We'll it's been a little while since I have posted in my journal. Quite a few changes have been made.
The most wonderful kids went for a walk in my backyard.
Here is a picture of the tank as it stands today. The tank is setup in my library and I work from home two days a week. It's kind of distracting really as I spend a lot of time watching the tank instead of the computer screen.
Please note that I was lazy and didn't clean the glass so the pictures are not at their best.
Full Tank Shot - I had to use flash or else all you would see is my reflection.
I finally got to changing that super old light bulb and went with a Ushio 20K. The color is more blue/purple and I'm loving it.
We'll summer sucks when you have metal halides. My tank is on the second floor facing north and the temperature is uncontrollable. I had to go open top and add on this super noisy fan. This fan is from Azzo and runs on the same timer as the lights. The tank can swing from 28 degrees celsius to 21 degrees in a day. My corals must hate me. I think I'll pick up another timer and have it go on and off every 15 minutes instead while the lights are on. I definetely won't be purchasing another metal halide fixture. T5HO are where it's at.
The other bad thing about running open top is that you have to top off the tank every day. Especially with the fans, I have to add in about 12 cups of water each day. When I had the glass tops on, I barely had to add any water. Maybe 4 cups at the end of the week.