Fans on Front Inside Canopy VS. Side Fans? HELP?

[MarineGirl411]

Hi,
I am setting up my 40 gallon breeder. I am building a canopy for my aqualight pro unit to sit in. I know Coralife suggests not using them in one, but my Reef Club and local reputable Reef Store owner told me it would be fine, as long as I have proper ventilation. The back of the canopy will be open. I am wondering if I placed 2 well sized fans in the front of the canopy, blowing air towards the open back, across the water and bulbs if this would provide me with the same benefits as what I see some people doing online? One side of the canopy has a hole with a fan blowing air across the water, then another fan on the opposite side blowing hot air out? What way would you all suggest? What are some of the drawbacks? I just really don't like the look of 2 large holes on the sides of the canopy, plus I do not have a hole saw big enough. Let me know everyone. Thank you very much.

[sir_dudeguy]

40 breeders arent really nano (but they are my fav. tank :) ) but to answer your question:

fans are great to have. If you want i could show you how i built my canopy. It has open ends. I've got a fan on one end, and hot/warm air blows out on the other and it lowers my temp 5 degrees. Its just a single 10" fan i beilieve..maybe 6 or 8 but i think its 10.

[MarineGirl411]

Hi,
I'd love to see your set up.

[sir_dudeguy]

k heres my canopy...cheaply made yes (like 25 or 30 bucks) and i dont know how to build worth a hoot...but it works for what i needed...keep fish in and keep it ventilated.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i295/sir_dudeguy/Tank%20Pics/IMG_0211.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i295/sir_dudeguy/Tank%20Pics/IMG_0210.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i295/sir_dudeguy/Tank%20Pics/IMG_0149.jpg

as you can see there's a fan on the bookshelf right next to it, and anyone who knows anything about building stuff could do way better. I kinda built mine in an "emergency" state of mind lol. I had to get it on there kinda quick cuz i was gonna be gone for a week so i had to get the lights up for the corals (i took them down for a couple days..they were hanging from the ceiling and it was terrible lol)

[MarineGirl411]

Oh yes,
I think I've seen your tank before! Thank you! I think it looks good. If it works it's great. Whatever works. I think it looks good. That's a great fan to push air! Awesome! My bf told me to go to walmart and he'd take the fans apart and put them inside the canopy. I wanted something that was going to lay flat against the canopy so I instead went to Best Buy and bought 2 large computer fans. They are pretty big. I'm hoping it will be good. What are you planning for your 40 reef?

[sir_dudeguy]

lol...um...no clue what i'm gonna do for my 40...so far i've just got about 50 lbs of rock, prolly a hundred some pounds of sand, brown polyps, a toadstool, and...water lol.

I am getting a black perc pair tho...the rest is a complete mystery.

[MarineGirl411]

LOL,
That's awesome! I want a black perc pair as well! That's too cool. Where are you going to get yours? You know about how much they cost? I am going to also be keeping a Mandarin. I am afraid that the clowns might eat all the pods. I will be growing the pods in my fuge and a seperate tank as well though. No one kill me for this ok. LOL I will also have 65 pounds of fiji. ;-)

[sir_dudeguy]

haha...i really dont know how much they're gonna cost...well i do..its gonna cost me a gsp frag and a small piece of zoo's...so nothing really ;) But i'd say maybe just a little more than the regulars probably.

And no the clowns wont affect the pod population. As far as i can tell with the false percs i got in my 55...they never even attempt to get the pods. I"m sure someone's had them eat a pod here and there before, but they're not known for it, you know?

For the manderin...just make sure your tank is like a year old before you add it. It'll be fine if you let the tank become completely established and you really keep up on the pods/fuge. Some find that they still need to buy pods and add them to their tanks...i've heard that will be very expensive.

[MarineGirl411]

Hi,
Oh yah. I've got a couple things up my sleeve here about the pods. I'll have 2 pod cultures going outside the refugium as well as the refugium. I will feed the 2 other tanks phytoplankton then after that is gone add some manually to the tank. The pods are about 24.00 for 1000 of them. I have a couple of websites that sell them. I was planning on waiting that long to add him anyway. Don't want to wait, but I have to be patient. =) You ever think of adding one to your 55? They are so beautiful. I don't know of any other marine fish that equals its beauty in my eyes. Their movement is also quite interesting and calming. The 2 black percs will look gorgeous. I am really not too sure though how they'll look against a black background. I am going to paint my background black. lol they'll be 2 little white striped floating orbs. =) Where are you getting them?

[sir_dudeguy]

cool, sound like you should have succes w/the pods :) I would add one to my 55, but i havent got a fuge, and i've got a sixline wrasse anyways, who eats up a bunch of pods, but he also takes flake and freeze dried plankton and whatnot...wish he didnt eat all the pods tho :( I just need a fuge, but i cant do that at the moment. (no money)

I may add one to my 40 tho...who knows lol. I'm gonna try to get a fuge on that system, but i'm probably gonna have to do a HOB one cuz my sump taks up all but 4 inches under my stand and i was retarded and didnt make a fuge section in it lol. idk

For the clowns, i'm thinking they'll also look weird against a black background, so what i'm going to do as a test thing is just get a big piece of cardboard. Then i'm gonna take a piece of black cloth meterial thats just layin around the house, staple it to one side...then i'm gonna use a blue one for the other...do you have windows xp? its about the same blue as the bar at the bottom if you have xp on your computer lol.

So what i'll do is just try it on one side for a while, then try it on the other and keep the color that looks best, except i'm not gonna paint the tank. I've got a thin accrylic sheet thats like 1/8" thick...i'll just paint that. That way if the front of the glass ever gets scratched (which prolly will happen... my younger cousins are always here throwing stuff at the tank) i can just switch the tank around if it gets bad enough...and i wont have to worry bout scraping paint off, you know?

But i'm getting them from a guy thats on my local board on here. People here are so generous lol. I've got so much free stuff (and most was very expensive normally) from them which really helps when you're a senior in high school w/no job yet :)

[MarineGirl411]

LoL that sounds like a good idea with the background experiment. I was kind of afraid to paint the back of the tank in the first place. Maybe I'll try the acrylic thing too. Just not sure. I want it black though for sure because I want the corals colors to pop. Then when I get the mandarin, hopefully, his colors will be really nice. I also want the loc-line to blend in with the background. That way it's not so noticeable. In a perfect world, I'd do blue, but then the loc-line would show and the overflow to the sump, so I'm goin black. That's awesome you get stuff from people on here. That's really nice of them. Like who? I need stuff! lol That's why I asked if clowns ate pods. I don't want any fish that will take up the pod population. I really wanted a Velvet Line Wrasse or Flasher Wrasse =( Oh well, I'd rather stick with my Mandarin. I think. Oye madre choices choices. Hopefully I am going to get things up and running here this month. It's been sitting here all summer in the apartment. I'm getting sick of looking at it with nothing in it. =( I had to wait because I had to save money to buy all these totally outrageous expensive things. BLAH! Now I just have to worry about the power bill.....oye. I wonder how much that will be? Do you know about how much it costs you to run your 55 reef? What free stuff have you gotten? A lot of the people around where I live are all older than me. I feel like an outsider when I go to the meetings. Well, I'm 24. I guess I'm gettin up there too. I just think they think I'm a dumb kid though. What all do you have in your 55, 30FO, and 2.5 nano? What kind of music do you like? I'm actually a singer/performer and songwriter. I've done some commercials and little parts in movies. Nothing big yet. Hopefully someday! What other animals do you have? Oh boy I've got a zoo in this apartment here. 2 cats, 1 bird, 150 gallon planted tank with various fish, and a 10 tank for a time out for my naughty angelfish. I want to add a pot bellied pig, but life in an apartment for a piggie is not good. I have to wait until I get a house for him. Oh shoot, I've always loved all animals. They are truly miracles and gifts. I want a farm and I want to start an animal rescue. I'd like to rescue them, when they have rescued me so many times. OK I wrote too much. Tell me about your animals.

[MarineGirl411]

Hey you have the remora huh? How does it work for you? That's what I have. I've been reading on here where people say the Coralife Super Skimmer is better. Man, that would suck because I bought this thing and it was expensive. Took up a lot of money. The part that's going to really take a bite outta me is the LR! I can get 65 pounds of Ultra Premium Fiji for a little over $200.00 =/ I wish this stuff wasn't so expensive. Oye! Know of any other prices that are better? I just want to make sure no nasty hitchhikers come in on the rock.

[sir_dudeguy]

yep i got mine used here on rc for 70 bucks...so i wasnt really expecting it to work really great, however its amazing ;) I've got it on my 55 and it pulls out a ton of stinky nasty skimate. I've also got the css 65 and i dont really like it to be honest. Soooo touchy when it comes to adjusting it and its not really pulling out that much stuff after 2 months...so ya.

for the rock...i've never bought any rock from any store or retailer or online....i've always been able to get the stuff from locals for dirt cheap. First time i got it for 2 bucks a pound and i got like 35 pounds....next time i bought rock i got like 15-20 lbs for 20 bucks. And then the last time i got rock i got 30 lbs for free. So i've got off pretty easy there...check w/your locals is all i can suggest :)

[MarineGirl411]

wow lucky