*~*New DOW -- Reef Lighting*~*
- Thread starter ReefLady
- Start date
BigReepher
Active Member
I had a 150W 10K HQI MH with Icecap E-ballast and Icecap bulb 12 inches off the water surface of my 20 gallon. My zoos didn't like it too much and they're doing much better under an 18W NO bulb. I'll be using two of the 150 HQI's over my 75g. My question is will I have to keep my SPS's right under the MH's or will I be able to place them pretty much anywhere? Will it depend on how close I place the lights to the waters surface? It is a 20in. tall tank and I want it to be predominately SPS's.
Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
What ever you decide, electronic ballasts are the way to go!
Craig Manoukian
Well-Known Member
Originally posted by TDEVIL
trying to talk the wife into the upgrade is a pain
Time for some flowers and champagne, the good stuff, and maybe you can achieve that perfect weak moment, eh?
MINIATUS
Active Member
Ok
heres my question on this. I have a 90 gal but plan on downgrading to a 75. I run 6 VHOs on the tank. Would it be cheaper to run halides than all these VHOs. I would like to keep some clams and some of the easier SPS in time. All 660 watts of VHOs are run on electronic ballast. Which brings me to another question for you light Gurus. I gather from articles that Ive read that Ice Cap ballast have a habit of under powering VHOs so you dont get the full effeect of the lamps. 2 of the bulbs are run on a workhorse 7 but some are saying that they shorten the life of the bulbs. Anyone have any feed back on this would be greatly appreciated.Reason for downgrading is cost and the 75 will be completely drill and the 90 will be come the home for my MINIATUS Grouper.LOL
MINIATUS
heres my question on this. I have a 90 gal but plan on downgrading to a 75. I run 6 VHOs on the tank. Would it be cheaper to run halides than all these VHOs. I would like to keep some clams and some of the easier SPS in time. All 660 watts of VHOs are run on electronic ballast. Which brings me to another question for you light Gurus. I gather from articles that Ive read that Ice Cap ballast have a habit of under powering VHOs so you dont get the full effeect of the lamps. 2 of the bulbs are run on a workhorse 7 but some are saying that they shorten the life of the bulbs. Anyone have any feed back on this would be greatly appreciated.Reason for downgrading is cost and the 75 will be completely drill and the 90 will be come the home for my MINIATUS Grouper.LOL
MINIATUS
I recently started to make my own MH ballast and retrofitted lamp. I chose to do a double ended bulb set up, and ordered the parts I thought to be necessary. The ballast is anM98 and cam with the igniter and capacitor, but my real concern is that the replcement sockets I bought only have one wire coming from each. The sockets were specifically for MH 70 watt hqi bulbs, but I'm unsure if it will work correctly with just one wire to each socket. Any suggestions? Thanks
Daytonben
Member
No one has approached the LED or Xenon lighting possibilities in this thread yet. (that, or I missed it).
I have had Metal Halide lighting in the past and liked it a lot... after you got past it's major drawbacks.
1. Extreme heat that needs to be compensated for.
2. High monthly energy bills to run the ballasts.
I've been reading and doing my homework on lighting for my upcoming Reef tank. So far I am leaning towards something like the LED solution brought up by Aquarium-LED, and then supplementing the blue spectrums with T5 flourescents. My tank is 8 ft long but will only be 15" tall, so this is a really viable approach for me. Metal Halide also brings up the added problem of too much evaporation in a tank with this surface area to water volume ratio.
I've read up about various Xenon DIY trials and think they have a ways to go yet before that is viable, but I'm becoming more and more of a believer in LED technology.
The current drawback to it is the heat burning out the bulbs. Anyone who has chucked out 4000$ for a Polaris system and then had 1/2 of it fail in 6 months knows what I am talking about. But that is what makes the Aquarium LED choice interesting and viable. I think they have the right idea so far although I would like to improve even more on their design and add some type of active fan cooling to their model. Most likely this would involve changing the heat sink to be something flatter than their bulb-like solution.
Ah, now I gotta go find the link from these forums. ZapconJ was testing 2 of these units out and seemed to be having good luck with them. They don't currently offer anything in the blue range. Just whites. 10-14k I think, and ~370.00 per 'bulb'.
Bah, lemme go find links! I shall return.
I wanna talk more about LED's as a viable alternative to Metal Halides though. Not only can I not afford to run the Halides, but I think they do many things that would cause as many problems as they solved on my particular tank.
Is there a good reason anyone knows of that makes Metal Halide superior to LED's ?
I have had Metal Halide lighting in the past and liked it a lot... after you got past it's major drawbacks.
1. Extreme heat that needs to be compensated for.
2. High monthly energy bills to run the ballasts.
I've been reading and doing my homework on lighting for my upcoming Reef tank. So far I am leaning towards something like the LED solution brought up by Aquarium-LED, and then supplementing the blue spectrums with T5 flourescents. My tank is 8 ft long but will only be 15" tall, so this is a really viable approach for me. Metal Halide also brings up the added problem of too much evaporation in a tank with this surface area to water volume ratio.
I've read up about various Xenon DIY trials and think they have a ways to go yet before that is viable, but I'm becoming more and more of a believer in LED technology.
The current drawback to it is the heat burning out the bulbs. Anyone who has chucked out 4000$ for a Polaris system and then had 1/2 of it fail in 6 months knows what I am talking about. But that is what makes the Aquarium LED choice interesting and viable. I think they have the right idea so far although I would like to improve even more on their design and add some type of active fan cooling to their model. Most likely this would involve changing the heat sink to be something flatter than their bulb-like solution.
Ah, now I gotta go find the link from these forums. ZapconJ was testing 2 of these units out and seemed to be having good luck with them. They don't currently offer anything in the blue range. Just whites. 10-14k I think, and ~370.00 per 'bulb'.
Bah, lemme go find links! I shall return.
I wanna talk more about LED's as a viable alternative to Metal Halides though. Not only can I not afford to run the Halides, but I think they do many things that would cause as many problems as they solved on my particular tank.
Is there a good reason anyone knows of that makes Metal Halide superior to LED's ?
plecosword
Active Member
T-5s, and LEDs.
I Believe that LEDs are where the Lighting Industry (not just reef lighting) is going and the things I see on the horizon are VERY promising!
Once the initial cost come down on LED units (and they are coming down majorly...) I think you'll see a massive Market Frenzy on these units.
Once the initial cost come down on LED units (and they are coming down majorly...) I think you'll see a massive Market Frenzy on these units.
mps9506
Well-Known Member
Like mentioned above, LED's were not a viable lighting option when this thread was started. IT has only within the last two years become a viable lighting option for reef tanks and everything else from car's to homes.
Daytonben
Member
Lol, oops. Didn't check dates, just saw this thread up there.
But now that we are all here...
Have DIY'ers been messing with the LED stuff much here?
What do people think about Aquarium-LED's solution versus the cost on DIY?
So far the one thing I can say I have definitely learned from people I have talked to is that the major problem with LED technology right now is heat. They don't produce much overall heat, but the bulbs are very small and any significant heat buildup more or less melts them fast. Any good design solution (I think) is going to include a heat sink to the open air above and preferably a small wattage fan or 2 powering that.
Does anyone have information on actual LED bulbs with Kelvin ratings? Or bigger reflectors? Or a company producing any or all of these things?
Actually, scrap that. I am just gonna make a new thread for LED talk rather than hijack this one.
But now that we are all here...
Have DIY'ers been messing with the LED stuff much here?
What do people think about Aquarium-LED's solution versus the cost on DIY?
So far the one thing I can say I have definitely learned from people I have talked to is that the major problem with LED technology right now is heat. They don't produce much overall heat, but the bulbs are very small and any significant heat buildup more or less melts them fast. Any good design solution (I think) is going to include a heat sink to the open air above and preferably a small wattage fan or 2 powering that.
Does anyone have information on actual LED bulbs with Kelvin ratings? Or bigger reflectors? Or a company producing any or all of these things?
Actually, scrap that. I am just gonna make a new thread for LED talk rather than hijack this one.
plecosword
Active Member
Cant wait, I am really a big fan of LEDS, Ive been watching closely.