KrackerG Posted April 3, 2004 Author Share Posted April 3, 2004 aquafilly-- thanks... hth, i think a 20L needed the 2 70w MH since its somewhat longer than your 10g, 15g, 20h. 2 150's over a 20L sounds tight!! but ya know... the tank is shallower than some others so i'm not sure if all that's needed...just my 2 cents. regardless, moonlights can still be used no matter if you use 1 or 2 or 3 MH:) matt--- did you win your ebay auction?? hehehe... cant wait to see pics, you would have to put on one of those welder faceshields to look at your tank! sheesh...and autotopoff? Link to comment
AquaFilly Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 No I have a regular 20g. 24" long. a 15g is 24" long too. Just shorter. My question is, would one 70w MH give enough light in a 20g to grow sps and clams? Also, is a SE MH too big to put in the CSL 24" hood? They're cheaper and I'm poor, so I'd rather go with SE. Link to comment
gotfrogs Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 OK, I am bad. I just ordered another 24" CSL light. I am going to set up a 20 gal tank for SPS. What does the expert say? Two 70 watt MHs? Link to comment
AquaFilly Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 From what I'm hearing, 150w HQI would be better. I heard somewhere that it might be too hot and make the PCs fail. Anyone know if there is truth to that? Link to comment
Looselyhuman Posted April 11, 2004 Share Posted April 11, 2004 Originally posted by AquaFilly From what I'm hearing, 150w HQI would be better. I heard somewhere that it might be too hot and make the PCs fail. Anyone know if there is truth to that? Hoping for an expert-ish opinion on this as well... bump. Link to comment
KrackerG Posted April 21, 2004 Author Share Posted April 21, 2004 sorry, havent been online lately...real life issues have been taking all my free time up:P IMO, 70w should be plenty! Think about it, most were happy w/ the lighting the CSL hood put off in it's stock 2 x 65w condition. I've seen corals kept at a LFS using this hood w/o MH added. So I would say that anything more you add to this already capable hood should only compliment it...adding the MH shimmer is well worth it! PLUS, 150w might be too hot being too close causing too much evaporation too often...too too much is possible... Link to comment
mikefishguy Posted April 21, 2004 Share Posted April 21, 2004 Been following this thread for a while, and hope to do this mod in the future. Do you guys think that this mod will work with the Coralife PC fixture? The fans are at the top, and the fixture gets pretty warn, but I would put 4 new fans in. Link to comment
ricknbecky Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 Not that there is anything wrong with your frankenstein light projects.... But as we all want to learn from what you have done. What would you do differently knowing what you know now? Link to comment
ricknbecky Posted April 22, 2004 Share Posted April 22, 2004 I was looking at a few things.... http://www.hellolights.com/36builityour.html Was thinking of doing a 175W MH ( what kind of bulb (10k Ushio? ) With 2x96 PC lights - was thinking either both A3 or 1 10k and 1 A3... Thoughtson a 40gal Breeder ( 36x18x16 LWH) Link to comment
manwe Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Sorry I haven't been around. Work has been busy for a while. To answer the recent questions and give an update. Yes, my 150W was an HQI. Yes, it does get hot, but I still haven't added the second fan and so far the tank has stayed between 80-84 F. I don't live in a hot climate though (Seattle area) and I have air conditioning so it doesn't get real hot in my house. The evaporation has been significant, especially considering I'm running the tank open (no glass top), but it hasn't been terrible. I do about a 10% top off every 5 days or so. I do have the extra legs that you can buy for the CSL though which gives it more clearance from the surface of the water. I haven't had any issues with the PCs and the extra heat so far. Everything has been working like a charm. Yes, I did keep the moonlights as is and just squeezed the 150 socket in between. One thing that I would have done differently: SLOWLY introduce your corals to the new light. I started running the MH only about 30 min a day and gradually worked my way up to about 8 hours a day now. I still managed to lose one Fox coral to the lighting change though. I thought I was going to lose my candy cane but moving it all the way down to the bottom of the tank seemed to save it. If I had it to do over again I think I would use the "folded screen" method (fold screen material and place it between the light and the tank, then each day unfold one layer) of introducing the new light instead of just running it for short periods. As for 2x70 vs 1x150. I chose the 150 because of the greater variety of bulbs and because the mod was slightly less work (I'm lazy). I can't really compare since I've never had 2x70s but I can say that I'm pretty happy with the 150. I bought my first clam last week and it's loving the MH. Everything in my tank is doing great including my Sebae Anemone (it's like a nice carmel brown instead of the sickly white color it was when I rescued it from the LFS). Link to comment
manwe Posted April 26, 2004 Share Posted April 26, 2004 Oh, and to answer the question before anyone asks it... by "no glass top" I meant that I don't have a layer of glass sitting on the top of the tank, not that I don't have UV glass replacing the plexiglass that was in the original fixture so there is glass between the MH and the water just not any sitting directly on the tank to help reduce evaporation. Link to comment
trmiv Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 I'm doing the single 70w to my 20", and the thing that has me most worried is the accimation of the corals to the new light. manwe, what is this screen method you described? I'm not sure how this would work, especially since I don't run a top on my tank. Also, what kind of uv glass is everyone using? I know this is a huge topic of debate, and and bumped that acrylic vs glass thread up to the top hoping for an answer. From what I can gather, going to Lowe's or HD and getting a regular piece of glass cut is all I really need? Link to comment
manwe Posted April 27, 2004 Share Posted April 27, 2004 If you go search the lighting forum for "screen" you should see plenty of descriptions of that method. Basically it's just putting 3 or 4 layers of windows screen material over the tank, then gradually removing a layer periodically until they are all gone. As for doing it without a top, I'm sure you could figure out something. Maybe just get really long screen pieces and drape them over the top and sides, or wrap thend around something (board or pipe maybe) to add weight to the ends, then just hang it over the top of the tank. For glass, I took KrackerG's suggestion and had UV glass cut at a local Michael's craft store. I won't pretend to have anything knowledgable to add to the debate about whether standard glass from Lowe's would work. I haven't had any problems with the glass from Michael's though. Link to comment
Sagxman Posted April 30, 2004 Share Posted April 30, 2004 Wow, this thread is what I've been looking for. I'm going to tackle one of these variations at some point. Question on parts: Is there a MH ballast available that will run 2 MH's or do you need 2 ballasts to run say 2 70w lamps? Link to comment
KrackerG Posted May 7, 2004 Author Share Posted May 7, 2004 Sagxman-- 2 ballasts are needed for 2 mh lamps. i have my 2 ballasts mounted in a single computer power supply so it appears as 1 single unit...w/ 2 power cords coming off it:P Link to comment
KrackerG Posted May 7, 2004 Author Share Posted May 7, 2004 Originally posted by ricknbecky ....What would you do differently knowing what you know now? hmmmm, maybe some of the cabling. ive got tons of wires everywhere!:*( to keep the install somewhat cleaner i would of ran another fat 14/4 cable from the hood to the computer power supply case for the PC... THEN...have all 4 of the power wires going from there to the wall outlet. in other words...all the power wires would be closer to the same length. secondly, as if this light is not strong enough (2x65 PC + 2x70 MH) ...i really like the look of VHOs over PCs and have toyed with the idea of running VHO in the place of the PCs Link to comment
matt the fiddler Posted May 8, 2004 Share Posted May 8, 2004 well, kracker.. i am either gona cram a single ended 250 bulb in. or i am going to build my own hood and grab the moons and 130W PC from my 24" you think i will need to rais the CSL more off the surface of the water.. assuming i have it pumping crazy from fans, and have a glass face? another interesting thought. instead of doing a wind tunnel on fan blowing in.. one fan blowing out- is there enough holes along the glas seal, etc. to have 2 blowing out? which do you think would be more efficient for cooling? Link to comment
gotfrogs Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 I just finished installing my 70W MH. Is leaving the stock acrylic splash gard totally out of the question? I am having a hard time removing the black trim off of the acrylic, and don't really want to have to buy some glass. Link to comment
gotfrogs Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 I am done! I went ahead and got some glass cut at Home Depot. I hope it does its job. I still have the stock fan installed though. Link to comment
matt the fiddler Posted May 9, 2004 Share Posted May 9, 2004 you don't have to keep the trim on the acrylic. that is for ease of pulling out i think... getting my 250 watt tomorow.. [my tank is 22" deep- a 25 High] hope i can find a way to cram it in the CSL/ it was practally a gift from a friend.. as it is now, i got 3 fans on it. 2 going in on one side, 1 going out on the other. ballast will be external might make it 1 side 1 out. and 1 side 1 in and 1 out. any thoughs on configuring the 3 fans so they are most efficient at pulling heat out? Link to comment
KrackerG Posted May 10, 2004 Author Share Posted May 10, 2004 matt...250w? ummmmm, i think you will definately want to raise the hood up some...up higher off the water...??? and you said SE bulb? i think youre going to have to rework the reflector to get that to fit. why not a DE HQI bulb? less heat plus it's a smaller size. As for the fans, I think 1 blowing in, 1 blowing out is the best way to do it....creates the best airflow...just my 2 cents. gotfrogs... congrats... awesome job!! and yes, you do not want to run it using the stock acrylic shield... it will surely melt. I used a razor blade and a screwdriver to remove that black plastic piece. just cut it some on the under side where you see the glue. scar it some then pry it off using the screwdriver. why didnt you do the fans? are your temps ok? mattthefiddler may have a hot tank! Link to comment
gotfrogs Posted May 10, 2004 Share Posted May 10, 2004 I got the black trim off the same day I bought the glass and siliconed it to the glass. I don't have any problem with the temp of my tank, I was just concerned with the temperature inside of the light hood. Link to comment
manwe Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 Well, I had my first heat incident yesterday. ( yeah, yeah, I know. Save the I told you so.) We had to move the tank (ugh), and in the process of taking the light off, the UV glass broke in half. It was obviously weakened, and I suspect it was the heat from the 150 that did it. I'm not really sure what to do at this point. I'm going to get a replacement for the glass today probably, but I'm not sure how to prevent it from happening again. I'll finally add the second fan (should have listened to Kracker), but I have my doubts about whether that will be enough. If anyone has any other ideas, I'd be happy to listen. Hopefully the second fan will be enough, but I'm starting to think that the 150 is just too hot to be that close to the glass. Link to comment
trmiv Posted May 18, 2004 Share Posted May 18, 2004 replace it with tempered glass, it should handle more heat that the UV stuff you had before. Link to comment
KrackerG Posted May 19, 2004 Author Share Posted May 19, 2004 good suggestion trmiv, tempered glass should be able to withstand the heat. can i make a suggestion?? if 150w is what you have to run (unless you want to drop down to 70w), go with the strongest highest airflow fans you can find. they may be a little louder but the airflow is what your after. have 1 blowing in, the other blowing out. if you look at the side of the fan, you should see 2 little arrows pointing in the direction of the airflow. make sure you have it blowing in the right direction. I would buy 2 of these: Vantec Tornado High Airflow 80mm Fan, Model: TD8038H Up to 100% more air flow than standard case fans. Double ball-bearing fans for extended life. Link to comment
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