Too clever

[essabee]

I got too clever 4 years ago when I was building my all-glass 5’ 2’ 2’ tank. I needed to brace the longer sides at the top to avoid the water pressures from deforming or smashing the sides. I hate the cross braces as they interfere with tank maintenance. So I latched on to the idea of bracing the sides along its upper perimeter. I used 2 strips of glass for each side. I siliconed the first strip along the upper inner perimeter of the side and used the second strip as a laminate siliconed to the lower strip and the upper edge of the tank side. As for strengthening the tank sides were concerned it worked wonderfully well and the tank survives till date. As to making maintenance easier and unrestricted, that too worked wonderfully…………………….. The problem was not there and I found out that I had been too clever.

The 2” braces along the longer sides and the 3” braces along the shorter sides constitutes 26⅔ % of the total surface area of the tank. With a good coating of dust gathered over the years of use; these braces were restricting and absorbing more than quarter of the light over this planted tank. In fact these braces stole from me at least quarter of the electric charges I paid continuously for over 3 years for the lighting of this tank.

I need to change the hood and design a new one to solve this light restriction problem. Tell me how.

[bossteck]

Depending on your light reflectors, I don't think the problem is as serious as you thought.

[BFG]

The bracing you are using are known as Euro bracing. It was an improvement to the regular bracing which has a middle glass sheet to contain the outward pressure built up. This Euro bracing gives maximum space for tank owner to work with as well as maximum lighting coverage. It also strengthen the tank top. I've been using these types of bracing for my tank setup for years as it gives me a lot of space to maneuver when I am doing my tank maintenance. My 4ft marine tank as well as my 2ft freshwater tank uses this bracing method. I remembered seeing this type of bracing from the early eighties.


Hope this helps!

[eviltrain]

allow me to show a simple diagram.
the pdf shows the problem of yours, but you can actually counter it by bending the reflector inwards to the center of the hood OR lower the light set. for me i will just bend the reflector inwards.
another foul proof method, wipe your bracing once every 2 weeks

[StanChung]

I don't think you are losing that much light. The light that goes there usually leaves the tank anyway if you calculate the direction of the light from the source. Light that lights up the area around the tank.

However, I do think the side bracing is unnecessary and restricts the use of lily pipes and other pipes like surface skimmer.

For what it's worth, you can rid of the white deposit on the glass with repeated wipes of mild acid and using a sharp blade to scrape it.

[essabee]

I have to have a hood for this tank as it houses panchax, and they will disappear if they are allowed to jump. It is also a well lit planted tank. If I bring the lights down it will cause 2 problems - heat and restriction to tank maintenance.

I am thinking that I should add an inner wall to my present hood so that all the braces gets hidden under the hood.


PS. Its good to know that my clever idea about bracing was not utterly dumb.

[vinz]

Do you have any diagrams of your hood and lighting? Also wondering how you calculated and came up with the number 26%.

[eviltrain]

vinz, i suppose it's the 2nd side view of my diagram.

[essabee]

Do you have any diagrams of your hood and lighting? Also wondering how you calculated and came up with the number 26%.

Just rough and ready mental calculation - 5 X 2 =10 square feet surface area.

the braces (5 X 2/12 X 2) + (2 X 3/12 X2) = 2.666666666 square feet.

Therefore 26.67%

Small correction as I double counted the corners but does that matter?!

[essabee]

Curtain raiser on my new hood for the 5 2 2 euro-braced tank.







Top of the hood is in two parts - the flat rear portion is the heat extractor chamber and the sloping front portion merely a reflector redirection for the lights.

I have placed the lights looking forward and needing redirection to the tank. Yes, I would loose an extra 10% of the light at-least by this arrangement as I am using a glossy white laminate for the reflector. I needed to arrange the lights in this way for two reasons - 1 because I like the lights to be directed on the inmates of the tank from the front as that displays them better, and 2 because I am using an odd mix of MH 70Wcoloured bulbs; two of the bulbs are blue and two are red all four are the type used for colouring fountains, the fifth bulb is a normal 5200K shop light which has a lot of green and yellow for brightness but is weak in either ends of the visible spectrum. The light arrangement is needed to mix the different shades before they enter the tank water for more uniform viewing.

[Shadow]

you light is not directly on top of the tank. you are actually using the indirect light to light up your tank. Interesting design. You probably lost more light unless you are using highly reflective reflector.