Down to business ...

[DragonGoby]

Finally got my tank up and running. Breaking in should take a shorter time, considering all the sand used had been from old aquaria (2 different ones) and old LR as well. Now to the real stuff. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to upgrade my 70W MH lights to at least 150W or even 250W, but I intend to fit the entire fixture into the hood. Would this pose any disadvantages as compared to a pendant type? Cos my ceiling is rather high and I don't want to drill holes in it! Was figuring that I could drill a hole into the side of the hood to add an exhaust fan and suck hot air out before the heat can be transferred to the water. However, this would involve a lot of circuiting and I know next to nothing about this! How?!?

Regards,
Hong Yee

[Phang]

Hong Yee,

All you have to do is follow the instructions on the Ballast and ignitors... they have diagrams and instructions that are rather easy to understand...

If you are intending to place your bulbs in a customised hood...
take note of the follwing...

1) ensure that the bulbs are placed a certain distance away from water surface...
cos there's the danger of a minor exxplosion if any water hits the bulb..
(I keep my at 10 inches above water surface)

2) if your bulb is Single Ended, due to the lower UV emited, a protective glass will not be neccessary

3) If your bulb is DE, then a tempered glass would be highly recommended due to the substantial UV emited.

4) Ensure that there are ventilation holes or spaces for air to cool the surrounding of the bulb...

5) Do not face the air flow directly at the bulb if you are using fans... it will cause the bulb to function at a lesser capacity...

Hope this helps.....
Fellow reefer.

[DragonGoby]

Hi Phang,

Thanks for the tips. I intend to use DE bulbs and add a glass pane, both to protecy against UV and also to allow me to place it closer to the water surface. So far no water splashes are apparent, but I'm not going to run the risk of the bulb cracking. Think I'll cut a hole in the hood and place the fan so that it blows out instead of in - hopefully it will work like an exhaust fan concept.

Another thing, hope you don't mind - where can I buy the ignitor, ballast and bulbs? What about a rough estimate in cost?

In addition, I think I'll be unscrewing my present pre-made PC hood, study the wiring and retrofit 4 of those PC bulbs into the new custom hood. Right now my present hood has 4 NO flourescent lamps but just thought I'd want to increase overall wattage.

Once again, thanks for your help! p.s BTW, do you also go to the SRC Forums as well?

Regards,
Hong Yee

[Spiff]

u can get the ballast, ignitors n holder from lighting shops along balestier

[Phang]

Hong Yee,

I actually prefer Single ended bulbs simply because they...

1) are easier to install....
2) Have a protective outer shield already therefore reducing the amount of UV emited.
3) doesn't need a glass plate between the bulb and water surface...

If you are going for a glass plate... do take note that tempered glass is the only choice... anything else would most probably crack under the MH heat influence when water splashes on it.... (Tempered glass is expensive)...
Also, having a glass plate in between the bulb and water would also reduce the amount of light into the water...not also to mention about the salt sprays that will eventually reduce the efficiency of your light output if not maintain....

placement of bulbs will too be different... DE to be mounted parallel to tank length and SE bulbs perpendicular for better light spread...

IMO, SE bulbs are better... only have to fit it up a little higher.... resulting in less miscellaneous cost and also less maintanence....

Are you in sgreef too??? what's your nick??

[DragonGoby]

Current lighting setup I have is 2 x 70W MH (DE) without UV filter. I don't suppose I can add any LPS or even softies yet, in case they bleach? Read through some pages on the net, and found out some useful stuff about where to get the parts. Decided to go for SE bulbs to save on the glass pane, since I really (I really mean *really*) hate doing more work than is necessary.

Now, what should go into the hood itself? I'll need spacers (between reflector and top of hood), reflector, bulb and Mogul socket. And small fan too. Where is the ignitor, capacitor and ballast normally placed? May want to get the Iwasaki 250W 6500K bulbs, since they don't require an external ignitor. Also read that these bulbs don't need MH ballasts, normal mercury vapour ballasts will do; but are the MV ballasts cheaper than MH ballasts?

Thanks again,
Hong Yee

----------------
On 1/9/2003 10:12:24 AM

Hong Yee,

I actually prefer Single ended bulbs simply because they...

1) are easier to install....
2) Have a protective outer shield already therefore reducing the amount of UV emited.
3) doesn't need a glass plate between the bulb and water surface...

If you are going for a glass plate... do take note that tempered glass is the only choice... anything else would most probably crack under the MH heat influence when water splashes on it.... (Tempered glass is expensive)...
Also, having a glass plate in between the bulb and water would also reduce the amount of light into the water...not also to mention about the salt sprays that will eventually reduce the efficiency of your light output if not maintain....

placement of bulbs will too be different... DE to be mounted parallel to tank length and SE bulbs perpendicular for better light spread...

IMO, SE bulbs are better... only have to fit it up a little higher.... resulting in less miscellaneous cost and also less maintanence....

Are you in sgreef too??? what's your nick??


----------------

[Phang]

MV Ballast are definitely cheaper...
But you sure you wanna 6500k for your reef???

Cos your reef would look very yellow.....yucks unless you can get lots of actinics in and that should cost a bomb....

The PAR however for the 6500ks are definitely high though..

If you are looking for a 150W, recommend the Iwasaki 20kk bulbs... they are a bluish white in colour and IMO, looks good..
They come in both SE and DE....

Place the Ballast in someplace where it will not be harzardous to ppl.... they get real hot.. someone did mention that the ballast from bulb should not be too far off... stating that the bulb burns at a less efficient capacity...

I think you need just L shaped steel pieces or brackets to hold the mogral base... the reflectors can go direct on the wood...if the bulb is place a substantial distance from the reflectors, of course....

Do let me know if you need more infor...
I'm currently running 2x 400W and a 250W MHs...

[DragonGoby]

Thanks so much for the reply!

So it's a tradeoff eh .. PAR vs colour. I'm really thinking of getting the Iwasaki 20KK if you recommend it, but do you know anything about the PAR output? Is it significantly less than 6500K? Perhaps if I used the 20KK bulbs I can save on using actinics and add more 10KK PC lamps instead.

----------------
On 1/9/2003 5:10:11 PM

MV Ballast are definitely cheaper...
But you sure you wanna 6500k for your reef???

Cos your reef would look very yellow.....yucks unless you can get lots of actinics in and that should cost a bomb....

The PAR however for the 6500ks are definitely high though..

If you are looking for a 150W, recommend the Iwasaki 20kk bulbs... they are a bluish white in colour and IMO, looks good..
They come in both SE and DE....

Place the Ballast in someplace where it will not be harzardous to ppl.... they get real hot.. someone did mention that the ballast from bulb should not be too far off... stating that the bulb burns at a less efficient capacity...

I think you need just L shaped steel pieces or brackets to hold the mogral base... the reflectors can go direct on the wood...if the bulb is place a substantial distance from the reflectors, of course....

Do let me know if you need more infor...

----------------

[Phang]

Think if you have been to sgreef forum, there are a number of guys there with the 20kk Iwasaki......
you can always ask them how s the result....

I hav seen the 20kk during a demo from Eye's GM during one of the visits there.... IMO, very nice bluish white colour....

BTW, are you also in sgreef..... Hav not told me your nick yet....

[DragonGoby]

Hi,

was reading around and found that Radium 20KKs produce significantly less PAR than 6500Ks, but may go with them anyway. Still, if I use 20KKs, do you think I'll need actinic supplementation? I just dismantled the "black box" of my 70W MH unit to look at the circuit and took some digital photos to record how it's done, hehe.

Also, I really need help with something. One of my MHs work well, but the other one can be switched on and will gradually burn to maximum intensity. However, once that is reached in about 5 mins, the bulb goes off and a buzzing sound comes from the black box. Any idea what the problem is? Looked at the circuitry and nothing seems to have come loose - perhaps it's a faulty capacitator?

And Phang, what reflectors are you using? Was thinking of buying a parabolic reflector unit from the US, which comes fitted with a Mogul base as well. Think it's about US$30 per unit. My current reflector is just polished aluminium, really "cannot make it lar".

I'm not registered on SG Reef, but I lurk around reading all the posts. Taking all the time and not giving back any info, bwahahahaha!! But seriously I think I'll register tomorrow and do a formal intro to myself lor, just that my tank isn't ready yet so no pics to show everyone!

Regards,
Hong Yee

[Phang]

To answer your questions...

1) Still, if I use 20KKs, do you think I'll need actinic supplementation?

You have to check the light spectrum of the bulb... some bulbs peak at 420 nm in the light spectrum therefore requirement for actinics is not neccessary....

2)Also, I really need help with something. One of my MHs work well, but the other one can be switched on and will gradually burn to maximum intensity. However, once that is reached in about 5 mins, the bulb goes off and a buzzing sound comes from the black box. Any idea what the problem is? Looked at the circuitry and nothing seems to have come loose - perhaps it's a faulty capacitator?

All MH bulbs will take some time to reach their full light intensity when switched on.
Think it is most probably your ballast... Capacitors are there only to correct your power factor... you can theorectically run a MH without a capacitor but there would be more power consumption... (anyone like to confirm this)???

3)And Phang, what reflectors are you using? Was thinking of buying a parabolic reflector unit from the US, which comes fitted with a Mogul base as well. Think it's about US$30 per unit. My current reflector is just polished aluminium, really "cannot make it lar".

I use those normal reflectors obtained from lighting shops... and bend them into parabolic shapes...

4)I'm not registered on SG Reef, but I lurk around reading all the posts. Taking all the time and not giving back any info, bwahahahaha!! But seriously I think I'll register tomorrow and do a formal intro to myself lor, just that my tank isn't ready yet so no pics to show everyone!

Please do so...... will be waiting to see your reef....



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[hemiolopterus]

What is the website address for sgreef? I wanna join too ...

[DragonGoby]

Hey, Phang, just posted on SG Reef! And attached a pic too, but it's still quite a shame to show it at it's beginning stages.

Regards,
Hong Yee

[Phang]

Saw it....

Very impressive rockwork....
So what you wanna keep......SPS????


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[DragonGoby]

Hi,

Thanks for the comment, those rocks sure took a long time to place! Actually the entire back is almost a cave, since I propped large branch LR against the back glass to form the basic external structure, then added the more colourful LR on the perimeter of it. Almost fell straight into the tank while doing it - got to tiptoe on a chair to reach all the way down, even with 5" of sand at the bottom.

Yes, I would love to go into SPS, then got to really learn from you. Seriously I've never touched SPS before, got no chiller right now. Intend to get one by this year and start with SPS. Not to mention the fact that 70W is really kaputt for even LPS, so that'll have to go too. Decided on 250W - 400 will be too expensive in the long-run electricity-wise.

Still a long way more to go, lots of things I want to add/improve. Like a float switch for water top-up, calcium reactor, in-sump macroalgae refugium, chiller and of course, the most immediate one, lighting. Then again, the fun in this hobby lies in trying to improve on what you've already got, or get what you don't.

Regards,
Hong Yee

[mv3i]

phang,

how much for the 150W Iwasaki 20kk bulbs DE ?

[Phang]

Last time I heard.... $100

[Spiff]

y iwasaki???

y not try blv??? PAR's pretty high. or better yet aqualine

[narkosis]

Spiff,

The Saki 20KK LOOKS very good over a reef tank - as good as a 20KK Radium. However, you're right in that the BLVs, ABs and Ushios (BLVs too) produce more PAR since they're mostly 10KK, and do not as much of the blue spectrum.

In the end, it's all up to personal preference as to the looks of the tank. PAR itself just doesn't cut it, since the 6500K Sakis are so yellow. The 10KKs are a good compromise, since they're sheer white but still have a bit of visible blue spectrum. If you like more blue, you can always supplement with actinics.

Trying to do so with the 6500K Sakis is usually a lost cause. I used to use 3 units of 400W 6500K Sakis over my tank, supplemented with 3 units of 95W 3' VHO actinics - I couldn't even see the blue at all. But SPS coral growth was awesome. New frags started encrusting in just 5 days!

[kelstorm]

spiff, u might want to list the prices of blv and aqualine and the service support that is obtainable in sg... like where to get them and so on..