reef

both post at 11.46am

it will syphom the water in the overflow. wont work

i still doubt it will work as it will then get a syphon and then stop. Then again it might work if you use 100mm piping

wont work. will lose its syphon. water will then go up above the comb and it might then get it back.

I mean a tap on the return to the sump. ball valve. i dont have a airflow tap, just a small 1mm hole.

we have many power cuts in the bush and it has never overflowed. I do have two overflows with 25mm pipe durso. so that might stop the overflow as it can handle far more flow that what it is getting,

call it the dursotap system then. works great.

You can stop the noise and the bubbles by having a tap after the durso. as i said i dont have any noise or excess bubbles. it is dead silent.

I think you will find that durso stand pipes are loud because they are not put in correctly. If I can get mine silent then every else should be able to. I have a tap on mine so i can adjust the flow, once set i have never had to adjust it.

In terms of my durso i can say i have never had a problem. Here is another method you might want to try. Hofer Gurgle Buster's http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=b617e20df4f7ee5970a1050092ffd13b&postid=8101778#post8101778

Maybe an opportunity for you to make big bucks. I am aware of quiet a few people who use them and some like them some dont as they are very white. Stopped using them about six months ago as they where too bright, some corals did very well like the purple and blue acros however green looked very washed out. So for me yes you can have to much light. but hey they are bright.

Sure they are great benefits, but what the point if they are not bright enough. Also big price tag which no one will pay for especially in NZ.

Might be ok for low light corals, going by the info the lumen/watt is very low. They will be great in the future as you can do moonlight function on them as well as dusk/dawn etc.

i read about that , however they say it is still 5 years away untill led will match any metal halide. the test done to compare the solaris was done in a way to favour the led and the bulbs used where crap. as we can see from my lux readings it makes a big differance which bulbs you use. some info on RC http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=870268c0a11b71f2b9672c1fc68f4c14&threadid=876845&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

It does not seem to make much difference as my reflector which are half the size are putting out more light. however i dont have the same bulbs and better equipment is required. From what i have read diamond reflectors will give you a even spread of light so you dont get any hot spot. the best light is not always under the bulb but on the side of the bulb. The best bet is always get decents reflector not just paint the inside of the hood Will also see if i can get a true lumenarc to see how it goes against the copies. however bulb & ballast selection will make a bigger differance. Looking at the true lemenarc the reflector is much brighter so i would assume you will give more light however if it is say 10% does it really matter due to all the variations. Bit hard to do as you have to rotate the mogul to get the nipple in the correct location. the bulbs have to be screwwed in tight so it a bit hard to place the nipple where you want it. The blv bulbs rock if you want bright bulbs

Did some re testing today on some more metal halides. Funny how most of the readings are the same not made up. The test are on inconsistent as it is not an easy process due to many reasons. For one it depends which reflector you use as the brightest light is not always under the bulb and can be on the side of the bulb. Also some bulbs are smaller so the side readings are different and can differ due to the centre reading effecting the side reading. retested wasps tank. centre means the brightest part of the bulb not directly under it. 400w, narva 400w se.with hps ballast. taken 20cm from light cover centre, 20cm to right. 20cm to front. 73k .30k . 34k 54k .28k . 32k taken 25cm from light cover. 250w narve 14k 25cm from bulb .57k .37k .28k 400w blv, 14k. really bright at 25cm 100k .43k .48k at 20cm high the bulb was reading over 1250k 400w sps, 20k bulb, at 25cm 75k, 27k, 34k. To get the best light you have to match the ballast with the bulb and get a geometric reflector to match the bulb. also read that colour of the bulb can change depending which way the nipple is facing. The blv 14k bulb was by far the brightest and really shows that bulb selection is important. Also a 250w can be almost as bright as a 400w if the correct bulb is used. I believe 250w bulbs actually run at 360w anyway so that explains why they are as bright as some 400w units. will test a 250de sometime as they can give high readings if used in a correct reflector.

some info i came across.

the meter only test for lux Started a new thread. http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/here-vp170672.html#170672

I set up a flat poly sheet with makings at 20cm from centre to test the lux of some lighting. Luxmeter model is QM1586 Digitech test are taken at 25cm from lamp cover. here are the test results. Since my first test i note that having the meter steadly makes a dramtic differance and test can vary which way the bulbs are facing. 400w.reeflux 12k bulb.using same type of ballast. readings are: ... ...... centre. 20cm to right. 20cm to front light 1 62k 43k 29k light2 65k 43k 30k light3 68k 39k 28k Will look to redo some of my initial tests as they where taken by hand which gave far inconsistant readings. Will be interesting what the 250w bulb reads and to see if bigger reflectors do give better coverage/light power. did a test outside on sunlight . reading at 10.45am .85k.

Thanks for clarifying that wasp. Will look to get more accurate tests when I get a grid made up so that measurements are taken at exactly 20cm and the meter is flat on a board so that the meter does not jump around when you move. Well see if I can test all my bulbs today as they all run on the same ballast and have the same bulbs/age to see the variations in readings between bulbs. Might also do some tests at 25cm as the meter might be more accurate as the lux will be below 50k which is within the meters range. Another big factor is that the 400w was only on for 5 mins.

The only readings debatable are the centre readings, the sides are not far off. since the meter is designed to go to 50K lux , i would say reading over 50K are very inacurate as i was saying so that could explain why the side readings similiar as the reading is not over 50K lux. the t5s do give a far better average in lighting over the whole tank by the looks of it. Really interesting that bigger seem not to give a better spread of light as my lights read 20cm to right 38k.20cm to front 33k (test with a board so that can get a level reading. my reflectors are small and put out the same spread as a bigger reflector.

Like i said find the post . what you posted does not say that you will get less growth compared with arcadia. it was comparing with 400w bulbs i was using. get it right before you go off . I think i would have way more knowledge on bulbs as i have actually used many. i am not a 1 yr novice reef keeper.

why would i go and test second rate tanks i always go to the best first.

just did another test on my tank. what a differance it makes where you put the meter. i found i had to move it all along the centre to find the best spot. reading varied from 65k to 71k by moving the meter 2cm.

Thats what the reading was, so you are saying i made it up? There can be be differance in readings as you drop the lux meter by 1cm and the reading change a lot. i have to roughly average them out, This was just a quick reading and not scientific. also we are only reading lux so par and cri could make big differance with higher wattage bulbs. also even looking at the 250w bulb it looked brighter than the 400w and lots whiter. I thought that would be obviuos that the age of the bulb would make a differance and i also stated that the halide was on only for 5 mins. jsut to be fair. DH i quess you could show me the thread.? really? i actually do supply 400w lights so how dont i supply it? Also noticed that the reflector material used on the lumarc copies are not that reflective so I would assume that you could be losing about 10% light compared to an original lumenarc. As mentioned the results are only a guide as the meter is cheap and changes so much when you move it by 1 cm. it is also rated up to 50k lux so anything higher could not be that accurate. to get a better reading put a board on the tank and them taking readings would be far more accurate as all readings can then be made at exactly 20cm The tank with 3x 400w all had 14k bulbs , but one of them was so much brighter than the other two. the reading was far higher than the other two. Actually on my tank i got up to 80k on one bulb but average it out as even though you have the same bulb ballast the lux can vary.