check out the green tummy.