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Think I Found What Was Wrong

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kmtfishchannel View Drop Down
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    Posted: September 30 2017 at 1:16pm
I Think I fouund out why my corals where dieing for the most part. Took off the plexie glass from my bulb fixture to clean it and it was black! So hardly any light was reaching the water. It is a night and day difference without the guard in place. I need to replace it with glass so it doesn't burn.
The tank, fish and corals look sooo much better now! Big smile







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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Krazie4Acans Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 30 2017 at 1:43pm
Wow that is black. Do you know what was making it black? That doesn't seem like a normal thing.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kmtfishchannel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 30 2017 at 2:38pm
I think it was just a cheep material (not glass) that came with the light and the heat of the bulbs caused it to brown.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Adam Blundell Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: September 30 2017 at 5:31pm
I've had a lot of fixtures over 25 years.  And lots of burnt up bulb guards.  But that may be the worst I've ever seen.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kmtfishchannel Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 01 2017 at 6:32pm
It was bad for sure. I just hope it was my main issue with my corals. 
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Mark Peterson View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2017 at 12:20am
Those are meant to protect the light from splashing salt water. That's kind of good but what is worse is two very important things.
1. Those splash guards, even when clean, filter out too much of the useful wavelengths of light.
2. Splash guards enclose the light, holding in an awful lot of heat. Acrylic turns brown/black just before it starts on fire. Removing the guard and leaving the light tubes open to the air allows the excess heat to escape. Cooler running light tubes also last longer.

I always remove and discard those splash guards.

Aloha,
Mark
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kevin.st Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2017 at 9:11am
What about the ATI fixtures, Mark?
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Mark Peterson View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Mark Peterson Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: October 04 2017 at 11:27am
Any reef tank can benefit from removing the splash guard. Of course it's a trade off. The closer the fixture is to the water, the more exposed it is to salt spray. Fixtures with internal power supplies get extra hot and need fan cooling. (The best fixtures have external/inline power supplies.)

What is clearly evident in the pic above is how hot that light has been running and how close it came to catching on fire. Perhaps there is a cooling fan that has stopped working? No worries. Just eliminate the splash guard and if possible, remove the fan.

Removing a nonworking fan eliminates a part that has been adding extra heat. It is still connected to power so the motor gets hot, but since the fan isn't turning it mostly just heats up the fixture. These two modifications allow convection cooling, in other words, cooler air enters the underside and hot air exits the topside.

Of course, all of this is trouble we don't worry about with the top of the line brand new Aqua Illumination LED lights we can get for almost half price from Boxfish here in the WMAS.

Aloha,
Mark
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