Trouble with tank temperature

[Yash]

Hmm ... I'm going to go out this weekend and look around home depot to see if I can find something that might work!

Grins ... you know of a place to get black eggcrate from? The only ones I've seen are white.

 

[Grins]

No, but I've been looking. I've seen silvercoated but I'd think it would rust or flake. I'll let you know if I find something

 

[Yash]

Cool! I'll shout out to you too if I find any.

 

[5xevy]

I really think taking off the tops will help. It certainly did when I took them off of my FOWLR. I found the grate at Home Depot but only saw white. I made a thread on here and asked if there was anything I could paint them with but others recommended not to. If you find anything other than white please let us know!

 

[Yash]

I certainly will let you guys know if I find the black crate. In the meantime, I am going to go down to HD today and replace the top with an egg crate (white for now, at least until I find a black one).

Cheers!
Yash

 

[Yash]

Good news!! After much googl'ing, I found ONE source that sells black egg crate. Agreed, its a little pricey at $4.00 per sq.ft. (not including shipping) but hey, if there are absolutely no other sources, I might just have to go with this. You guys might already have stumbled upon this, but here's the link ...

http://lifereef.com/frame.html

Up in their "All Products" menu, select Acrylics, Plastic Grid, Acrylic Tubing, Acrylic Cement and its in there!

Cheers!
Yash

 

[5xevy]

Wow...:bowing:

Thank you! I gave up looking a long time ago.

You might be interested in some of the responses in the thread I was asking about, regarding painting them black:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98769&highlight=black+egg+crate

 

[Yash]

Not a problem mate!! I was determined to find it today!

Oh and thanks for that link on the paint discussion. I'm of the opinion too that long term, the paint will probably start peeling/cracking due to wear and tear, and also exposure to a saline environment 24-7. I certainly don't want any paint inside my tank!

Your discussion brings up a very important thing about loss of light though ... I hadn't even though about that one. I currently have a clear glass top ... well more like cloudy top due to the salt stains ... I wonder how much of a difference it would make light wise inside my tank, with the black color absorbing part of the light.

Cheers!
Yash

 

[5xevy]

I've thought about that too as I still have the white ones on. Even though I couldn't find the black eggcrate at the time, I guess I just got used to seeing the white. I didn't really want to test it either, to risk a difference. I would think it would be a minor difference, if any. You never know though. I may ask about it on RC.

 

[rsw686]

Remove the glass top, it should solve your heat issue. Although 82 and under is no big deal. I've heard of people purposely heating their tank to 83 midday. As long as you don't hit 84 you shouldn't have any problems.

My tank is in a room thats 74 degrees. I have T5 lighting over the top. At worst the tank hits 81 degrees. The top of the tank is open which is why the temp stays where it is.

Worst case you need to lower the temp a few degrees position a fan to blow water over the sump or tank if you don't have one. Evaporating water will cool your tank quickly. You could get a controller and have it turn the fan on if the temp hits a certain level. Cheaper than a cooler and a controller is a good idea to prevent a stuck on heater from destroying your tank.