Removed tank hood, new lights, now what?

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by Scuba Diver Gal

Thanks! I did turn the moon lights off last night at 11. The light has a timer and it first turns on the blues, then later in the day the whites. Then at the end of of the day it turns off the whites, then the blues. Then the moonlights come on and he set them to now turn off at 11. The fish kept mooching for food with them on, rather than hiding. So they seem bright to me.

I'll look into the screen top for my son to make. Last night the tank wouldn't get warmer than 76'ish. With the biocube hood and lights it was always consistent between low 79 and high 80's. It would get hotter so we would run it with the back opening of the hood open. Now last night our heater just couldn't keep up (it's cold in Calgary and my son keeps his room cold). I'll look into changing our heater and getting a better way to test the actual temp in the tank.

Thanks so much!

What size and make of heater are you using? A properly sized heater shouldn't have a problem keeping your aquarium up to temp. Assuming you didn't do something like keep it near an open window or anything.

[Scuba Diver Gal]

Our heater is a 100 watt marine land submersible heater. When we were starting we went to Big Al's and some guy gave us everything we would need for the Biocube. Since then I am realizing that maybe some of it wasn't the best quality. it's only been a few months but there sure is a steep learning curve to this hobby. And some bad decisions/purchases along the way...

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by Scuba Diver Gal

And some bad decisions/purchases along the way...

Baaaahahahahahahahaha...... Welcome to aquarium keeping

75% of the junk for sale out there is just that; junk... There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why it's for sale. Take Coralife timers... Complete crap but they sell like mad to people who have never had one. I bought four at once and just tossed 3/4 into the trash last night.

Bad purchases are something that is just going to happen because we trust manufacturers to produce a USABLE product for sale vs. a paper weight. And anything that is "included for free" is generally not worth the plastic it took to make it.

Get yourself a good quality titanium heater with a controller like a JBJ etc. For a 29g I'd use a 200w if you're having troubles keeping the temp up in that room.

Which biocube is it? Coralife? You may want to consider a media basket for the back. Basically it forces the water to flow THROUGH the media like carbon or GFO instead of around it like it does without one. http://www.mediabaskets.com I use one for both my nano-cubes and they do a great job.