thesmallerthebetter Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 im in the process of building a .5 gallon pico (no sump) and was looking for possible SPS lighting, and gave up in despiar over the fact that the smallest MH i can find with 10-12000k color temp was 70w. i gound a 50w but its only 6700k (talk about nusiance algea ) but i did a quick search for HID/XENON headlights and found some nice little 35W MH 12000k lights!!!!! $60 for the two....(like, ur kidding right?) and i could super easily mod them into a little halgoen fiture for litterally no $$$$. http://www.lightinthebox.com/HID-Xenon-Kit...16-_p34414.html any reason this wont work? i assume they are 12v as they run on a car? idfk tho, seeing as how ive never worked on a car. enlighten me great reef lighting gurus Link to comment
flamethis Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Even includes th ballasts.. IDK about the 12V deal since the power on your car is mainly 12V it would make sense but at the same time I can't see an HID running off 12V.... Very good find though , worth some investigating. Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 Even includes th ballasts.. IDK about the 12V deal since the power on your car is mainly 12V it would make sense but at the same time I can't see an HID running off 12V.... Very good find though , worth some investigating. i looked up the ballasts (a seperate manufacuter, but same thing) and its a 9v-18v. so i cud righ a 12v 8a power converter to run these suckers. there has to be something im overlooking.....its just soooo simple and perfect for what i wanted to do... Link to comment
flamethis Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 Another thing is that you couldn't mount these sideways like a standard mogul socket MH bulb. The deisgn of the bulb is that it throws the light straight out the end. You'd need the pointing directly at the tank, so I'm not sure on the coverage area at a minimal height? Like a regular MH bulb coves 2 square feet, what would the coverage of this be? I think it's a cool lead, and with some research might prve to be exactly what you're looking for! Link to comment
121a Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 been done before, do a search for it. Link to comment
Shadowrider Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 How about something like this? Lowes has quite a few pages of specialty lighting. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=prod...&lpage=none Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 HID lighting has been done before. The biggest hurdle is the initial current spike at startup. It's huge and you need a powersupply that can handle it. Running currents will be around 3A per bulb. Your starup currents could be as high as 10A. You just need to make sure that your powersupply can handle it. Switching power supplies will have a hard time dealing with the sharp spike. A linear power supply will be able to take the hit a lot better, but they are bigger, heavier, and can cost quite a but more. Link to comment
Reeferton Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 been done before, do a search for it. Not with the forum search engine he can't. It won't search for words under 3 characters long, therefore 35 and MH will return no results. If used googles with site:nano-reef.com he could find it, but I can't blame hime for not finding it in this case. Link to comment
Matty1124 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 uuuuhhhh correct me if im wrong but isnt the holy grail of pico lighting being talked about all over the lighting board... its LED not mh Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 seems to be at the moment. Link to comment
Matty1124 Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 ^ and look the golden god of DIY LED himself Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted October 23, 2008 Author Share Posted October 23, 2008 i found that thread about the crocea in the 4gal looks totally cool. only issue is that i HATE the yellow that light made everything. even with his actinics working....think the 12000k bulb would be more close to that lovley blue white color (like 50/50 PC)? he kept that clam in a 4g with it....imagine what could be done in the half gallon of mine uuuuhhhh correct me if im wrong but isnt the holy grail of pico lighting being talked about all over the lighting board... its LED not mh LED lighting is something i try and steer clear of. im no electrician (i did some RCing back in the day as well as some retrofitting) and i dont care much for the LED. i also dont think i can fit enough LED's over the tank to grow SPS without burning the SH!T out of everyone inside. i may be wrong though.. also, the 35w HID is gonna run like $100 for the whole get up, 12v 25A power supply, bulbs, Halogen Fixture, the whole nine yards. i doubt i can slam together a reliable LED fixutre for that. Link to comment
Splumph Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 "LED lighting is something i try and steer clear of. im no electrician (i did some RCing back in the day as well as some retrofitting) and i dont care much for the LED. i also dont think i can fit enough LED's over the tank to grow SPS without burning the SH!T out of everyone inside. i may be wrong though.." LEDs give off less heat than PCs and T5s, and it would be a helluva lot cooler than even a 35w MH. The heat comes out the back, not the front. I would think over a half gallon, you would need like two LEDs. "also, the 35w HID is gonna run like $100 for the whole get up, 12v 25A power supply, bulbs, Halogen Fixture, the whole nine yards. i doubt i can slam together a reliable LED fixutre for that." This is something I've been thinking about throwing together, I'll let you know what I find Link to comment
121a Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 i found that thread about the crocea in the 4gal looks totally cool. only issue is that i HATE the yellow that light made everything. even with his actinics working....think the 12000k bulb would be more close to that lovley blue white color (like 50/50 PC)? he kept that clam in a 4g with it....imagine what could be done in the half gallon of mine LED lighting is something i try and steer clear of. im no electrician (i did some RCing back in the day as well as some retrofitting) and i dont care much for the LED. i also dont think i can fit enough LED's over the tank to grow SPS without burning the SH!T out of everyone inside. i may be wrong though.. also, the 35w HID is gonna run like $100 for the whole get up, 12v 25A power supply, bulbs, Halogen Fixture, the whole nine yards. i doubt i can slam together a reliable LED fixutre for that. first off, .5g is a very very small water volume, your looking at like .4g once you have rock and all that other crap. 35w of mh will probably heat it to the point were cooling and evaporation will cause you to get an ato. if this is your first attempt at SW, i highly suggest not doing this. If you had a nano before it still is a small volume were the slightest fluctuation could kill the whole tank. LEDs, like it or not, are the future lighting. They emit tremendous about of light while using very little electricity and producing very little heat. The technology now is still new, but rapidly improving and prices will start falling. Once they do and more optics and such are created, they will be the new mh/t5 for reefs. probably about 4-5 years though. well everyone has an opinion though. good luck. Link to comment
Splumph Posted October 23, 2008 Share Posted October 23, 2008 White LED 6.67 Blue LED 4.40 Small Power Supply 10.85 Optic 4.28/5 Heatsink/fan 9.81 Power supply for fan 4.50 Thermal Epoxy 9.97 50.45 for your materials, you'd probably need an extra 20$ for tools, an enclosure, and wire. I'm pretty sure this would work, you'd be underdriving the white LED though, which would just make it dimmer (and probably last longer) Not meaning to show a build, but I wanted to see if I could throw something together for less than 100$ Link to comment
thesmallerthebetter Posted October 24, 2008 Author Share Posted October 24, 2008 first off, .5g is a very very small water volume, your looking at like .4g once you have rock and all that other crap. 35w of mh will probably heat it to the point were cooling and evaporation will cause you to get an ato. if this is your first attempt at SW, i highly suggest not doing this. If you had a nano before it still is a small volume were the slightest fluctuation could kill the whole tank. LEDs, like it or not, are the future lighting. They emit tremendous about of light while using very little electricity and producing very little heat. The technology now is still new, but rapidly improving and prices will start falling. Once they do and more optics and such are created, they will be the new mh/t5 for reefs. probably about 4-5 years though. well everyone has an opinion though. good luck. this is a long way from my first tank. ive kept everything from FW rays to Marine sharks, i had a 2.5 Gallon reef a while back, and ive adressed each of the issues you have stated already on this tank. ive been planning this project for over a year (on and off) and have looked into each of the possible complications and attempted to solve them as best i can forsee. as far as the ATO, i already have built a hamster bottle gravity fed one. it was a necessity with or without MH to keep the salinity within acceptable lvls. The more i look into the HID's the more reliable and they seem and the more postive i become that they will work. thanks for your wish of luck, but i dont think luck has anything to do with this Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 24, 2008 Share Posted October 24, 2008 HID will work, and I applaud you for trying something different. If you can keep the heat under control, it should look great. Don't pass off LEDs just yet though. You could get very adequate lighting for sps with the list that Splumph posted, except there is no need for optics. So basically you could do it for $46. If I were to change it, I would double the number of LEDs and the driver/power supply. Super bright, with no heat emmited into the tank. Pretty easy to assemble too. Link to comment
Reeferton Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Ledsupply said they could probably order me 8k cree LEDs, but I'd have to order 50. Maybe if everyone working with LEDs emailed them asking for 8k and 10k LEDs they will start stocking them... Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 I'll bet they will be expensive though. 8K+ is very low yield. Link to comment
Reeferton Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Thanks for bursting my bubble evilc... Link to comment
adinsxq Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 it's called, "wildcard" Not with the forum search engine he can't. It won't search for words under 3 characters long, therefore 35 and MH will return no results. If used googles with site:nano-reef.com he could find it, but I can't blame hime for not finding it in this case. Link to comment
evilc66 Posted October 25, 2008 Share Posted October 25, 2008 Thanks for bursting my bubble evilc... sorry dude! Link to comment
Sergeant-G Posted October 26, 2008 Share Posted October 26, 2008 good idea cant wait to see how it turns out Link to comment
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