HID Reef: 4G 35W 10,000K MH Crocea Pico

[ma_sha1]

Ma: Watched your tank video, looks good.

What type of car battery are you running, is it a deep cycle? When regular batteries drain empty a couple of times they never regain the full voltage, that could be a problem in the long run.

 

20 amp, 12 volt power supplies look to run about $80, HID kit about $70 = $150. No one has found a cheaper way to power these things yet?

 

Hi,

I have gotten off the battery a while ago. I was actually using a battery jump pack that was just laying around, so I was not concerned about damaging it.

 

Although I am running on $80 power supply, I accidentally started the thing with a cheap 5A/12V power supply ($10) that was for LED panel. but didn't want to risk a fire or something running that way long term.

[ma_sha1]

New update. HID light is still running well.

 

Just upgraded my 24 blue LEDs to a Current USA PowerBrite LED Lighting System, 4x1W 460nm Blue.

It looks much stronger than the regular blue LEDS I had on.

 

[NanoClown]

new lights needs new pics! lol

[ma_sha1]

new lights needs new pics! lol

 

 

I have some frag packs coming that will show some fluorescence once settled.

I'll take some actinic shots to post. Right now, I have only two pieces that does that.

Not impressive enough.

[Thesidius]

I'm selling my ballasts and bulbs if anybody is interested.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=147838

[bfedick]

Sure you give up I haven't received mine yet!!! Watcha gonna use now?

[ma_sha1]

I'm selling my ballasts and bulbs if anybody is interested.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=147838

 

 

Thesidius, sorry to hear it's not working out for you. Can you post a picture of your bulbs?

 

I want to make sure it's the same as mine, not coated & it's D2S, not D2R.

If $10 for the pair, I'll take it. I'll just keep it as replacement as I need to replace mine every 6 month.

The HID bulbs are rated about 1/2 time compares to typical MH.

 

what's your Paypal address?

[Thesidius]

Thesidius, sorry to hear it's not working out for you. Can you post a picture of your bulbs?

 

I want to make sure it's the same as mine, not coated & it's D2S, not D2R.

If $10 for the pair, I'll take it. I'll just keep it as replacement as I need to replace mine every 6 month.

The HID bulbs are rated about 1/2 time compares to typical MH.

 

what's your Paypal address?

 

PM'd you.

 

 

Sure you give up I haven't received mine yet!!! Watcha gonna use now?

 

I'm not giving up just changing tactics. I'm going to mod a 70w MH into the hood.

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=147879

[ma_sha1]

It's about time that I post some new pictures.

 

4W Actinic Current USA Fixture. Very bright!

 

Tank without the 4W Actinic LED: A bit green looking

 

Tank with the 4W Actinic LED: Obvious difference

 

Close up look at the black Nemo: His name is Obama

 

Last but not least, Yellow Watchman Goby: His name is Chairman Mao

[Thesidius]

Obama, Mao! LMAO!! Looks great! Awesome job!

[ma_sha1]

Just found a HID bulb spectrum.

 

Looks pretty similar to standard MH:

 

 

This is the website I got the spectrum. Over 3500 Lumen in a spot light, I bet this could keep a crocea clam:

At over 20,000,000 MCDs, that's ~50,000 LEDS together (400 mcd led)

or 1333 super bright leds (15,000 mcd each)

 

 

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...l%3Den%26sa%3DG

[Hans Dorn]

Just found a HID bulb spectrum.

 

Looks pretty similar to standard MH:

 

 

This is the website I got the spectrum. Over 3500 Lumen in a spot light, I bet this could keep a crocea clam:

At over 20,000,000 MCDs, that's ~50,000 LEDS together (400 mcd led)

or 1333 super bright leds (15,000 mcd each)

 

Or 20 Cree Q5 @ 700mA

 

The peaks in the chart you posted seem truncated.

[ma_sha1]

New updates:

 

Several key modifications are made in order to add a Clam back again.

Clam was a top motivation for me to create the 4G HID Pico.

 

 

1. Added DIY Battery Powered ATO with Kalk dosing. As the stable salinity is key.

2. Replaced 2x 40 Gph mini pump with one 265 gph Koralia nano Pump.

This gives much stronger flow but dispersed well in the Pico as the flow is super broad.

3. Started to feed DT twice a week.

 

One day later, the clam has fully open. The clam was bought at LFS & was losing color,

but otherwise healthy. My HID tank is noticiably brighter than the LFS PC set up.

Top left show the ATO probe wrapped into a Snail Guard.

 

 

The close-up to the clam, seems pretty happy so far.

You can see some left over blue pattern which indicate that the crocea was once pretty nice looking.

The other Crocea left at LSF is not completely brown after 2 month under PC.

 

 

In order to bring the color back, I have a few more exciting DIY items on order:

 

1, 3x Cree LED Flashlight head. Rated at 500 lumens/10W . I'll make it into a spot light over the clam only. At such concentrated spot pattern, I am estimating it'll double the PAR on the clam. Which will effectively bring the light intensity over my clam to be equal to a 10,000K 70W HQI. At 8" from light source, that should be sufficient to keep this clam long term & perhaps bring some color back. A tiny 1" square fan usill be used to cool the 3x Cree head.

 

2, World's smallest actinic bulb: 6W T4 (6W, only 9") will be retro fitted into the same fixture, to balance the color. It was not easy to find this tube.

This bulb is rated another 450 lm for daylight color, probably gives out 1/2 PAR or ~250 lm for Blue light.

 

I am too excited, I can't wait to get it completed.

Or, will this project ever get completed ?

 

.

[ma_sha1]

My Crocea under Actinic LED:

 

[gator2683]

power supplies...being a computer guy, i think you are overlooking a very obvious 12v source...

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817709011 only 27$ shipped

 

+3.3V@30A,+5V@36A,+12V@25A,-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@2.0A

 

should be enough to run 2 bulbs if you don't fire them at the same time (not much give and take though)

 

If your looking for a power supply, use the advanced search on newegg. you want a SINGLE 12v "rail" otherwise you will have to wire some stuff in parallel to draw the current you need. look under specifications to determine what amps the 12v output is rated

 

to run a power supply out of a pc, you just need to short 2 pins, if anyone wants to do this pm me for details, very simple

[disaster999]

where did you find those small T5s? im currently designing a tank with light hood and such, but my tank isnt 24" wide, it would be a waste to use 24" T5HO since half of the light output would be lost.

 

you think if i get 4 bulbs at around 20" long would be sufficient to power a 15gal tank?

[FateX9]

this is kinda funny, but reefers in japan have been doing this for a while using true mh spotlights and not hid's

they have some of the craziest light setups youll ever see

another thing with hid bulbs is their kelvin rating is COMPLETELY different then reef lighting

my brother has a business in car hid's, thats all he does and ive seen his bulbs

his kits usually run in the ~500-800 range though, i had this idea a while back but with prices of good stuff i just thought it wasnt worth it until i saw what japan was doing

 

heres my brother's site and his car

http://customlightz.com/?p=p_107&sName...-custom-shrouds

[evilc66]

power supplies...being a computer guy, i think you are overlooking a very obvious 12v source...

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817709011 only 27$ shipped

 

+3.3V@30A,+5V@36A,+12V@25A,-12V@0.8A,+5VSB@2.0A

 

should be enough to run 2 bulbs if you don't fire them at the same time (not much give and take though)

 

If your looking for a power supply, use the advanced search on newegg. you want a SINGLE 12v "rail" otherwise you will have to wire some stuff in parallel to draw the current you need. look under specifications to determine what amps the 12v output is rated

 

to run a power supply out of a pc, you just need to short 2 pins, if anyone wants to do this pm me for details, very simple

 

 

Careful with this. Cheap powersupplies are notorious for failing before their current rating. They also don't do well with high surge currents. While I agree with you on them being a cheap simple solution to powering DC components, don't expect them to live up to their claims. Stay well on the safe side.

 

The more expensive PC power supplies are a different story, but that kind of defeats the purpose of this.

[SF2K4]

By the way, I just wanted to chime in again from the car enthusiast side of HIDs... for anyone that might be worried, MobileHID's (as was mentioned before... great company) HID setups are ALL waterproof... ballasts, bulbs, all of it, as well as "hammer" proof. So if you were maybe worried worry no more.

 

Pic:

 

 

MobileHID bulb and ballast in jar of water, still working.

[ma_sha1]

New update:

 

Just finished installing the 9W T4HO blue bulb next to the HID.

That's right, It's T4 not T5. T4 is a 6W bulb only 0.5"x9" in size.

Overdriven by a 9W CFL DIY (Taken off a household CFL bulb) bllast. It barely fit into my fixture.

 

The HID bulb is only 2" in length. You can see how small the T4 is (Small as Fluorescent tube goes, although nothing compares to the HID bulb in to it's minimal size).

It's quite bright but next to the HID, it's hard to tell.

 

I will post another picture of just the blue T4 lit later on after the HID cycle off.

 

[Reef Chicks]

ma_sha1, I figured I'd ask the light/clam guru since I've had no responses to my previous post. I am trying to retro a 70w mh into a 3.5 truvue acrylic tank. What are my chances of melting the acrylic canopy, or is acrylic strong enough to withstand the heat? I've attached the mh fixture to a small plank of wood, in order to affix that to the acrylic canopy/hood. Also, is clear acrylic uv, so that I can make a cover out of it? BTW, I plan on putting some clams in there, hence the upgrade in lights.

[ma_sha1]

I assume the Acrylic canopy is pretty small? I think that it may deform under the high heat.

Acrylic is not strong at all in withstanding heat.

If you have strong fans going, it may be ok, assume you have:

1, Metal shielding between bulb & canopy, all around.

2, More than one inch clearance between metal shielding (Reflector as shield Ok) and canopy.

 

However, if your fan goes out, then you may be in trouble.

 

I would highly suggest getting a small aluminum PC fixture & retro the 70W MH into that instead.

Or use a cheap Halogen worklight fixture, they are all housed in metal. But either way, one or two

17 cfm or greater fan is necessary, but for a metal fixture, if your fan goes out, it won't melt.

 

Also, add a glass under the MH to sheild UV & insulate heat from then tank below.

 

Futher more, put a DIY thick acrylic cover over your tank to further insulate the tank from your light.

I made a 0.5" thick tank cover, no heat goes into my 4Gal.

 

I also have another 70W MH that's 4"x14", could be much smaller but I stick the Ballast in there as well.

It's taken from a aluminum Fluorescent fixture. One 17cfm fan blow upward, the fixture is barely warm,

but the air it blows out is hot.

 

ma_sha1, I figured I'd ask the light/clam guru since I've had no responses to my previous post. I am trying to retro a 70w mh into a 3.5 truvue acrylic tank. What are my chances of melting the acrylic canopy, or is acrylic strong enough to withstand the heat? I've attached the mh fixture to a small plank of wood, in order to affix that to the acrylic canopy/hood. Also, is clear acrylic uv, so that I can make a cover out of it? BTW, I plan on putting some clams in there, hence the upgrade in lights.

[Reef Chicks]

thanks... I have the casing from a light fixture. I hadn't thought about using that. Thanks again for your help!

[Reef Chicks]

is a reflector utterly necessary for proper mh function in such a small tank?

[ma_sha1]

Two reasons why you should:

 

1. Probably not necessary from amount of light angle if you don't want a clam or SPS.

but if you don't use one, the light hits non reflective surface above & turns into heat. Not a good idea.

 

2. If you don't have room left for Actinics, you need to use 14,000K or 20,000K MH,

to achieve the white/bluish look. That's about 30-50% less PAR than 10,000K MH.

Which make it similar to a 35W 10,000K HID PAR output roughly.

The 14,000K 70W MH is not that bright. You need the reflector for sure.

 

Without a reflector, you only give the tank 180 degrees of 360 degree avail. light,

or 1/2 of light output down to the tank.

 

With reflector, 14,000K 70W MH may be on the borderline for clam/SPS. Soft corals, you are fine.

 

With reflector, 10,000K 70W MH should be fine for clam/SPS. Then you'll need add actinics to avoid

looking yellowish.

 

is a reflector utterly necessary for proper mh function in such a small tank?