Clara - Looks like you are certainly pumping out the lumens, and plants look happy. Two questions to ponder though: at $45 a pop, these 85W CFLs + fixture are well-beyond chump change, at least for me. At some point, it must make sense to switch over to a HID lighting system. A ceiling mounted 1000W HPS, for example, would probably irradiate a good portion of your grow space, and they can't be more than a couple of hundred bucks. Second, the size of those 85W CFLs in the HD brooder lamp seems to ensure a lot of wasted lumens, and they stick out so far, a strip of Al-foil won't do much. As someone previously said, those gigantic CFLs seem much better suited to horizontal mounting in a "wing" or "half-tube" style fixture. I think the same poster described making a simple one with a double-ended screw-in socket, 8' heating duct cut in two lengthwise, and a couple of sheet metal screws. That said, the brooder lamps _are_ very flexible in their placement. Personally, I don't exceed a 55W bulb (linked below) in this fixture because, as you pointed out, I don't like my retinas fried just walking around the room. Nice thing about this particular 55W is the squat design that just about fits inside the 10.5" hemisphere. And not too shabby at 3600 lumens and $16. Here is a link that might be useful: fat 55W CFL

I wish I'd seen this forum earlier. Poor guy. First of all, it may have been the 100% water changes that killed him. Stark fresh water can be difficult for fish to live in. believe it or not, old water is healthier, provided it's clean, than fresh water from the tap. The trick is to do PARTIAL water changes, not 100% ones. I highly suggest never doing a 100% water change. You might also think about it from this point of view; temperature changes of more than 1 degree can put a fish in shock and stress it out, which makes it more likely to get a disease in the first place. (Aside from potentially dying from the shock.) The water temperatures need to be exactly the same before you transfer your fish to new water. Someone should have advised Ezzy not to do a 100% water change like that. Wish I saw this thread earlier. Also, gravel is a must. It seems that the tank/bowl did not have any substrate at all. This is a bad thing because a substrate is needed for helpful bacteria to grow. The kind that break down waste and thusly help control the ammonia and nitrate/nitrite levels. To anyone who reads this, gravel, pebbles, sand, or the beta-hobby-popular glass/plastic beads MUST be at the bottom of the tank for there to be a natural cycle within it. Also, I can't believe someone would take a fish which is very practically named "Siamese Fighting Fish" and put them next to each other. I could tell by that comment alone that Ezzy is extremely new to fish keeping. It's common knowledge that putting 2 betas together like that would stress them out. A person should be able to sense that they aren't really "friends." (I suppose they're as good of friends as an Oscar and a goldfish. The Oscar loves the goldfish, for his part.) And, yes, even in separate tanks, if they see each other they'll be going crazy trying to get the fish in the tank next to them. Very simple thing to avoid and it's common knowledge. Even the people at Petsmart will tell you to let a new tank run a couple of weeks with no fish in it before introducing a catfish or another hardy fish. They will also tell you to float the fish in it's bag of water IN the tank for at least 15 minutes to allow the water to gradually equalize with the tank and prevent shock in the fish. Furthermore, most Petsmart employees know that Betas will fight each other and that putting 2 bowls close together is not something that should happen long-term. These are simple rules that all fish keepers need to know and it appears that Ezzy wasn't aware of them. I hope this helps someone who is trying to care for an ill fish, because you can contribute to its demise if you stress it out too much. Always be aware of the effect YOU have on the tank/bowl, and don't get tunnel vision trying to remove the disease at the cost of your pet's life.

Yes, you break out the plastic KO. Wires are not clamped but rely on the staple that you will install within 8" of the box. The box that you used could be used in conjunction with a surface extension box in order to transition the concealed wiring to a surface mounted exposed wiring method. Next time, do your electrical shopping at an electrical supply houseand you might have a little better luck.

Thanks Maire_cat. I did read your previous post, but couldn't tell if it was something I could used on my own or if you had to adjust down below after it was placed in the stand. Looks like Orvis doesn't sell it anymore so the video doesn't work and the krinner has several models and a new one, too. If you have an opinion on which looks best, I'd appreciate your opinion. Thanks Anglophilia, yes it takes two men to do this, but I do it on my own :-) I was thinking today that I think I replaced the stand once because the little foot pedal fell out and couldn't be located. I wonder if I have the cup from the old stand mixed up with the new stand. I'm going to take a look around and see if I see another cup out there. Maybe I saved it because it was still good, but isn't an exact match or something. It was a perfect, foolproof stand for a few years. Kellysar I love how that stand looks, esp that you can actually see how much water is there. It seems it would be perfect if only I didn't need a drilled tree! I've never heard of that. I cut my own tree (with help from my son) at a tree farm, so no drilling available. I can just imagine the disaster I could create trying to drill it myself :-) Anyone else have a stand they love?