Lighting for my DIY project

[atnixon]

Hello peeps..

I just brought these two lighting unit from ebay... 2 x 250 MH pendants for, in your US money, $145...

See pictures...

What i am thinking of doing is ripping them out of the casings they are in and building them into the hood i am going to be building..Anybody see any problems or had problems with doing that before?

Also, what other lighting does anybody suggest to suppliment the halides?

Thanks in advance

Niko

 

[mr_X]

t-5's or compact flourescents will work. it's up to you. there is a guy on ebay that sells MH bulbs, double ended or single ended, for about 10 dollars a piece. what color do you like? i have 2- 14k bulbs over my tank and i think they look pretty nice. you could choose some 10k flourescents to suppliment a blue-er mh bulb perhapse, and maybe some blue actinics.

something i don't have but have been wanting is some moonlight bulbs as well. you might want to figure a strip of LED's in there somewhere too. :wink:

 

[atnixon]

Hey X...

Good comments as always from you, thanks alot matey..

I will deffo go with some moon led moonlights..I do want something that can give the tank some actinic, rather than just whites...

Will keep pondering this one...at least with this one, there is no rush at all..I only just glued together the tank, so i have still alot work to be done yet..

Niko

 

[Anonymous]

i would wory about the balast getting wet and other than that it should be ok. somthing to keep in mind it that the pendant uses a piece of glass which acts as a uv sheild because hqi bulbs dont have them built in like the mogul mount style. i would also recomend adding a fan to your hood if your going to build them in, and find a way to keep the salt creep out of the electrical connections around the bulb... hate to mix the ole salt and electricity i hear its a shockingly goood time...

 

[atnixon]

Fair comments there john...

When i am going to be contructing the new hood, the area where that is going to be storing the lighting units (ballast, reflector, blub etc) will be in a sperate compartment than the area bewteen the top of the water and the hood..It will be constructed of wood and the lights will obviously shine through cut out holes...So, hopefully, that will remove any chance of water or salt creep getting anywhere near to them...

I will be installing two of the large computer facs at each end of the hood..2 at one end sucking in, 2 at the other end blowing out and hopefully that should be enough ventilation for cooling..

Can you see any issues with any of that people???

NIko

 

[Anonymous]

Earlier comments about the glass in those units are important, and not just any glass. That glass shield is there to protect against splashes-yes, but it is more importantly there as a specific UV shield. Unless you want your livestock to get UV burn, try and keep the units' glass in place. Also, is there any reason why you dont want to keep those complete units intact, and why you dont want an open hood? As an idea, you will find pics of mine in the following thread.... http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=92738

I too am running 2 similar MH fittings (Aquamedic Aquastarlights 250W) along with 2X2 96W T5 deltecs. I custom made glass stands to rest on the bracing to stand them on. Heat is a massive issue at my location so i built the hood with that in mind. Also, as it works, its a helluva lot lighter and thus easier to remove and refit.

My 2 cents worth....

 

[mr_X]

UV burn? what shields the creatures in the ocean from UV burn?

 

[Anonymous]

The answer is the atmospheric distance and ozone layer that is conveniently between the source (the sun) and the water....
and the water depth itself... clarity of same which is why if you took a deep water coral and moved it up on the reef it would burn just like under the lamps.

Try working for a while under MHs and see how badly you burn, even with the glass protection, they seem to give off loads more UV than sea level sunlight. (I'm sure that some of the lighting gurus here would be able to give you a far more scientific explanation- if you are not just trying to be argumentative. :wink: )

 

[mr_X]

lol...na..was looking for information this time :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

I'd ask that specific question in the GRF then, there are some absolute gods of lighting there who will have all the science behind it....me, I just know what I read- and not much of that either :roll:

 

[mr_X]

grf? general reefkeeping forum? :?

 

[Anonymous]

Yes :lol:

 

[atnixon]

I am keeping then glasses as they are part of the unit...The reason i am stripping them out of the casings is to minimise the size of the hood some what..and the other reason is....well, why not..surely if i just put the lamps, inside their own casings inside a hood, i know from pure physics, that the temp inside the hood is going to be a lot hotter as there will be then two casings in effect for the lamps...Also, it will be a enclosed wooded hood because i have a cat...I dont want to wake up to crispy pussy for my breakfast..What benefits am i going to gain from having an open top hood? dont quite get you on that one mate...

Thanks

Niko

 

[Anonymous]

its a ventilation thing. if you have pendants and there not in a hood then they will not trap all that heat and transfer it to the water.... also it is easyer to adjust the lights up and down which is nice when changing out bulbs and when placing new inhabitants in the tank.. you can rase them up during burn in of the new lamps and also rase them when you get a new specimin and lower them slowly to allow them to adjust... the final thing is allowing a good air water interface with out fans pulling in any and all airborns around the house.... windex used while cleaning the tank and dust etc will be sucked in to the hood with fans and contaminate the water easyer. :idea:

 

[Anonymous]

Niko, what John said. Btw, I have cats and have never had a problem, but thats not saying that you wont, I suppose! One of the downsides of an open hood (well, here in Darkest Insect-infested Africa) is the insects that are attracted to the lights and end up in the water. That has been the only negative that I have found to date.

 

[atnixon]

my cat never stays away from my tank...most times when i am out of the house and come back in, i can see the cat has been on it..

The will be no water contamination from and dust or windex or anything like that because it will be in a boxed off compartment and not open to the water...I want them in a hood, rather than as pendants because i will also be installing some actinic suppliment and i dont want it looking like a mess, am spending a lot of money on building this new setup so i want it just right...

Thanks for the explanation John..Much appreciated..

Niko

 

[mr_X]

maybe you need a reef-safe, top feeder andy. if there is such a thing. :?
make a nice meal out of those bugs!

 

[Anonymous]

X, I actually had a small remora that I caught up until 2 weeks ago. (nearly a year) He was perfect in that role. He got too big and aggro and when he started to chase my smaller fish, I swopped him to the LFS as they have a new predator tank. He's very happy there on a small blacktip shark!