My New Lighting Hood Came!

It's like Christmas morning all over again! I ordered a hood from Pet Supply Liquidators for my soon-to-be 15 gallon nano reef that I'm planning out. All I can say is wow

 

The hood is very well built, and obviously well planned in design. I had a custom one made - it has a 70w HQI Metal Halide, and a 36w powercompact actinic bulb. The ballasts are mounted in the hood, it has two switches, one power cord, and a 4" cooling fan. So far it's run very cool and quiet. The actual hood is a thick aluminum with 'ridges' which I assume will help cool it as well, and it has black plastic 'caps' on the end where the fan and switches are.

 

I'll have some photos of my hood soon once I can get ahold of a digital camera. For now I'll attach a picture of a similar looking hood PSL made.

 

As for my new tank - once I get a chance to build it - It's going to be a 15 gallon tank with 3 gallon sump in the back, like on my 7.5 gallon nano. 20"x16"x14" and the sump will take up about 3" in the back. The lights have matching legs to keep the hood about 6" above the tank, so I'll have an open top tank. More details later

All I can say is WOW That is one nice piece of equipment... so an open top tank will work with light that close?

 

Cool!!!

Hmm. I was thinking of putting 175W MH on my 15 T. Right now I have about 96W PC on it. You think the 175W will be overkill since you opted for 70W?

A 175 w/ 96 would be overkill - but you could downsize the powercompact lamp. I was looking at the box my HQI lamp came in...it says 150w on it...so I'll have to ask someone there if it's just a box, or if I actually do have a 150w HQI. I was actually thinking a 150w might be better... LOL. I'll let you know what I find out.

Oh ya. I would only run the 175W MH with about 64W actinic.

A 150 or 175 SE or DE in there would be excellent with a 32W actinic and a second fan. I still like the SE style though because I can get away with a cheap external magnetic ballast. I'd also go for external ballast for the PC to get it away from the heat which of course will reduce the life of the ballasts.

 

Let us know whether its a 150 in there. You should be able to tell by looking at the specs of the bulb or ballast driving it.

 

Another thing they might want to think about is rotating the channel supporting the legs on the tank 90 degrees. That would allow it to be used with the right legs on a 20L or 29 tank using the same design but with a brighter bulb for the extra depth.

Ok, I found out it is a 70w 10000K lamp, it was just put in this 150w bulb box for shipping. As for the actual ballast, it's in the hood, but it's separated in it's own enclosed compartment on one end, and is right beside the vent opening on the end. I've had it run for about 3 hours so far and the enclosure isn't even hot yet.

That's nice !! . Look's kinda like the JBJlighting.com light's! I have the JBJ lighting light's and am one happy camper. But, i do want to see full tank pic's

Awesome chris, how much was it?

Where'd ya get it? I actually just made a stainless steel hood for a 70w HQI light and (2) 28w PC's for my 5 gallon.

I got it from Pet Supply Liquidators. It's $325.00. It's not on their website as a normal product yet, but I think they'll be adding it soon. But, for all that are interested, you can email them and get it custom made.

gaaaahhh... I miss the days when I could wake and bake.....

make fried eggs hashbrowns and bacon on my 2 x 400 W MH ballast box.... damn electronics.

 

Nice hood. I havent messed with the JBJ's very much, so I cant justify the prices for some of them ($700.00 wholesale) but it they are quality, then they are worth every cent.

Originally posted by Dave ESPI

gaaaahhh... I miss the days when I could wake and bake.....

make fried eggs hashbrowns and bacon on my 2 x 400 W MH ballast box.... damn electronics.

 

Nice hood. I havent messed with the JBJ's very much, so I cant justify the prices for some of them ($700.00 wholesale) but it they are quality, then they are worth every cent.

LOL...cooking on the ballast. This hood isn't a JBJ though, it's made by Catalina Aquarium (Pet Supply Liquidator sells them). Definately better priced than a JBJ setup too. But yea, the style is similar.

Well, I just finished building the tank...it should be setup in a few days

Nice Hood Chris!

 

I was about to say, it looks like the petsupplyliquidator setup. I too want to setup a 70w hqi w/36w PC actinic for my 12g. Can't wait to see the pic's when you get it in!

Now that is a nice looking hood. Can't wait to see a picture of yours chris. I have a peice of SHI&$%# ! CSL hood. I have had to replace the ballast twice

I got the legs all attached and whatnot, but I feel like they look kind of silly on such a small hood. After having the hood run over the empty tank all day, I found it to still be running fairly cool; seemingly cooler than the VHO's I have sitting right on top of my 90 gallon tank. So, I'm going to try running the system with the hood sitting directly on top of the tank, and see how it effects the water temp, if at all.

 

But, I can't setup the tank until I get my 46 gallon tank moved to it's new owner's home...so maybe I'll have it setup this sunday or sometime next week. I should be able to get some photos up tomorrow though!

Originally posted by LoneWolf02

Now that is a nice looking hood. Can't wait to see a picture of yours chris. I have a peice of SHI&$%# !  CSL hood.  I have had to replace the ballast twice

Which CSL hood model are you running? I was kind of disappointed in the quality of my 4 x 55w PC ABS hood I had about a year ago, although I've never had trouble with the ballasts going out.

I've setup the tank! Here are the photos of the hood:

 

 

 

I have other photos and details of the tank on my site at http://www.nano-reef.com/chris/15

cool little hood, you said it was custom . were they pretty helpful with designing it?

175w WOULD NOT BE OVERKILL. heck put a 400w on there.

 

325 for the light...umm, yeah i would have gotten it back when i thought a 70w HQI would be sufficient...now i know better and would get a 400w 20,000k Radium set up for 100bucks cheaper and have a WAY better tank.

 

looks nice and i am sure your softies and LPS will like it.

Lunchbucket

They designed the whole system, I just told them what I wanted in it. I originally wanted a remote ballast, but they called me to see if an internal one would be ok (and it really is...no noticeable heat from it).

 

And Lunchbucket..for the record...SPS are BORING!

SPS boring...that is IT...your are toast little man!!! LOL

 

simple minds for simple softie LPS tanks

 

 

looks like a nice light...just needs MORE WATTS

Lunchbucket