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Filling in the corners?

W

Whitebeam

Member
Joined
15 Aug 2010
Messages
67
Location
Dorset/Wiltshire Borders
My Juwel Rekord 800 is 78cm long, but the two T8 18W tubes are only 55cm long :(

The corners are as dark as the hakes (as they say where I was born and bred).

Anyone got any relatively simple (read cheap) suggestions for how to lighten my corners?

Peter
 
You may be able to squeeze 25w T8 in there. They're 75cm long.

I used to balance 2 x 25w T8 on the centre brace in my old Juwel Rio 125. One tube in front and one behind the Juwel light bar. I'm not sure if the Rekord 800 has a centre brace though, and if there's enough room? And I take no responsibility for any problems that balancing lighting above water may induce!

Another option is to DIY the tube clips underneath the hood. Again, I'm unaware of the physical layout of the Rekord 800, so not sure how feasable this is.
 
No centre brace on my tank, so I'm stuck with modifying the hood/lid.

My current thought is to add three 3W LEDS along each end, although the wire to the existing T8s might get in the way of one of them. I'll have to think hard of how to heat sink them.

An alternative is to make a new hood/lid out of plywood and put in those two 25W T8s that you mention. I'll have to look into costs. Somehow, the idea of the LEDs seems sexier though! :silent:

I would post a picture of the inside of the lid, but the Borrowers seem to have made off with the camera just now.

Peter
 
George Farmer said:
You may be able to squeeze 25w T8 in there. They're 75cm long.
Click to expand...
Right, I've got two of those 25W tubes, an external ballast/driver unit and some 9mm exterior plywood. I'll try to get some shed-time tonight to start to build a new hood to hold them.

Any advice on how to seal plywood for a hood?

Peter
 
A quick update on this one...

I built a hood out of 9mm exterior grade plywood, sealed it with the most everything-proof finish I know of (Rustin's Plastic Coating) and installed the 2 x 25W T8 tubes - these fit like they were made for this tank (or, perhaps, the other way round). The hood has been running for a couple of weeks now.

All I can say is wow! What a change! Rotala rotundifolia is not only now growing - it's turning red! I've never managed to get a hint of red in there before. My big sword is also now showing some red colouration. I get streams of bubbles from my plants towards the end of the lighting cycle (noticable when the CO2 goes off). I've got so excited I've now moved my P.helferi and Staurogyne repens into better positions to see if they now would like to grow rather than just sit there. This is a new world to me!

To those who were 'watching with interest' I say "if you think you can do the DIY required (and you can dose EI & CO2) you've got to try this".

Peter
 
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