New lighting project begun

[addict]

Well, I've hinted around a bit about the new lighting going over my tank this weekend, so I figured I'd start a thread to track it's progress.

Yesterday I built the wooden rack that's going to hold the T5HO lighting (all Tek 5 36" 39w retro kits), and once the glue was dried this morning, I got down to business turning it from scrap wood into coral food.

Anyway, things went a lot easier than expected, and wiring up the ballasts was a piece of cake... much simpler than when I did my PC lighting.

Here's what it looked like first thing this morning:

Just the rack with the ballasts, which are AccusTart 5's (program start, rather than 'instant on'... should help with bulb life).

Next I started wiring up the different sets of bulbs.

These two sets will be dawn/dusk lighting, so they're spaced evenly apart across the rack... the four bulbs in between (2 on each end) will be for mid-morning/late-evening.

Now a shot of everything wired up and zip tied.

And next the test firing... keeping fingers crossed:

It works!!! Whoohoo!
This photo was taken under the same conditions lighting-wise as the previous ones, but the bulbs are so bright that the shutter speed on my camera turned way down to compensate... they're almost too bright to look at... and I'm stoked about that.

Here's a shot of how the PFO Mini HQI pendant is going to fit:

It's going to sit to one side over the SPS area, and I'll still have enough room on the other side if I ever decide I want to add another. It's gonna be fired with an ARO electronic ballast. I got the PFO conversion kit for the ballast so the mini pendant will just plug right in without having to lop off the plug end and splice the wires together.

And last but not least, here's a shot of the moonlights:

I decided to go with CurrentUSA Lunar Lights this time around, because my DIY moonlight project only lasted about 30 days before all the LED's burnt out from too much current. There are two of the lunar lights, a primary light, and a 'Lunar Link' add-on second light. They're spaced evenly along the center, every 12" (or thereabouts). You can see the gaps between the three bulbs at the ends and the two in the center... that's where the moonlights are.

Well, that about covers it for now... I'll probably get these guys installed tomorrow or Saturday, depending on household conditions, so I'll post another photo update once they're in and running, and probably a comparison to my old lighting.

Hope your modem isn't frying...

 

[Woodstock]

Nice David. You make it sound easy...

You are replacing your MH with these?

 

[mps9506]

looks good man.
Those T-5's come with the reflectors? Can't wait to see how it looks on the tank..

 

[addict]

Yes ma'am... my old bulbs needed replacing, so I figured I could either spend the $350 to replace them, or I could install something a bit more efficient so that our electric bills aren't scary to open.

I did some figuring, and the lights should pay for themselves within 12-18 months, and after that it'll be all savings.

I'll be going from about 10-11 kilowatts a day down to about 6 kilowatts, and theoretically I shouldn't really be sacrificing too much light intensity. My primary bulbs before were 400w 20K's, so PAR-wise I should be right in the same ballpark.

 

[addict]

Thanks Mike.

Yeah, the retrofit kits I bought came with everything, except screws to mount the endcap standoffs. Supposedly the Tek 5 reflectors aren't the greatest thing out there, but they appear plenty bright to me.

 

[addict]

Oh, I guess I should add that the DE HQI bulb is going to be a 250w 10K XDE (XM).

 

[Woodstock]

Wow... awesome idea. Great way to save $$.... for more frags

 

[addict]

Thanks Doni.

Yeah... though about half of the monthly offset will be spent on feeding our Harlequins.

Though we got lucky... one of our LFS sells chocolate chip stars for 'food' and only charges a bit over $3 each for them that way... so they aren't gonna be as expensive to feed as we thought.

Okay, one more teaser shot... here's everything fired up:

You can see it lighting up the tree outside the living room window too...
I don't remember the light being this blue when I took the photo, but this is how the camera caught it... I think this light is going to work good.

 

[aqujoe247]

Another perfect job Dave.

Will my Ice Cap 660 ballast run T-5 bulbs?

 

[addict]

Thanks Joe.

Yes, the IceCap 660 will run T5HO bulbs.

It should run up to 4 60" bulbs, and as a bonus, it overdrives them so you get even brighter light than the wattage rating on the bulb. I'm not sure how this affects bulb life, but mum's the word over at IceCap.

I'm sure that with some searching you can find the wiring diagrams for the different wiring configurations...

Well, it looks like this thing's going to go together tomorrow. I ended up having to build an external control center for the lighting, so that I could run the three timers (dawn/dusk, mid-morning/mid-evening, moonlight), and I'll get a pic of that posted tomorrow along with photos of the installation. The timer for the halide will still be on my tank's control panel.

It's essentially done the same way my timers were done along the bottom of my control panel... the leftmost outlets are 'hot', and the timer plugs into those, which switches the two outlets to the right. The box is going to screw to the wall right behind the tank, so that it makes the canopy more 'modular'. Everything is going to plug into this (halide included), so that if I ever need to remove the canopy, I can just unplug all the lights from the control center and remove it.

As it is now, my wires snake all over the place and then run under the house, so it's quiet a chore getting the canopy on and off... plus I have 15' of wire attached to each halide (4 in total) that I have to deal with.

I think it should work out good (as if I had any doubt ).

I'm gonna get the rest of the prep work wrapped up in the a.m., and when my wife gets home from work tomorrow afternoon, the fun starts.

I don't think it should take too long for the changeover, provided I measured correctly... LOL.
If worse comes to worst, I have a big belt-sander that can do some last minute design changes.

 

[addict]

Well, I've made a bit of progress this morning.

I've finished the electrical sub-panel and got it mounted. Now all I have to do is get the feed wires run and cut to length, and also get a few other odds and ends taken care of.

My wife should be home around 2:00, and hopefully it'll only take about an hour or so to get the old lighting removed and the new lighting installed (knock on wood).

Here's a shot of the panel:

The top outlet is for the moonlighting. I cut the bands on the outlet that tie the two outlets together, and made the top one 'hot', and the bottom one switched via the timer in the outlet above.
The lower two sets are 'hot' on the left, and the right side is switched by the timer... I'll have two sets of lights on each.

Here's a shot of it mounted (taken under fluorescent lighting so the color sucks):

I made the panel tall instead of wide so that it's hidden by the overflow when viewing the tank from the front... that's one drawback of having a clear back, but I still feel the pluses of a clear back outweigh the minuses. It makes it a ton easier to catch critters that find their way into the overflow... I don't know how I'd catch them otherwise.

More to come later!

 

[cheeks69]

Excellent work David
I also have a cube and have been thinking about making some changes namely getting a better reflector and adding some more actinics since I'm using an XM 10k MH, Can't wait to see the results

 

[Woodstock]

Wow.. those are bright! Great work David!

 

[Witfull]

i hate you rabbit~

great work,,,this is why i love reefing,,,mental stimulation and hands on playtime~ if it was just look at the tank,,it wouldnt be as much fun!

 

[addict]

Thanks Robert... I hope you'll be pleased with the results.
Thanks Doni... you gotta wear shades to look at these babies.

I agree Witty... I think my favorite part is just getting creative and working my way around problems in the design process... that's why I love DIY.

Anyway, I ended up having to get out the belt sander, because I had measured right on the money, and it was too tight of a squeeze... a couple passes down one side with the sander, and it was a perfect fit.

I didn't get a chance to get any photos of it installed in the canopy, but heck, that would just take up extra bandwidth anyway.

Here's the comparison shots...

First, here's the tank with 1-year-old 400w 20K Ushio bulbs... I set the camera completely on manual, and set the white balance to 'cloudy', which tends to neutralize the blue somewhat. I kept taking shots until this photo was evenly exposed, then used the same exact settings for the 'after' shot.

Now here's a shot taken with the same settings, with the new lighting:

I'd say it's not too shabby.
The halide has only been on for about 25 minutes, well shy of the 100 hours or so it takes to break in and become 'whiter', but even now it doesn't look too bad. It definitely looks different than using just 20K bulbs, but I like the effect that the uneven lighting adds to the tank... it looks like the sun is shining in from a point to the upper left of the tank.

Also, the deep shadows in the tank are now gone, thanks to the even lighting of the fluorescents... I like it much better.

Anyway, I gotta run for now... we're going out to dinner in a bit, and I'm all scuzzy from working on the tank all morning... I need to get this sawdust out of my ears.

 

[Woodstock]

Lovely! The new lights are definately brighter! Well done~~

 

[addict]

Thanks Doni.

I know it's a bit facetious to compare brand-new bulbs to 20K's that are a year old, but I'd say that the 20K's have only lost about 15% of their intensity.

So I essentially am getting the same amount of brightness, with about 56% of the wattage... plus the way my lighting regimen will run, I'll use even less.

Here's how everything's set up right now:
7:30am - T5 actinics on (2 sets)
8:30am - T5's on (other 2 sets)
10:00am - Halide on
6:00pm - Halide off
8:30pm - T5's off (other 2 sets)
9:30pm - T5 actinics off
9:30pm - Moonlighting on
12:30pm - Moonlighting off

So, as far as wattage goes, I'll be using right around 6 kilowatts a day, down from 14 kilowatts with my other setup... and I'll save about 240 kilowatts a month.
Here in California, our electrical rates are on a progressive scale, so the more kilowatts you use, the more you pay, based on percentage over baseline. On our electrical bills, we come in at over 300% of baseline, and any kilowatt hours in that range are billed at $.33/kwh... :bugout:

On our last bill, we had about 160 hours in that range, so we're looking at a savings of about $52 a month just for those hours... plus 80 more hours will come out of the 200% to 300% range, which are billed at $.21/kwh, another $16.80 in savings... almost $70 a month difference.
Multiply that by 12, and you get $840/year in savings... which is why I said that the lighting should pay for itself within a year's time... a pretty good return on investment.

And that doesn't even figure in bulb costs... $350/yr for halides versus $240 every 18-24 months for my current setup.

Yay! More frag money!

 

[Witfull]

pennypinching reefer,,LOL

looks good, but dont spend that money yet,,,i bet you get another halide on there~

 

[addict]

LOL... I'm the first to admit I'm a cheapskate.

I've learned though to only try to save money where you can get the same results by DIY'ing than if you bought a commercial offering.

If I do add another halide, it probably won't be for at least a year. The soft corals are all on the right side of the tank, and they get plenty of light with the T5's... the halide is essentially supplemental light for the SPS corals I plan to have on the left side of the tank, to aid in their growth.

I'll have to see first how much money we're saving per month, versus coral growth, and then I'll plan from there.

I will say that I really liked the coloration under 20K, but the electrical consumption, the short bulb life, and (very) slow coral growth rates were all negatives... plus the cost of a good 20K bulb.

So far I'm really liking what I'm seeing with the new lights, but after the XM bulb hits the 100 hour mark I'll have a better idea of how well this setup is going to perform visually... The T5 Actinic+ bulbs make the corals fluoresce really well... everything really stands out, but the XM still isn't broken in and is a tinge too yellow.

I'll get a shot in the morning of just the T5's before the halide comes on (with the same settings) so that there'll be comparison for those that want to just go with T5's and no halide supplementation.

 

[addict]

Well, here's the first in the lighting series for today of the T5's by themselves.

Now that the 'dawn' set of lights is on, here's a comparison to the other two shots (same settings).

It doesn't really 'look' this dark of a blue, but I didn't change the levels or anything to compensate... it's pretty much the color blue you can expect from an actinic bulb, even though these bulbs are 60% blue / 40% actinic

Here's a shot of my pink ricordia colony under the T5 actinics

You can see that the T5 actinics do a good job of fluorescing the corals.

Here's one of a multi-color zoanthid colony

And another of my bright orange zoanthids

So far I'm pleased with the results.
I'll post another update after the other two sets of bulbs come on here within the next hour.

Until then...