Friday 30th March 2007.
The tank has been up and running for almost a week now. I am pretty pleased with it, though I know I have a long way to go. A couple of things are niggling at me about it’s design though which I’ll record here for posterity. None of them have put me off having the tank, I simply record them for the information of anyone considering buying an ORCA TL4550 (or perhaps for the information of the designers of these aquariums for future consideration).
First, the power leads. There are four of them. Four wires leave the lid at various points and only by some careful delving about did I figure out what was what. This allowed me to label the various plugs for future use. On top of that, the lead I decided was the pump did not reach to the floor (once the tank was on the stand). All the other did so why scrimp on a bit of wire. I’ll not worry too much about this just yet but it’s an irritation.
Second, the lights. I love the lighting, a choice of bright and clear or “night time” blue LED. I like the way they’ve built the switches into the overall design of the lid. What I don’t like is the fact that both appear to be powered by the same plug. This will make it impossible for me to automate the lighting using a timer. Not the end of the world but a pain.
Thirdly the skimmer. I’ve never had one before and the “instructions” (as I detailed in my previous post) are all but useless. I expected to see a froth of bubbles at the top of it but I have nothing. There is a small tube sitting on the sponge to the right of the skimmer unit which I am guessing will be an air inlet to allow the creation of bubbles but I cannot see how to “open” it. More fiddling required (and perhaps a call to the shop in case they know).
Final gripe, the lid is a clever design, basically allowing a tilt or slide opening. Tilt is as per any normal tank, the “slide” option allows the lid to slide down the back of the tank opening up the top of the tank completely. Brilliant, except for the condensation. No matter which way I open it, water dribbles from the lid all over the floor. It would be simple to fix with something to block the flow of droplets back along the lid allowing the condensation to fall back into the tank. It’s on my list of things to do but it would have been better if it had been part of the initial design.
Despite these niggles, I am still mightily pleased my new purchase.
Some good news. My hydrometer/thermometer reports perfect salinity (after a couple of small top-ups of marine salt) and temperature so I now feel ready to add some rock. This will be a new thing for me … LIVE rock. I’ve read as much as I can about it and will head to the shops tomorrow with my new-found knowledge, and my credit card (it isn’t cheap).
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