richms
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Posts posted by richms
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If your tubes are squeezed in, then there will be insuficiant gaps between them to let the light from the reflector come down into the tank, and you will only end up making more heat for stuff all increse in lighting.
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Found one
Ringgrip bodyguard, mate had one that he got for outside xmas lights. -
if the water is glowing green it sounds like its a UV tube. Dont use it or look at it till you have doublechecked what it says.
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plumber handled changing the toilet bowl and swapping the pipe for plastic here, I think it was one of those does all guys, coz he did gas too.
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I stand corrected Sparkypn about the limit of the homeowners work.
I better go an reread the Electricity Act 1992 section 110 (yes i just did actually do that
)I thought that all got replaced when we got the fantastic aussie regs in 2004?
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The only plumbing I will pay for is to do with the sewer for obvious reasons
The OP may live in a new house that has requirements about who does work to maintain its warentee, or else live in something which has the onerious body corporate dictating what he may do to something that really doesnt belong to him.
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I dont want the whole circuit protected, just the aquarium
If I cant find a plugin one that will ride out the outages then I will get one, otherwise get the powerpoint one.
The arlec rcd only cost $13, its going to find a second home in the garage
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Hydraulic underfloor heating can be run off a storage tank which is heated by solar. You are looking at several grand for the solar hot water system, plus the costs of an underfloor heating system so it wont be cheap.
On the plus, you have the electric element in the storage heater for a backup if there isnt enough sun for a few days.
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Aren't they supposed to do that!!!!
When you test an rcd you make sure that it cuts out if the power stops.
My old one didnt, All the test button does is simulate a ground fault.
The ones in powerpoints and in breaker panels dont, I just want a plugin one that does the same thing.
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Just replaced my old lifeguard one since it was starting to make some strange noises.
Anyway, I have tried an arlec and a PDL, but they both have a thing where if the AC drops out, even momenterily, they turn off. Great when there are the number of power glitches there are here on the shore.
Any brands not suffer this? Otherwise I will just swap the outlet out for an RCD one, which I would rather not since they cost a lot.
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I have just purchased 4x t5ho for my new tank.
where did you get them and what did it end up costing you all up?
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If you have read the full article above, it says both about 20000hrs life time. I would probably think of changinging it after 15000.
thats about 150 days.
Perhaps if you run them 100 hours a day
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Also, the t5 ho tubes mean you need less of them, so getting more of the usable light out of them into the tank is easier. If you have to put in so many tubes that they are virtually touching, then a lot of light will just hit the next tube over and be absorbed by it, instead of hitting the reflector and then the tank.
Also, T5's are slightly shorter so when you make your hood without thinking about how the lights going to fit, they will fit whereas a t8 will not. t5 ho batten fittings are a lot more expensive then a cheap t8 one, but comparable to a decent t8, so you gain in the lower number of fittings you need unless you like buying the cheapest thorn piece of crap that there is.
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I bought some 965s for the office a few months back... not a patch on 865s for brightness, infact it was not enough, i would have needed tripple tube fittings to get it up to being workable.
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The 9 in 965 just means that it is above a 90 CRI, the 65 is the 6500K part, I think most tubes get a cri of 91, so barely scraping into the 90s.
They also look very very purple and cost heaps more then an 865 tube does, and have lower light output.
Stick with 865 tubes is my advice.
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When they are too full they stop working well, just dont be anal about cleaning them, give them a quick squeese in the bucket of tank water to remove the worst, then put them back in, sure, some crud will go into the water, but better that then lose all the good stuff from the filter.
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All electrical equipment will have some leakage to the chassis. Mainly stuff with switching powersupplys like dvd players, vcr's, laptop computers etc - if you measure these with a sensitive digital multimeter its not uncommon to get over 100 volts, yet you cant feel anything because the impedance between the power and the chassis is so high that not enough current flows to even feel. Heaters can capacitivly couple mains to the water quite well simply because of the amount of live metal in them seperated only by a thin piece of glass.
More of an issue is the current you will get to earth from the tank. Get an old analog meter and measure the voltage, it shouldnt show anything, then try to measure the current with a digital meter, you will probarbly find a few miliamps if you are able to feel it. Any more and you would be tripping your RCD in most cases.
If you dont have an rcd, go buy one before you stick your hand in the tank again, they are only $17 at bunnings for an arlec plugin one.
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I drilled a hole in the wall and ran a $5 garden hose down to a gullytrap thru the basement. Then on the end of my gravelvac I put a male hose connector and I just start it into a bucket and then clip it onto the cheap gardenhose. The extra length makes for a bit more suction too.
When I am done I turn off the canister filter, dose the tank with the chlorine removing stuff from the pump, and then I unscrew the shower rose hose and join it onto another $5 garden hose, set it to about the right temperature then run thru the house with it in a bucket and stick it in the tank weighed down with a rock, watch tv and keep an eye on it till its back to where it should be.
Then repeat for the coldwater tank.
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For the cord I usually buy a 3 meter extension cord and chop the socket off. Cheaper then a bare 3 pin plug, and long enough, and has an earth. Not many appliances have an earth and a long cord, kitchen appliances are about the only earthed ones I have here and they have a short cord to satisfy the desires of people to protect children from themselves.
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High frequancy electronic ones are more important because they radiate interference while running, for the magnetic ballasts its only while striking that interference is a big issue, so noone will hunt you down for jamming their AM radio reception for a second once a day.
There are efficiancy issues too, but primerily its the length of cable tha tit will still pass the emissions test with.
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But the rating is not so that all the light emitted is of that stated frequency. If you look at graphs they show a range of frequencies around that stated. I was asking if that changed with age.
Yes, some of the phosphers will age faster then others. If you are the type of person that keeps tubes in untill they no longer strike anymore then you are well past when they should have being replaced, if you change them at the end of their useful life then the spectrum shouldnt have changed too much from new.
I try to relamp my t8's anually, more for peace of mind then anything else.
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Quite possibly its a rapid start ballast and you are using an instant start tube. It may be supposed to have a t12 tube in it, those are still commonly used in the Us an parts of asia since you cant instant start longish tubes off 110 volts.
Does it have a starter in the fitting?
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I've plugged this idea a few times. 12V metal halide. It costs almost nothing (<$20) and is only 12V so safe to wire up over a tank yourself.
See this post for more detail
They are not metal halides.
You can get some real 12v metal halides if you ask at a car certification place, since the retrofit kits that are so popular in japan are not legal in nz to use on the road, so they end up pulling them out and replacing with normal halogen headlights. A mate picked up 8 of them in various condition in excahnge for a tray of liquid gold.
However the bulbs in those have little reflectors etc in them to make them work with car headlight reflectors so the output is anything but even. Worked ok for garden uplighters which is what he wanted them for tho.
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When I see that I think of a place to put ice and beer, not a pond
Ahhh Hot fish tank!!!!!!!
in Freshwater
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The fans evaporate water, which cools down whats left, like sweating.
Now in this horrid muggy humid weather, that will not work. I find it so funny that places sell those evaporative coolers which have no show of working in the typical hot weather.