Help w/ new ray junk

[abortedsoul]

My shipment came in from D&T aquariums today! I have some questions.

1. How do you keep driftwood from tea'ing your tank? Someone told me to boil it, but I don't have 3 cauldrons so... there goes that idea.

2. How do you make a PVC heater guard? (GX300 quartz heaters) I just got some pretty powerful heaters (although not by MFK standards; a diesel-powered heater might be for someone's "small" 30,000 gallon tank) and I don't want my rays to get teh burnination. I know you drill holes in it, but won't the heaters melt the pvc? Doesn't the PVC restrict the water flow over the heater, reducing it's ability to heat your tank?

3. How to you mount a powerhead in the tank? (It's a rio 2100). I'm going to eventually put it in the 5'x6' plywood tank for the under gravel gets, but I'd like to get some use out of it now.

Here are the pics; don't mind Vladamir.

Guess what's in the box? That's for you, Nic.

3 lg pieces of malasian driftwood

My quality inspection expert.













Sir, I'm going to need you to open the box.

 

[Nic]

put the heaters in the sump... or buy stealths and hang them vertical mid lenght in the back of the tank....
carbon will remove the tea color as well....

 

[SovietFireExtinguisher]

put the heaters in the sump... or buy stealths and hang them vertical mid lenght in the back of the tank....
carbon will remove the tea color as well....

Yeah, what he said.

 

[abortedsoul]

put the heaters in the sump... or buy stealths and hang them vertical mid lenght in the back of the tank....
carbon will remove the tea color as well....

The problem with my sump is that the overhead tank feeds into a bucket, which drips into the tank. The heat is all but gone when it hits the tank. The rays are at the bottom, and wouldn't feel a quiver in the temperature. Tried it already, put a thermometer on the top and bottom of the tank, and had ~ +2F change up top and nil change near the bottom. I already bought these 4, hence the need for heater guards.

 

[Nic]

ive had other hand vertical with no problems.... what kind of heaters are they???

 

[Nic]

and i doubt you need 4.... my buddy heats a 500 gallon pond in his garage with 2 250w stealths

 

[abortedsoul]

and i doubt you need 4.... my buddy heats a 500 gallon pond in his garage with 2 250w stealths

I've got them to help the the retic/medic tank (since my Aro busted one of the "shatter-proof, fish-proof" glass ones), the 360 acrylic and the pond.

 

[abortedsoul]

ive had other hand vertical with no problems.... what kind of heaters are they???

They are Gen-X GX300 quartz heaters.

 

[SovietFireExtinguisher]

I heat a 300 gal eight foot tank with 4 250w stealths. It's good to have the back up just in case. If one fails, one 250w stealth is not gonna be enough to heat a 500gal pond unless you are in Arizona and a heater is a moot point in the first place. It all comes down to the amount that you need to increase the tanks temperature from the ambient room temperature. The higher the discrepancy between the two temperatures, the more watts you are gonna need.

 

[fishman646]

I used the plastic from a syphon tube and drilled 3/8 holes in them it worked great!