How-to: Make your own 70w MH Pendant

[PseudanthiasVentralis]

pseudan r u trying to say u already have 2 150 watt mh running over the tank now and it is to yellow?do u just want to switch the bulbs to a diffrent k?if so u can change the bulbs to a diffrent k as long as the bulb is the same watt using the same ballast.hth

 

Its a work light i got at loes, two 150 watt lights. I bought it because in TFH magazine they said work lights and halides were the same i guese their lyers.

 

 

Well first off, I agree with reefone to the point that, if you have two of the work lights and not MH fixtures (coralife, current usa, etc...) then you cant just change the bulb, because you need to add a MH ballast to but in any MH bulbs.the work light, light bulbs are a different type.

 

Ok, ill have to buy a ballast then, ill look on nanotuners. What tipe of ballast should i buy?

 

Thanks for all the help.

[Obsessed Reefer]

Well if you want to keep it with 150 Watts, the I would go for the 150W Aromat ballast from Illuming.com

[yardboy]

PseudanthiasVentralis, if you think "they" are liars, why not go ahead and see what results you get from 2-150W halogen worklights. Many people have said that halogens won't work, why not try and prove them wrong? Apparently from your experience they aren't getting too hot so give it a try. Take good notes about your conditions, take pictures to compare progress over time and see what happens. I wouldn't suggest trying this experiment with expensive acans or sps colonies though. Most importantly, report your experience, good or bad.

[PseudanthiasVentralis]

PseudanthiasVentralis, if you think "they" are liars, why not go ahead and see what results you get from 2-150W halogen worklights. Many people have said that halogens won't work, why not try and prove them wrong? Apparently from your experience they aren't getting too hot so give it a try. Take good notes about your conditions, take pictures to compare progress over time and see what happens. I wouldn't suggest trying this experiment with expensive acans or sps colonies though. Most importantly, report your experience, good or bad.

 

No i only have soft coral and a few mushrooms. Oh and i LOVE proving people wrong . so i mite just take your abvise.

 

Obsessed reefer thanks ill look at illuming.com.

 

 

The corals i have are.

 

1 22" by 22" kenya tree (huge!)

 

2 or 3 Xenias

 

2 green bubble tips

 

about 5 diferent tipes of shrooms.

 

(yea i know i have to get more coral )

[gregbot9000]

oh geez

[MFish]

So what's the place to get these cheap 70w ballasts if ballastwise sucks?

[CGNano]

The only place i've seen them, they were expensive.

[MFish]

Lame. I guess Im better off just getting a premade 150w retro from illuming or something.

[CGNano]

it'll probably work better.

[Obsessed Reefer]

Illuming has the 70W ballasts.

 

You could get a pre-made kit from Illuming, but this is cheaper, plus it has a housing with it.

[MFish]

Illuming has the 70W ballasts.

 

You could get a pre-made kit from Illuming, but this is cheaper, plus it has a housing with it.

 

For the price of the 70w ballasts [2 for good coverage] I'd be better off just buying a 150w halide from them and calling it a day. [i'm lighting a 20long prop tank]

[md1207]

I have 70w 14k hqi lamps than i imported from taiwan...

 

$39.00 shipped to us 2 day priority mail.

I'd be interested in ordering one of those. Please PM me with the details.

[Obsessed Reefer]

I'd be interested in ordering one of those. Please PM me with the details.

 

 

http://www.illuming.com/catalog/product_in...products_id=298

[mybuickskill6979]

i saw a mogul based mh spotlight today at homedepot. i'm doing about this same thing hehe got me a worklight though 250w halogen and hellah small for 6 bucks hehe!!

 

it was like 70 bucks!!

[yardboy]

I've thought about those 70W MH form Lowe's too, but doubted that the bulb would be worth a flip for corals, and haven't ever seen any higher K bulbs mogul for 70.

[mybuickskill6979]

i think the one i saw was like 150 or something i'm going back today so i'll take a look at it. 76 buck for a MH fixture and ballast isn't bad hehe!!

[Mirepa]

Someone better hop to it:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/NAIS-METAL-HALIDE-BALL...1QQcmdZViewItem

[reefone]

look who the winning bidder is.lol

[LampDr.]

look who the winning bidder is.lol

 

If I get enough people I might be able to do a group by on the Aromat ballast.

Let me know if you guys are interested.... The Aromat ballast is far superior to any of those other import ballast. They run cooler and you get alot more light

output.... The OEM I get the from has tried alot of different ballast from overseas, and has yet to find a better one than Aromat. I have sold alot of them here and have not had any issues....

[ReefApprentice]

What price we looking at Lamp Dr?

[baj]

I did a rudimentary test on the area the Brink's reflector can light. I use a Aromat NAiS ballast and the ebay WZG 14k 70w light.

 

 

 

I clamped the fixture to the end of a table and therefore could only measure on 2 of the sides, assuming that the reflector is symmetrical so i dont have to take measurements on all 4 sides. I then set the ISO to 100, shutter speed to 1/10s and Fstop to 2.9 for all photos (no reason for the values, i just played until I got overexposure based on brightness). The measuring tape begins at roughl;y the center of the bulb in the fixture (the angle makes it look otherwise, but it was centered). Then it was just a matter of checking where the measuring tape numbers begin to show up to see at what distance the brightness begins to fall off (of course, with different settings this would probably change, but it will change consistently in both directions so we can draw similar conclusions). The little sketch shows which direction the scale is in relation to the reflector. All photos were taken at a height of 2' from the paper (the height of the fixture from the paper) and the camera was placed flush to the fixture.

 

 

 

The fixture is more effective in one direction than the other and the reason is the angle of the reflector. The angle is less sharp along the shorter edges and projects the light more.

I would think the fixture would be most effective over an area of about 16"x24" when placed at a height of 24".

[yardboy]

Now that's clever, someone doing some actual research. Congrats.

[baj]

Now that's clever, someone doing some actual research. Congrats.

 

I'm clevar! belach!

[baj]

Just for fun, I took some photos to compare the 70w MH with my existing T5HO (Finnex 4x24w) over my tank (20g tall). The results are common knowledge and wont surprise anyone but anyway here they are. First some important points:

 

1) The bulbs in my T5HO fixtures are: 3 Giesemann Aquablue+ (~12000k) and 1 Jalli 10000k. The Giesemann Aquablue+ have a high PAR (proven) and the Jallli though not a known brand, still has good PAR. This is compared to a unknown, unproven WZG brand 70w 14k MH bulb. the T5HO runs a single reflector and the MH is in a DIY fixture, which is by no means top of the line or efficient.Therefore, I wouldnt draw any binding conclusions about overall brightness.

 

2) I ran the 70w MH bulb for 20 minutes and took the pictures at the end of 20 minutes, I dont know if the bulb wwould have got more bright if I had let it run longer (warm-up).

 

3) Both the bulbs were placed at about the same height above the water surface. The T5HO was about 4.5" above the water and the MH fixture was 5.5" above the water. Since I dont have a way to hang the pendant, it was resting on top of a 3/8" acrylic piece. Also, the MH fixture was such that the shortest sides was in parallel to the tank's shortest sides.

 

4) Camera settings: ISO 100, shutter speed 1/35 and Fstop 3.1 for all pictures. The zoom was also fixed. The white balance was set on automatic (perhaps I should have fixed this as well, but the pictures look true in color)

 

 

 

Here is an overall tank shot lit by the T5HO:

 

 

Here is the tank lit by the 70w MH:

 

 

The top half of the tank seems to be comparable, but the shadows are significant with the MH. Also, the area in front of the tank is less lit by the MH, which is consistent with the previous result on the spread of the reflector.

 

Anyway, brightness depends on a lot of factors so its not fair to compare the two on brightness. But I think the following pictures will highlight the other aspect of MH which is the point source nature of the MH bulb.

 

Acropora Secale: This coral is directly below the MH fixture.

 

A. Secale under T5HO:

 

 

A. Secale under MH:

 

 

Orange Montipora Capricornis: This is directly below the Acro. Secale.

 

Under T5HO:

 

 

Under MH:

 

 

Assorted Coral on the left side of the tank

 

Under T5HO:

 

 

Under MH:

 

 

 

Pocilliopora near the right wall:

 

Under T5HO:

 

 

Under MH:

 

 

The corals that are not directly under the MH, or that are shadowed are not well lit by the MH, in contrast to the T5HO. Not surprising since the T5HO are linear strips and span the entire length and most of the breadth of the tank so these corals are lit from different directions.

 

Within the 20 minutes that the MH was over the tank, the tank temperature went from 80.6 to 82F. The 3/4" acrylic sheet bent by about 3mm at the center.

[yardboy]

Very interesting work, and as you say, not too surprising.

I fyou can tolerate any suggestions, I wonder what results you'd get if you moved the MH fixture a bit higher above the tank. say 9 inches. I had to do that with my 70W as there were definite shadows in the corner when I had it lower.

A couple of other things, you are using a regent fixture? Is that the one with a curved two sided reflector? Mine is a cooper and has four sides. Also, is this typical of just your bulb or would we get similar results from AstraLux or Ushio?

Great to see someone doing this kind of stuff. I put off those types of experiments until I have a lux meter, but the light meter in your camera works the same way, and since it's fixed with shutter speed and aperature, the data should be comparable. GOOD WORK!