KarenM

I'm going to go with 250W, and I'll have to buy the bulbs as I find a good deal on them. I'm planning on also having the T5 actinics, but that'll be later on. Right now I'm just trying to light my whole tank.

Rich is giving me ballasts.

a good place to add your topoff is in your overflow. that way it's well mixed before it reaches any sensitive lifeforms.

It worked! At least the 2 times I tried it, it did. Thank you! You guys are tryly the Gurus.

Since I'm home this week, I patched up Entropy's MH retro as best as I could (and I'm hoping I don't burn my house doewn!) and all I can say is WOW!! My tank looks completely different, even with a retro setup just sitting on my canopy (with foil over the ends). I NEED metal halides!

I've been searching every site I can for some used matching pendants and can't find any so I'm considering just buying the pendant/reflectors. With the price being the top decision maker, which ones would you buy? Someone suggested these.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~PF2651.html

Yep, I'm using the barrel and it's about 2/3 full. Tomorrow I'm going to test the system with the output in the overflow box. Sounds like a good solution.

OK, hopefully I've finally decided on what kind of lights I need. Since my canopy isn't tall enough for a retro set I'm looking for matching pendants that I can fasten to the top of the canopy (now I know why there are holes cut in the top of the canopy). I can manage with just the fixture and reflectors, because Entropy is helping me with the ballasts and bulbs.

Also, I'll have to pay by paypal because I have to put it on a credit card.

The output tube is looped over a fan motor on the back of the canopy (not using the fan yet), which is about 5' tall. The input tube is only looping over the top of the barrel, about 3' tall.

I like the idea of adding water to the overflow box. I'll try that today.

Gabriel, I just can't say how much I appreciate all your help and advice. I hate for you to drive all the way out here, so today I'm going to try adding the water to the overflow box. I'll remove some water from the sump so that the pump will kick on and watch it closely so see if the flow stops after the pump does. I'll let you know.

The output end isn't in the water. It's stuck on the side of the sump with a little suction cup. It's maybe 8" off of floor level, and the intake end is at the bottom of the barrel, maybe 1" off of floor level.

I think that's what's happening, but I'm not totally sure. I'm on vac next week and plan to spend some time working with it. If that's the case, how do I fix it? I can't raise my sump, and the water barrel is flat on the floor. I do have the water line going from the barrel, up to the top of the tank and hooked onto the canopy, and then back down to the floor. I was hoping to stop the gravity thing, but maybe my setup is causing it.

Maybe I have it upside down. The pic that came with the top-off unit showed the black cords coming from the bottom of the blue thing and that's the way I have it. Is it upside down? Does it matter, since there are 2 floats in there?

I've moved the pump from the wall above the water barrel to the floor beside it. I'm still getting the same results - the pump turns on at the proper time but it's either not turning off or it's allowing water to pass through it after it turns off. Either way, my sump will overflow if I don't stop it and pretty much makes the it useless.

Any ideas? This is really frustrating because the water level keeps my skimmer messed up. I'm a month into the new tank and still don't have the skimmer up and running properly. I'm sure this is contributing to the bubble problem.

I put some in there, but he didn't pay any attention to it. He's calming down slowly, but what's happened even more is now my coral beauty angel is racing around with him. They're real buddies.

The foxface is just now beginning to swim at the front of the tank, so I'll try the nori again.

Hey, George, did you get my PM on these?

www.ilikecheapstuff.com

Thanks for the urching, Andrew. It's doing great. To quote my daughter..."DUDE! Look how fast it's moving"! I had no idea they traveled, but this one is all over the place. I hope I have enough for him to eat.

OK, you have a point. So now I'm looking for MH pendants..... (good thing I've been too broke to buy anything last week because every day what I need changes!).

Pendants have built in reflectors.

But if it's sitting on top of my lid (there are already holes for them in the lid), won't the underside of the lid absorb a lot of the light?

So fixed pendants rather than hanging pendants. Duh. I'm assuming that's what the prev owner did. So how would I deflect the light from the underside of the lid back down into the tank? Aluminum foil?

Ultimately I'd like to have one built, but that's not in the near future. I've already thought of some things I'd like it to have, but I need to draw up some plans and get some estimates.

But if I have them on top, or have pendants, how will I open the lid?

Thanks, George. But it turns out my canopy isn't tall enough for MH. It'll be T5s or PCs for now.

Thanks, Gabriel. However it turns out that my canopy isn't tall enough for MH. When the reflector's attached to the canopy, the light bulb would actually be IN the water if the lid was all the way down.

So, it's back to T5s only. Someday I'd like to get a different canopy, but for now this one will have to do.

When Rich gave me the MH setup, it was all connected. Unfortunately while trying to attach it to my canopy I pulled the cord and it separated where it was connected. And Rich isn't logged on

There's a black cord running from the light. It has a white wire and a black wire at the end. They were attached to the ballast wires, which are both white, and the connection was covered in little blue clear covers.

I can take the blue clear covers off and probably twist the wires together. But my question is, how do kmow which white ballast wire gets connected to the black light wire?

OK, looking for pendants now!

Entropy was kind enough to go through his box-o-parts and come up with a 250W MH retro light for me, and now I'm looking for another one for the other end of the canopy. Also looking to try out some 20k bulbs.

Doesn't need to be pretty, just cheap.

Not just yet. Higher on the list are lighting and more cleanup crew. Maybe then I can check into more (expensive) fish. Thanks for your help, Bob.