Lighting setup

[Delphinus]

Heat is a serious issue with halides and frankly whether you go SE/mogul or DE is not going to solve any heat issues without some kind of thought towards that issue in the first place.

Evaporation is the key to economical heat control and is accomplished very simply with a fan or two. But evaporation means more topup, and more humidity in your house. Another minus is that if you cheap out of the fan, you will hear fan noise.

For heat control that doesn't involve increased evaporation you can always look at a chiller. Not terribly economical though.

I go with the fans myself. It is amazing what difference a small fan blowing onto your sump can make in terms of reducing your temp spikes.

[Lofus]

I've already got humidity control in the house for the hardwood floor so a little more wont hurt (unless it takes me up to 80%!)

I was thinking of a Cdn Tire clip-on fan in the sump to see what sort of cooling effects I could get from it.

[Quinn]

I use one of the Canadian Tire clip-on fans (6") over my sump, along with two fans in my canopy, and my temperature fluctuates by about 2.5F, maxing out at about 84F each day. I didn't think out my canopy properly, but I'm satisfied with the way things are going for now.

[Lofus]

What problems did you run into on the canopy TeeVee?

[kari]

I'm using one 250watt SE 10k Ushio bulb and one 250watt DE 10k Ushio bulb. By eyeball comparison, the DE is kicking SE ass. However the differences in reflectors and ballasts used on these two bulbs I believe make a considerable change in output aswell.

[StirCrazy]

Kari are you running them both on HQI ballasts?

Steve

[kari]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

Kari are you running them both on HQI ballasts?

Steve

No I am not Steve. The DE is powered by an IceCap electronic and the SE by a HD special. Also the DE is housed in a Reef Optix reflector where as the other one has a polished aluminum (DIY) reflector. Both mounted at the same ht.

[Samw]

Yeah, what I would really be interested to know is what kind of loss or gain I would get if I kept the same ballast (IceCap HQI) and switched to a PFO reflector and SE bulb. What do you think Steve? Have you done this kind of test before with your Par Meter?

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Samw

What do you think Steve? Have you done this kind of test before with your Par Meter?

nope, right now I am trying to find old bulbs of different types to test there out put on a HQI ballast. It would be a interesting test though sence I have baseline numbers for your set up new.

I have a garage now so I do have the space to set up a testing area whare I can run a bulb whenever with out having to move it off the table to eat

I am planning some other tests with my AB bulbs when I get new bulbs to replace them. I want to determin the effects of various thickness glass and different thickness of water on the out put of the bulb. I can do the later with a spare 20 gal tank I have sitting around. I will just add water in 1 inch incraments and take new readings, but I want to do it with both fresh water and salt water from my tank to see if there is any difference in its filtering ability because of the salt.

Steve

[Quinn]

Originally Posted by Lofus

What problems did you run into on the canopy TeeVee?

I started out with two 3.5" fans blowing in at the level of the reflectors and bulbs and holes on the other side for output. I figured this would be good enough to remove excess heat radiating off the top of the lighting hardware. The fans were wired in circuit. I soon discovered that these two fans were providing too much air and the output holes couldn't handle it, backpressure was building up and slowing the fans down. Plus my temperature was too high.

So I drilled another two holes on the other side and wired two more fans up there. All four fans on the same circuit - they wouldn't start. Thought I had a defective unit, so removed one. The three worked, but not at full velocity. Somehow being wired in circuit was splitting power across all the fans. So I swapped them to parallel - and realized they were powerful enough, I could have done with just one on each side. So now I have just two fans running, but big holes on both sides of the canopy that I haven't bothered to fill where I could put more. The fans are also too high as I am now realizing.

If I could redo it, I would mount the fans lower, so that they are blowing under the hardware, and just one on each side. Then I would put two inside the canopy at a 45 degree angle blowing at the water to help cool it down. That way I could get rid of the fan in my sump.