2.5 AGA Mini-bow update

[tylernt]

I've made a little more progress on my 2.5 AGA Mini-bow project. The fan is in, and I've done some work preparing to install the lights. Pics from my shiny new digicam to follow!

[tylernt]

Here's the fan installed. It's really tough to screw those screws in when you have no room in the hood to put a screwdriver. Need to get one of those "stubbies" I always see in the hardware stores, I guess.

 

Since I couldn't get that screw screwed in all the way, I used a bit of twistie tie around it to secure the wires.

[tylernt]

And from the back. The camera makes the fan and hood look like different colors, but to my eye they match perfectly. Gotta find a couple more fan screws so I can attach the finger-guard...

[tylernt]

The lights on my acrylic splash shield. In order for them to fit, they must be placed vertically. This is a trial fit.

[tylernt]

I don't want to glue the bulb holders directly to the splash shield. They are a different kind of plastic and I don't know if it would bind to the acrylic. Second, they are not square. They have a bit of a angle to them and the lights will not sit flat.

 

So I am making acrylic mounting plates. I just score a piece of acrylic with a hobby knife and then snap it to make little squares. Here I'm drilling two screw holes in one of them. I used the smallest bit I could find (1/8" I think), using lots of pressure and going the slowest speed my drill will go.

[tylernt]

Here is my small army of assembled lampholders on acrylic mounting plates. I bought a package of really tiny screws and nuts to join them. The screws are a bit too short -- the threads don't fully engage the nuts, but they hold tight enough to do the job.

[tylernt]

Closeup. The screw holes in the lampholder are bigger than the screw, so I have a bit of "play" so that I can adjust the angle of the lamp holder. Once I glue the mounting plates to the splash shield, I'll install the lights, loosen the screws, straighten the lights, and tighten the screws. Another argument for not glueing the lampholders directly to the splash shield.

[tylernt]

Last but not least, the riser for the splash shield.

 

The splash shield will rest on the rim of the aquarium on three sides, so I'm not worried about water / salt creep there. But on the front edge, I don't have the skills to cut a curve in the acrylic to match the bow, and that would prevent me from using the food door anyway. So the shield is rectangular, which leaves the front edge hanging over open water. There is also no support which makes it sag. So, I'm using a vertical riser to strengthen it and (hopefully) protect the lights from sloshing and spray.

 

I used my hobby knife box and some clamps as a glueing jig.

[tylernt]

Next comes the scary part, glueing the mounting plates to the splash shield. If I screw up there, my lights will touch each other or not fit at all.

 

I think I will also reinforce the mounting plates with a perpendicular chunk of acrylic. I doubt the plates by themselves will be strong enough to handle the stress of me replacing a light 6 months from now, without having the seam fail.

 

But, that is a project for another day...

 

...and I'm starting to think a nice 70w metal halide would have been easier... X)

[tylernt]

Ok, I did it. Turned out pretty well, only one of the bulbs touches the base of another bulb. The clearances are tight but they all fit!

 

Here are the mounting plates with the lamp holders glued to the spash shield. I decided to forgo the perpendicular strengthening braces for the mounting plates, because I will be removing the lamp holders entirely to replace lamps. Reason being, there is not enough room to insert or remove a bulb while the holders are installed. Poor foresight on my part, but not disastrous. Changing bulbs will just be a bit of a hassle.

[tylernt]

Here I have installed 2 bulbs. You can see the empty mounting plate, sans lamp holder, in the foreground.

[tylernt]

Here the second bulb from the top touches the base of the third. I hope it doesn't cause overheating.

[tylernt]

On the tank... I'm getting excited now!

[tylernt]

I love this pic. The lights aren't on, of course, but the camera flash makes them glow.

[dickie52]

Stay with it!!!!! You are looking good......

 

Dickie

[tylernt]

Now for some boring stuff. I bought a Project Box from Radio shack. It's 7" x 5" x 3" and holds four AH Supply magnetic ballasts perfectly. I threw away the plastic cover it came with and drilled holes in the aluminum cover (it came with the box too). The aluminum should be a better heat sink. Then I used machine screws and nuts to mount the ballasts.

[tylernt]

Here's the box. Sorry I don't have pics, but I was impatient for the digicam to arrive so I taped some graph paper onto the Project Box, tilted at 45 degrees. Then I proceeded to drill vent holes at the intersections of the lines. I put them on the top and the bottom to get a chimney effect when the box is mounted vertically -- hot air escapes through the top, drawing cool air from the bottom. I hope.

 

This is how the lid fits. I will be mounting the aluminum side out for heat dissapation, and hanging the whole thing on the wall behind the tank.

[tylernt]

Trying attachment again...

[tylernt]

I've started wiring the ballasts. I cut the heads off of two $1 extension cords. I was going to buy lamp zipcord but they wanted $3.50 each...! Forget that. I used two so that I can stage the lights on different timers for a more gradual sunrise/sunset effect.

 

The AHSupply kit came with some 16awg solid wire, but not enough to mount the ballast remotely (to be fair, it is designed to retrofit a 10g hood). I bought some 16awg wire only to discover it's stranded, so it's back to the hardware store for me.

 

Note the safety knot.

 

EDIT: it's 18 (eighteen) gauge, not 16!

[tylernt]

The lights are DONE!!

 

Mmmm, spaghetti.

 

??? Gee, hope I got the right wires hooked up the right way...

[tylernt]

I couldn't find any solid 18awg wire anywhere. So I used the stranded. Initially I soldered the stripped ends to make them stiff enough to push into the lamp holders. However this also made them too fat. So with a lot of cursing and sore fingers I finally got the stranded wires installed in the lamp holders.

 

Now, time for a test.

 

Mmmm. Bright.

[tylernt]

Obviously, I did not do a good enough job painting the inside of the hood. Lots of patches of light leaking out.

 

I am happy to report the Sunon Magnetic Levitation 40x40x20mm fan driven at 9v will keep it's side of the hood cool to the touch. The far side gets a bit warm, though. So I'll need to drill some more holes in the back of that side to encourage airflow.

 

The magnetic ballasts get rather warm after half an hour. I may need to drill more vent holes in their box, a pain now that it's all put together. The ballasts are thermally protected though, so maybe I'll just run them like this for a few hours and see if they complain.

[tylernt]

Ok, this thread takes long enough to load. This is the last pic, promise.

 

All I have left to do now is make some openings for the light wires, heater, and powerhead in the hood and splash shield. Then it's time to get wet...

[flaunt]

geeezus! that's a lot o' lite over a 2.5! nice job though.

 

i'm wondering though how much light you're losing by having the bulbs aligned the way they are. i mean one half of each bulb doesn't get a direct shot at the water, although i'm sure some of the light from each obstructed side gets reflected back down. it looks like you could have snugly fit 2x13W in there, do you think you're getting a lot more than 26W worth of intensity by having 4 bulbs crammed in as they are? just curious.

 

if you wanted to squeeze more wattage out maybe you could cut another light panel out of acrylic that fits over the entire top of the tank (including the "bowed" part) and then spread the lights out some more. but then you'd probably have to mod the hood some more to accomodate... i'm not familiar enough with these tanks to know if that's feasible or not. i'm thinking about trying a 2.5 bow myself btw, if it isn't too much of an inconvenience for you, would you mind taking a level pic of the tank from the back? i'd like to see that angle. thanks!

 

oh and post some final pics when you get done!

[tylernt]

dickie52,

 

Thank you for the kinds words of encouragement. Nice to know I'm not insane (as my wife thinks)!

 

flaunt,

 

Yes, I'm sure I lose quite a bit of light to 'restrike' due to the vertical orientation of the bulbs. However, I feel pretty confident that while it's certainly not double the light from 2x13w, it's still significantly higher than 2x13w and hopefully higher than 3x13w. Basically, this was the easiest way that I could think of to get more light. We will find out if it's "enough" in a few months when I am brave enough to try an SPS frag.

 

There is no more room under the hood to do it any other way. As it is I have exactly 1/4" clearance. It's tight. There is room above the bulbs but I need it for cooling airflow (and future moonlight). Now, there is another 3/4" shelf on the back, but it is outside the hood and I want to reserve that space for a small auto topoff system in case I experience a lot of evaporation.

 

LiQuiD has a pretty amazing rectangular 2.5g that he started out with 2x13w. He expressed a want for more light for his SPS, and eventually went to a 70w metal halide ( page 5 of a really really long thread here ). I want to keep SPS and a clam, so I knew 2x13w wasn't going to cut it. However, I also wanted to keep the stock hood (for looks, and for lack of woodworking skills) and I'd be too scared to put a hot, hot metal halide in it.

 

Looking back, I can't say I'd recommend my approach when you take into account you need a screwdriver and some disassembly to replace bulbs. Plus, it took a lot of acrylic work. But, by the same token, you either need to be content with 2x13w or hang a metal halide in a pendant. It's a tough call either way.

 

If you really want to be easy, Coralife now makes a screw-in 10w 50/50 CF/PC bulb that replaces the stock 15w incandescent in seconds.

 

I attached a zipfile with your pic inside, since I promised no more pics on this thread. Check out bytamin-c's freeware Jzip if you don't already have a good unzipper.