Barnacle

With no bracing at all, you would be standing in a 2000L puddle. :slfg:

Is laminating glass to 15 or 16mm going to be cheaper than using a single thick pane of 15mm glass? Jennifer: The bracing i ran in the simulation went from front to back of the tank in the center. Just did a new one, with what i think is euro bracing. This one has an 80mm wide strip along the top edge.

Forced upon tax... yea it kinda pays for the roads you drive on, as does the tax you pay in your fuel.

Thought I'd run this through a simulation for ya. (I think i did it correctly) But it looks good enough for me. 12mm Glass, filled to 700mm and 1 brace in the center. But without the brace it isnt very happy.

Lots of light The brighter you can get your tank/subject lit, the easier it will be to get a crisp photo

Oh yea this water cooled thing is nothign to do with the 5050 type led's, but for larger high power ones. I'll have to design/make all the components. And it wont be submerged either. Check this link: http://reefbuilders.com/2010/03/19/wate ... ures-heat/

What my ultimate plan is, will be to cool the LED's using water from the aquarium. Basically providing free heating during the day. Will of course need to provide a failsafe/feedback system to prevent heating the water beyond a set limit. I'll probably provide the water flow by means of a small powerhead. 3watts pumping power to save a whole heap on heating sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

I also have some 5050SMD's of the RGB variety, but they really arent very bright, good for a bit of mood lighting at night but not really much else. The problem is those also get warm, so ideally they want to be mounted to something that will dissipate the heat. Hot LED's die fast. The cooler to you can keep them, the longer they will last.

Uhhh depends on the wattage of course. I'd say running costs are the same. But the difference is in the lifespan. LED's should last many years, where as a tube doesn't. Initial costs may be more for LED's. But if you are a little bit handy it may even be cheaper... especially when you see how much even a single tube costs now. Breakdown of my costs: 50W LED $16USD Circuitry $19USD Reflector $2USD So say about $45 nzd for what i had running there. Heatsink and fan you can salvage from an old computer or will probably cost you $10 Obviously this doesnt have any fancy housing or fitting at this stage... thats still on the to-do list.

my cheap 7w ones have been going for almost a year now...

Im wondering... (and im no expert) but how about easing up on the water changes? My tanks never had any issues starting, and i only did a water change every couple of weeks and also dont vacuum the gravel. Maybe it'll help get some of the bacteria in the gravel get settled and stop the brown slime stuff?

So I got a 50w LED in the mail the other day, and I've had a bit of fun playing around with it. I bought it to try a few things out, one is an underwater swimming pool light that i'm designing. Also I would like to try out LED Lighting over my aquariums... I already have 2 7W LED's over my 2 small tanks. 1 single one over a tank is ok, and does provide plenty of light for plant growth. 2x 7W over 1 tank also works great for plants. And as of tonight Im baking the fish in my 25L tanks with 50W of light over it. The killi's don't appear to mind... yet. Heres a couple of photos to show ya. (Clickable thumbnails) The photos dont do it justice to show how bright it is. When fitted over my 200L, Its still brighter than twin 30W tubes with reflectors

Yea i have it lowered as much as was suitable for me. I live in the wops so some ground clearance is nice. It has a set of adjustable shock absorbers and a big engine... thats about as far as the modifications go on that car. I remember i always wanted a subwoofer in my car... im so glad i never did because now i think they are the stupidest things around

Have you got any idea on how fast you would like the water moving? I imagine you would want the whole body of water flowing as opposed to 2 jets moving fast. In order to get the high volume flow require, you'd need some kind of axial flow pump... Much like what we know as wavemakers with the small rc boat propellers inside them. Maybe duct them through some pipe under the gravel to the other side of the tank? I'll see if i can whip something up on the computer to show what i mean. As for filtration, jsut a regular external filter will be fine... Wou will save money using a high volume pump (or two) + regular filter vs. Very high volume filter. I'm making a similar kind of thing for university for my final year project... a tidal flow simulation tank. It would actually make for an idea hill stream tank variable flow up to 1m/s.

Nice this one used to be silver as well. Ive had it since 2000 i think... far too long, but it is heaps of fun wth the grunty 1800 i put in it

The EF ones aren't the cool ones... they are too new Heres my honda in her better years:

If its about 200L then itll weigh in around 200kg or more. 1L of water is 1kg. I dont have much else i can contribute at this stage good luck

Its Either built in your wall socket, with a Test and Reset button, or its an extra orange thing where you have your stuff plugged into... with the same 2 buttons. Or its built into your fuse box in the house. Easy to spot as it probably has a switch as well as a Test Button.

Nice and i love the names. Wish i had even a little creativity to be able to name mine

My brother had a crypt for about 2 years, that whole time it kept losing leaves and dieing. He put the lastremaining leaf in a different tank, and after 3 months in there finally grew another... and another... and now its really bushy and good looking. We still have no idea why it did that

I think the issue is more saving water, not saving electricity

Nice, I always see so many cool things stuck to the rocks when i go snorkelling or spearfishing, It really makes me want to do a saltwater tank.

I got a couple of Gardneri's the otherday.

If your tank takes 2 tubes, I would reccomend a powerglo + daylight tube 6500K (the type you can find at the hardware stores). I have this and hte plants do well. Also stops my tank looking overly pink or purple from the powerglo.

I would try blocking the intake with some hot glue. You can pull the glue out if it doesnt help. Or if you can dissassemble it, try putting a small plastic disk with a couple of hole cut into it, on the propeller side of the outlet, maybe with a small dab of glue to hold it there. Start with a few holes, and add more untill you have the flow you want