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kgwilliams 
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 Topic: Modifying tank
Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:01pm |
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I have a 75 gal that has been up and running for a while. Well it has black plastic around the bottom and the top of the glass. The top plastic is divides the aquarium in half. Like, if I was to take the top plastic border off I would have two squares instead of one big rectangle. I don't know if it's like this in order to keep the tank from bowing or what, but it blocks half of my 150w MH. So my question is, can I take a little hand saw and cut this piece off? I mean, I figure I can keep all the fragments of plastic out of the water, but would this stress my fish out to the point of needing to see a shrink? Any ideas to solve this problem would be great, thanks!
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75gal reef /sump/ref 150MH 2 96w CF
Perhaps I would be better at basket weaving. . . at least it would be cheaper!
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Ed Taylor
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Joined: January 11 2007
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Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:05pm |
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Don't do it. I've had tanks with those broken and they later cracked.
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155 Bowfront
90 tall, tangs, softies
70 tall, fresh
72 bowfront FO (sons tank)
55 fresh (sons)
30 hex fresh (daughter's)
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kgwilliams
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Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:09pm |
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Well, what can I do? Could I maybe triagle some foil and reflect the rest of the light into the tank?
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75gal reef /sump/ref 150MH 2 96w CF
Perhaps I would be better at basket weaving. . . at least it would be cheaper!
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Suzy
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Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:37pm |
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I removed the brace in my 75 and replaced it with clear acrylic. You can get nylon bolts at home Depot. But, the clear gets algae on it, so I have to clean it freq....
But, I have 2 MH pendents on mine, so the middle is darker anyway....
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Ed Taylor
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Posted: March 18 2007 at 7:46pm |
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That's a good idea! Another maybe, especially for a 4 foot tank, would be to run two MH's. One in the center isn't the best coverage.
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155 Bowfront
90 tall, tangs, softies
70 tall, fresh
72 bowfront FO (sons tank)
55 fresh (sons)
30 hex fresh (daughter's)
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gateb
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Joined: April 19 2006
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Posted: March 18 2007 at 9:54pm |
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I've always seen it recommended to use one MH lamp per 2 square feet. My 120 is 48x24x24 and I have 2 175w MH lamps on it.
Edited by gateb - March 18 2007 at 9:54pm
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120 Gal RR
2 Pan World 100PX return pumps
AquaC EV-180 w\Mag 9
40 + 13 Gal refugia
2 175w Iwasaki Aqua2 MH
4 48" URI Super Actinic VHO
IceCap MH and VHO Ballasts
Ogden, UT
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Suzy
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Posted: March 19 2007 at 7:17am |
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You know, when I had one pendant in the middle, it created these really cool shadows. The fish would enter the stage!
If I just had one 75, I would probably use just one pendant, and grow lots of 'shrooms on the sides...
The brace is a pain, though. I'm glad I took ours out.
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Suzy
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Posted: March 19 2007 at 7:18am |
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Oh, I did add the new brace before I completely removed the old, just in case.
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Shane H
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Posted: March 19 2007 at 9:35am |
DO NOT REMOVE THE BRACE!
Unless you can come up with a good way to secure the top of the tank. Acrylic can be used in place of the plastic, but I would put two in and seperate your tank into thirds. I don't know if this helps you with the light problem, but it will likely help with the wet carpet and damaged basement ceiling problem you're likely to have if you don't.
Good luck.
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jfinch
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Posted: March 19 2007 at 10:12am |
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I think it would be a very easy replacement. It is hard to fix a broken brace because the tank has already bowed out at that point, but if the brace is in place and working then I'd do this... Cut out a piece of acrylic ~2" wide and as long as the width of the tank. Set the acrylic under the existing brace and secure in place with a little polyurethane glue at the ends. Drill three 1/8" - 1/4" (depending on the size of the nylon bolts you use) holes through both the brace and the acrylic. Tighten up the bolts/nuts then cut the black center brace away, leaving a small portion at the ends where the nuts/bolts are located, using a small cutting wheel on a dremel. voilà.
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kgwilliams
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Posted: March 19 2007 at 6:32pm |
Ya jfinch, I think that's what I'll do. I would move the lighting over but it's not just a MH, it's an outer orbit fixture with the MH in the middle and PC's down the sides. It does create pretty cool shadows and I do keep my SPS under the MH and I grow shrooms and softies around the ends.
I planned on using my dads dremel saw, as a matter of fact I'll probably have him do it!  So, those of you that have modified this, did you do it after the tank was set up? If so, how did you keep the "saw dust" out of the tank? Did it stress your fish out?
Thanks for all the input guys! If I hadn't gotten such a quick response I would probably be soaked it salt water right now! 
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75gal reef /sump/ref 150MH 2 96w CF
Perhaps I would be better at basket weaving. . . at least it would be cheaper!
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