Thoughts On...

[LionessN3cubs]

couple different things in one thread.

First...my hood lights. I had taken the hood off while fishless cycling because it made the tank too hot within a few hours...like 89 ish. Now I have fish in there with no lights and a fluorescent hood just isnt in the budget. I do have a glass cover on the tank now and am wondering if that will help deflect the light a bit or just work to heat the tank even more. Im thinking its going to heat it more and quicker because of holding everything in. However, I did just buy a coated color bulb (blue) and am going to try 1 bulb instead of 2. Any ideas on how to help the heat problem that DOESNT include buying anything cuz money is a MAJOR issue right now with all of the injuries my household has suffered lately.

Also. As far as vaccing. With the problem Im having with nitrite, I've decided to do a super good cleaning by sorta giving my spongefilter a quick squeeze rinse in tank water....but I also want to vacc extra well. The problem I had discussed before is that by the time I'm half done vaccing, most of the water in the tank is gone. I want to know how ridiculous of an idea it is to vacc as I normally would until the water is getting low, add a new bucket of dechlorinated water...and vacc some more until THAT water gets low and hopefully have time to get more of the gravel done. Then I'd of course, top the tank back up. Is that a ridiculous idea? I just REALLY think I have platy fry in there decomposing and need to get it out. My nitrite spiked up to .50 this morning....time to do something.

 

[tenohfive]

Sorry if this sounds patronising, but why not just turn your heater down a touch?

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Sorry if this sounds patronising, but why not just turn your heater down a touch?

the problem isn't the heater...the problem with the hood lights existed even BEFORE I got the heater and it'll be worse. From a room temperature tank the hood lights heated it up to 89 and higher within 2-3 hours (minus heater mind you). So turning the heater off now, certainly wont fix the problem.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Re the lights/heating problem…….. best bet is to get extra circulation around the hood, i.e. prop it open. Depends on the design of the hood how you do it but even if you put something on each of the 4 corners to raise the whole thing half a cm up the extra ventilation you’ll get around the edges should keep things a bit cooler.

Regarding the water change idea that sounds fine, just keep an eye on the temp while you’re doing it all. Another way to slow things down, possibly a job for one of the cubs to help you with, while you’re vaccing just slightly pinch the tube going down to the bucket, the water will flow through slower and therefore you can vac more before you run out of water. You could possibly do some sort of semi permanent budge by tying a big thick rubber band around it at one point or something like that.

 

[locust267]

The glass would make it hotter - Think glasshouse.

I'm assuming it's so hot due to your outside temp and not the heater being on full? If so some people add ice cubes to the tank.

If you need to do extra gravel cleans but are scared of doing too much could you do them once every other day until the gravel is cleaned?

*Sorry replied at the same time - Have you got reflectors in the hood? Also what colour is the gravel?

 

[LionessN3cubs]

Re the lights/heating problem…….. best bet is to get extra circulation around the hood, i.e. prop it open. Depends on the design of the hood how you do it but even if you put something on each of the 4 corners to raise the whole thing half a cm up the extra ventilation you’ll get around the edges should keep things a bit cooler.

Regarding the water change idea that sounds fine, just keep an eye on the temp while you’re doing it all. Another way to slow things down, possibly a job for one of the cubs to help you with, while you’re vaccing just slightly pinch the tube going down to the bucket, the water will flow through slower and therefore you can vac more before you run out of water. You could possibly do some sort of semi permanent budge by tying a big thick rubber band around it at one point or something like that.

HMMM I bet that is why my vac came with a clamp thingy that clamps to the side of the bucket and has a thingy I can pinch the tube closed with....can we say MAJOR brain dysfuntion here? Dang, I think this is the worst presentation I've given of my intelligence in a LONG time ::::sigh:::: You'll have to forgive me here...in 6 weeks time our household has dealt with 4 stitches, a concussion, splinters of wood surgically removed from a tush cheek, a seizure, 3 toes with chunks missing outta the tops thanks to cubs playing with doors and a badly smashed finger...been pretty much brain missing lately due to overload.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

HMMM I bet that is why my vac came with a clamp thingy that clamps to the side of the bucket and has a thingy I can pinch the tube closed with....can we say MAJOR brain dysfuntion here? Dang, I think this is the worst presentation I've given of my intelligence in a LONG time ::::sigh:::: You'll have to forgive me here...in 6 weeks time our household has dealt with 4 stitches, a concussion, splinters of wood surgically removed from a tush cheek, a seizure, 3 toes with chunks missing outta the tops thanks to cubs playing with doors and a badly smashed finger...been pretty much brain missing lately due to overload.

never mind Lioness, we all have our blonde days. My work wife (guy i sit next to at work) describes me as ditzy

Hope all the cubs are on the mend.....

 

[waterdrop]

Entertaining thread Lioness. About the light: Since you have the glass top, I wouldn't hesitate to just invent some sort of contraption (make it safe!) to hold the light even higher over the tank than already suggested - tanks used to be lit this way more in the 1960's and although its a different look, it can be nice. It should really not be too hard to invent this - the cubs may have ideas - I'm picturing some sort of wire frame type thing but it could be anything - just so the light shines down, nothing about the makeshift stand gets too hot and the lights are up farther away from the tank - it'd only be for probably this summer anyway.

Also, another contraption to think about creating is a *screen* for the top of the tank instead of the glass. This is another ancient thing we used to do sometimes years ago. You can get, like, one or two feet of nylon screening (like for repairing a screen door) at Home Depot type places for next to nothing... then get the hubby to figure out a cheap way to stretch it on a frame - again, the cubs may surprise you with the best ideas - all that matters is not having rust or bad stuff drip into the tank from condensation from something like this. I only suggest this because you may decide the overheating issue is more important than the evaporation issue for you this summer and with all the extra gravel vaccing you are getting ready to do, evap won't be an issue. Fish jumping out always remains an issue of course.

On the vaccing of course I agree with all the suggestions, the pinching and locusts suggest to just do more of them than you would normally think of. I doubt the need to extra gravel vac will be around long, as either the trace nitrite will be solved, or it will turn out be more of an overstock/underfilter problem or something.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[dpcamp]

just out of curiosity, what kind of thermometer are you using? because i'm thinking if the temp is really 89, the heater wouldn't be a factor anymore because it wouldn't be turning on.

I use one of those external sticker thermometers and it'll ready 82F and my heater is set to 76 and i'll see the heater turn on every so often. So i know those sticker thermometers arent accurate.

 

[LionessN3cubs]

just out of curiosity, what kind of thermometer are you using? because i'm thinking if the temp is really 89, the heater wouldn't be a factor anymore because it wouldn't be turning on.

I use one of those external sticker thermometers and it'll ready 82F and my heater is set to 76 and i'll see the heater turn on every so often. So i know those sticker thermometers arent accurate.

The heater is a submergible one but the heater is NOT what makes the tank water too hot. Right now I have just the heater and no hood and its peachy. The hood, if I put it back on...WILL superheat the water to 89 and higher whether or not I have a heater in there. The bulbs are just too hot and too close. I'll go with the suggestion of trying to raise the hood above the tank I think.

 

[waterdrop]

Sometimes when I want to build a contraption but don't know what to buy (assuming nothing lying around at home seems to fill the bill) to do it, I will wait until the first opportunity to waste some time and then I will "go for a stroll" around the isles of the big-box hardware stores and just stare at the various building materials and other things, always thinking what might work. I sometimes even go back and forth twice, comparing which idea has the cheapest materials. Its amazing what you can come up with - something meant for a different purpose can be a very cheap solution sometimes.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Corleone]

I noticed nobody mentioned compact florescents. If your hood has incandescent bulbs, you can replace them with CFLs for about $7 each. They'll run on the same socket, but produce less heat, take less electricity, and last longer. They're a bit hotter than a regular florescent tube, but they're much cooler than incandescents.