Re: Putting fishroom back together was

[Mike & Diane Wise <apistowise@fgn.net>]

Many years ago (15?, 20?) I bought 4-pin male/female sets of plugs for my
fluorescent lighting. I can individually remove the ballast, & 2 separate tubes
(in separate light strips - aka plastic rain gutter). They've been working fine
all this time. One end is square while the other is  ^ -shaped. There's no way
you can mix up the poles & contacts without really trying. The pin sets were
bought at Radio Shack.

Another nice system, so you did not need a lot of space to lift the glass
aquarium tops (it helps in low clearance situations) was the sliding top used by
O'Dell aquariums. It consisted of plastic strips mounted at the ends of the
tank. In cross section it looked like an upside-down "F". The back glass sat in
the slot formed by the 2 arms. The top glass slid along the rail formed by the
short F arm (does that make sense?). This way the top (front) glass slid
smoothly over the bottom (back) glass, giving about 6" of clearance in the front
of a 12" deep (front to back) tank for feeding, cleaning, etc. without needing
6" of clearance needed for lids with hinges (that always split after a few
years). O'Dell used to sell it in 8' strips so you could retrofit tanks. I still
have an 8' strip, but could certainly use some more if anyone knows if it's
still being made by someone.

When it comes to timers, don't buy cheap ones. Buy heavy duty industrial timers
that can handle the very high wattage that ballasts require only when they start
up. In my experience typical home timers won't last long on multiple ballast
systems. Of course the other option is to buy a standard timer for each ballasts
used. Just don't overdo the wattage suggested on the timer or you will
eventually fry its innards.

Mike Wise

Del from Oregon wrote:

> Hi Eric,
>
> I have setup 1 rack for tanks and I have a space of 24.5
> inches between the shelves. I have one tank that is 21.5 tall
> and it is really hard to properly clean the tank.
>
> I am interested as to how you "plug" in the lights to the
> ballasts. What type of plug did you use?
>
> Also, do you set your lights on timers?  How long do you
> leave the lights on?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Del Kail
> GPAS
>
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