For those familiar with Seaclear acrylic aquariums

irishspy

irishspy

There is a stargate in my aquarium.
Nov 6, 2002
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Hi all,

I'm leaning toward a Seaclear acrylic aquarium for the tank I'll be getting after the New Year. This last weekend, I visited several LFSs in my immediate area to look over samples, and no one had any. (They used to be very common in the stores.) So, I thought I'd come here with my questions. :1zhelp:

I'm considering either the 36g bowfront (30" long) or the 40g rectangular (36" long, and cheaper). If you have one or have worked with one:

  1. How long is the hood? It looks like it leaves 3-6" on either side. How many lamps do they hold, and at how big a wattage?
  2. I'm planning on 2-2.5 watts per gallon for the plants. Am I right in assuming I'll need to add another fixture to supplement or replace the lamp(s) in the hood? (And thanks to the person who suggested ahsupply.com to me.)
  3. This might be more appropriate on the plant forum, but.... Am I right in thinking the light will be very attenuated toward either end of the tank, because the hood does not go the full length? I kind of have this vision of the plants at either end bowing toward the center (Follow the light! :laugh:)
  4. The top of the tank has a cover with cut-outs for the filter, heater, &c. Have you found these to be a pain to work with?

Thanks for any advice! :headbang2:
 
irishspy said:
Hi all,

I'm leaning toward a Seaclear acrylic aquarium for the tank I'll be getting after the New Year. This last weekend, I visited several LFSs in my immediate area to look over samples, and no one had any. (They used to be very common in the stores.) So, I thought I'd come here with my questions. :1zhelp:

I'm considering either the 36g bowfront (30" long) or the 40g rectangular (36" long, and cheaper). If you have one or have worked with one:

  1. How long is the hood? It looks like it leaves 3-6" on either side. How many lamps do they hold, and at how big a wattage?
  2. I'm planning on 2-2.5 watts per gallon for the plants. Am I right in assuming I'll need to add another fixture to supplement or replace the lamp(s) in the hood? (And thanks to the person who suggested ahsupply.com to me.)
  3. This might be more appropriate on the plant forum, but.... Am I right in thinking the light will be very attenuated toward either end of the tank, because the hood does not go the full length? I kind of have this vision of the plants at either end bowing toward the center (Follow the light! :laugh:)
  4. The top of the tank has a cover with cut-outs for the filter, heater, &c. Have you found these to be a pain to work with?

Thanks for any advice! :headbang2:
Click to expand...


1) The seaclear tank is beautiful with rimless corners and crystal clear view. it is also very well made, no quality issues. ( i have the 50 gallon version, see my sig)

2) The light hood that comes with the tank is absoutely not suitable for a planted tank, it's just 1x normal fluorescent bulb. You definitly needs to buy your own power compact lighting strip to replace the hood. I suggest just buy the coralife 6700k power compact, they are the best and fit very well on the tank. Ahsupply is too much work.

3) Not sure what you mean by a cut out for filter/heaters?! It's just a built-in black background like a normal tank.

4) One thing to keep in mind, since it is an acrylic tank it's not a complete open top but just 2 large holes in the middle, this makes planting/maintenance quite a challenge as you try to fit your hand through those openings. Anyway i did eventually get used to it, but if given the chance next time would just paid extra and bought an ada tank instead for this reason alone.

good luck and post some pictures once you have it setup
 
Thanks, Gagaliya, between your answers and your sig, there's a lot of the info I was looking for. :headbang2:

Actually, your fourth answer addressed my fourth question, the one you didn't understand. It was that top plate with the holes cut into it that I wasn't sure about.

About your lighting fixture: it's hard to tell, but do you have it on some sort of v-shaped mounting, suspended above the top of the tank?

thanks again,
 
irishspy said:
About your lighting fixture: it's hard to tell, but do you have it on some sort of v-shaped mounting, suspended above the top of the tank?
Click to expand...

Yes it's just a standard coralife freshwater power compact light strip. Get one the same width as your tank. See below.

- Single strip (about 2 wpg) - for low/normal light plants (i was able to grow dwarf hairgrass with it)

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...challpartial&Ntk=All&N=2004&Ntt=coralife&Np=1

- Double strip (about 4wpg) - for high light plants like glosso etc..

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...challpartial&Ntk=All&N=2004&Ntt=coralife&Np=1

- The leg stand (get the item# CD-21148, the other one is much nicer but wont work with acrylic tank since the top edge of the tank is not fully open.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...challpartial&Ntk=All&N=2004&Ntt=coralife&Np=1
 
Thanks again. Those replies really help.:headbang2:

One more question: what did you do with the hood that came with the tank? Do you still use it to cover the hole, or did you get rid of it? I'm thinking of having a piece of plexiglass cut to cover the hole, to minimize the chance of a jumper finding his way to the carpet.
 
the original hood is in a basement somewhere, basically i took it out of the box when the tank arrived and throw it away as it's useless.

Yes i lost quite a few of my favorite fish due to them jumping, i had my coralife light strip directly above the tank with only a few inches of space in between but the fish still managed to jump out.

Depends on what fish you want, if it's a jumper you definitly need to buy some cover. I ordered some clear acrylic from ebay, custom made. get the thinnest possible so more light goes through.

example: http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Sheets-1-8-C...hZ020QQcategoryZ46744QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
 
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