Upgrading my Lighting
 

So I've been running my 1x96w 50/50 since I started my tank, but as you know, it ain't bright enough.

I picked up 2x 175w Bulbs, and a Custom Sea Life ballast to run them from Lostmind (feel free to chime in here, if I mentioned the wrong stuff!).

I want to add actinic's as well. The setup will be 48" long. A quick stop by JL, and I was recommended to go with:

Hagen GloMat 2 Electronic Double Fluorescent / 40W Dual Bulb Electronic Ballast Kit

http://www.jlaquatics.com/images/lig...en-ballast.jpg

And for bulbs, the Philips, 48" - 40W Actinic Fluorescent Bulbs.

Think that should be good enough? I doubt I would go with anything more than the 175w in the future (however don't quote me on that ;)). I will most likely be building my own hanging canopy that is about 3-5" above the surface of the water.

I think you'll be happy with that for actinics and MH. Should be enough for most corals you'll want to keep.

Well after speaking with Jack and Jason at OA yesterday, I think I may go VHO for my actinics.

What is recommended for this setup?

what type of light coloration are you after?
straight white?
tint of blue?
bluish?

what kelvin MH bulb do you plan on running?

sorry for a ll the questions, but it'll help me, to help you! :mrgreen: :lol:

Looking moreso for a tint of blue. I'm not sure what MH bulb I currently have, maybe Shane will know, I'll ask him which ones he gave me.

well i'd recommend 10k with VHO actinic
or 14k with NO actinic or NO?VHO 10k depending on how blue the 14k are.

Just found out the bulbs I have are 10k

yup, shoudl be 10k's. :)

Listen to Jack, go VHO!

But what to buy? ballasts? bulbs? I'm a newb to lighting...

Has nobody else ever used Hagen Marine Glo actinics. I run them on my Hagen Glo mat ballasts and/or just a shop fixture. We were amazed at this bulb. We even put it beside a vho super actinic and it was hard to tell the difference, although I imagine the 110w was more intense.

I have run the Philips actinics for 15 yrs. Good cheap actinic bulbs, but the Hagen drowns it out.


Not sure on actual colour of the Marine Glo. It certainly is brighter. Perhaps it has some other spectrum in it. Like I said, it more closely resembles light from vho actinic than other 40w actinics.

If I was going vho super actinics, I would use an Icecap 430 ballast and two 110w actinic bulbs. They really bring out the colour of your corals, esp. if your using 10K or less for a colour temp in your halides.

VHO ballast
 

You can wire a workhorse-7 for 2 48in VHO for about $60 plus wire and bulbs......Steve explained it in a thread a while ago.
Good luck

Re: VHO ballast
 

Yup, I was reading about that here. Any idea where I can pick this up locally?

Just a thought, but have you thought about using your old PC system and simply replacing the 50/50 bulb with an actinic? that's what I have done and I'm perfectly happy with the coloration.

Good luck!

Rob

I did think about it, but:

1) Its rather expensive just to use for actinic. I bought it for $189. For the price for a actinic bulb, and the unit itself, I can probably sell this unit, and get my VHO for almost the same price, and end up with more light.

2) its only 36" long, and my new setup is going to be 48" long.


I did some looking around, found to local companies for the ballast. Cheapest I found it for (WH7) is for $49cdn. Seems like a good deal compared to other prices I've seen around. I was quoted $64 at allbright, and I got my $49 price at http://www.brite-lite.com (I called them locally).

Been doing some more planning. I figure I'll install 2 fans in the canopy for air circulation. Just to make it noted, the canopy will be suspended, about 2-4" above the tank.

Should I have both fans just blowing air into the canopy? I heard having them suck air out, will bring it salt, killing the life of the fans.

Also, I was thinking about making my own reflectors (unless it is cheaper to buy ready made). I think the only thing about the ready made ones I've seen is how big they are in height. I only want the canopy to be around 4-6" in height (slim design). That is one of the reasons I figured I'd make my own reflectors. Now if I do this, what is the best material to use? (stainless I'm guessing).

J &L sells nice low profile reflectors as does most hydroponic shops. In making your choice go for the best you can afford when it comes to lighting. I have used tar ballasts from homedepot and DIY styles before with great success.

I'll have to check those ones out. I saw some there, but they were pretty big in height.

Yeah, after getting my 1x96w 50/50, i figure i'll get better, and go VHO with my MH. I was gonna go with the Workhorse7 for my ballasts.

Still been working on plans, but not much work, as I'm just finishing up my private license.

Question I had was wether or not I should put a cover on the bottom to protect the bulbs at all? Or should I leave it open?

The problem with a cover is you have to clean it all the time.

I had an acrylic cover on mine, but I removed it.

now, I just give the bulbs a quick wipe every month or so. very little salt creep on mine - maybe because I have a fan in the hood running all the time?

off topic but curious, what is that '' THIS PERSON IS ON MY IGNORE LIST''and SOMETHINFISHY name''?? when you put someone on your antibuddy list does it automaticly go underneath ever single post you make? Just curious as its probaly more provoking that anything and irritating to the viewer. just wondering as I'm fairly new here.
I like VHO as well and the ICECAP 660 just can't be beat! mucho$$$$

Yes, probably an antagonistic move. The signature block is also reserved for test, up to 700 characters. Please review your purpose and revise accordingly. Thanks.

Johnny R, we don't use ignore lists, and no, they wouldn't go in your sig line if we did :biggrin:

Well, that guy annoys the crap outta me too. He's from another board. I suddenly started getting 50-60 email notifications per day from that other board from threads I was watching...

every notification was a dumb ass post from that guy saying something like:

Wayne u picked my favorite fish 4 your avitar !!

or

no booze here ! (repeated several times)

or

thanks tang 4 putting up with Me !!

or

Hello big fish very good comment !

etc.

Essentially, the guy is postwhoring, without really knowing what post whoring means I think. I dont think the guy MEANS to bother people, but he can put 15 useless posts in a thread I am watching in an hour...

I haven't put him on ignore, but I guess some other have! I had to turn off email notifications tho...

Yes, I looked at that thread and agree he's annoying. However, the sig block doesn't belong here. Sig lines at RC are not my concern, so maybe that board is the place to put it. Thanks. :biggrin:

Back on topic (sig is long gone!)...

Well with things back to normal, and finally getting all my parts for my hood, work is underway. Just working out the wiring. I'm using a WH7 to fire 2 36" VHO.

The question I have is regarding adding fans to the canopy. I'll only have one 175w MH inside for now, but with the possibility to upgrade to 2 down the road, I want to have it ready. Do I need to power the fans on their own, or can I somehow run them from the power off the ballast or MH? (my thoughts say no, but I have been wrong before).

Also what size (mm?), cfm is recommended? Canopy will be about 16"x48"x8"(h).

I was planning on putting 2 fans on one side, blowing air into the canopy (as to not suck salt air into the fans), and on the other side of the canopy put one of these:

http://www.leevalley.com/images/item.../00u0871s1.jpg

Post whoring is completely unheard of on Canreef. :mrgreen:

Hmmm, were all your 2906 posts constructive. :question: :razz:

and your 3131 posts ;)

Seriously, back on topic ! ;)

Another question, when I wire up my plugs to the WH7, do I need to get a plug with a ground (with the ground wired to the base of the WH7?), or can I get away with just a 2 prong plug?

I'd ground it just to be sure. Those crazy WH's don't seem to have a handy attachment point though so who knows. Just attach something to the screws that you use to hold the ballast down to something.

Yup exactly what I was thinking. Just the screw that holds it down, I can ground it to.

Finally fired up my MH that I got from Lostmind (thanks!). Its a custom sealife, dual 175 ballast. Right now I'll just be using one to fire only one bulb on my 38g.

I picked up a bulb socket from Jack at OA (thanks again!), and wired things up at home, to check to make sure that the ballast/bulb is all working. Perfectly fine! Only problem I came across was the ballast. It is very loud. Any reason why? Sounds like a buzzing/hum noise.

Heh. I was just finishing up the designing of my canopy, when I came across a question.

Right now I'll only be using one MH 175w. I'll locate it in the canopy so that its in the middle of the tank. However, the middle of my tank has a plastic centerbrace. Will the MH cause any problems to the centerbrace? I would think it would be around 5-6" above it.

Yet another question. Whats the best way to wire up the fans in the canopy? Can they be run of the WH7?

Wow, was nov the last post?

My canopy has been done for the longest time, just waiting for the cabinet maker to laminate it to match my stand. He finally comes around to it, and tells me now he doesn't have enough leftover (argg). So instead of spending $130 for a sheet I don't need about 90% of, I figure i'd hit some DIY. I'm gonna plug up all the gaps and stuff, sand it down, prime, and hit it with a couple of coats of paint that matches the stand. I found some car paint at Canadiantire that matches perfectly.

So with that project this weekend, I'm back at looking at wiring again. I'll be running 2 36" vho from the WH7. I know its recommended to run only one bulb, but until I get another ballast i'll have to run them both off this one.

So from the various threads, this is what i've figured. I should run 2 red wires to one endcap. Now do i still need to jumper it, or can i just wire one red to each clip on the end of the endcap? Then just split the yellow wire in two, and connect to each endcap on the other end?

Today was a nice day, so I pulled out the canopy, and filled it up with poly instafil.

Prior to poly:
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6377.JPG

After poly:
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6382.JPG

Jobmate Sander: my trusty sander that I picked up at Canadian Tire for $9.99. Score!! Worked wonders:
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6383.JPG

After sanding: After letting it dry for a few hours and then sanding (60grit/150grit)
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6384.JPG
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6385.JPG

Nice and smooth now. I'll leave it overnight just to let the poly really dry, then tomorrow i'll start priming, then painting it.

Damn, from last year, I don't feel that bad now on the amount or lack of time I have had in the last month :mrgreen:

Steve

:question:

Okay, it is late, and I just got home, but I really don't understand that sentence.

just the fact I have been building 2 skimmers, 2 Ca reactors and 1 Kalk reactor for over a month now and I am not done yet and feeling like I was going to slow :mrgreen:

Steve

Ahhh... shall I even start on my skimmer which I started, months ago as well? lol....

Work sucks that way I guess. Oh well. I'm a slacker, what can you say? hehe...

Actually, I think you both started your skimmers last year... :)

Like all my work, it may take longer, but it does get done ;)

Finished priming the canopy today. This awesome weather totally helps ;)

Canopy Primed: 4-5 coats of primer
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6387.JPG
http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6388.JPG

And my next Canadian Tire special, the Duplicolor Import Spray. I picked up two cans of these, as you can see they are much smaller than the usual type of cans. This was the best match that I could find to the laminate on my stand. Hopefully it won't be that different once its painted on the canopy.

http://www.ditchmond.com/gallery/alb...l_DSCF6391.JPG

thats not the one I am talking about.. I am making a skimmer extension right now LOL, but ya I do have to finnish the other one also :confused:

Steve