lighting idea?
 

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:40:42 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:


Thanks for the link. I'm resurrecting an old 120g and I'll probably
build a new canopy for it. I can have something made out of stainless
steel, so shape is not an issue. The tank top is 60" x 18". I usually
order glass plates to cover the top and then install the lighting in a
sliding or fixed canopy, in this case, four 4' fluorescent lamps would be
my typical approach. On my last canopy, I used the following:
2 Philips F40-DX Daylight CRI 85, 6500K $3cdn each (Home Depot)
1 Sylvania F40/GRO/AQ/WS Gro-Lux $7.50cdn (Home Hardware)
1 GE F40C50 Chroma 50 Sunshine CRI 90, 5000K $7cdn (Canadian Tire)
..which provided a wide bright spectrum.

With your experience with these screw-in fluorescents, do you think it is
worthwhile investigating their use, or do you think I should stick with
my garden-variety and inexpensive approach using multiple inexpensive
lamps?

I"m not sure who you're asking here, but it looks like you've got a
pretty efficient plan right there - cost effective for sure - I
wouldn't experiment on a project that sized - save the testing for a
smaller tank or an existing incadescent strip. They're worth
investigation, but not serious investing until you've given them a try
on a small scale.

Mr Gardener

lighting idea?
 

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 17:38:40 -0500, Mr. Gardener
wrote:

On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 18:40:42 GMT, Elaine T
wrote:

NetMax wrote:
"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Mr. Gardener wrote:

The screw-in compact flourescent light bulbs are also available in
full spectrum as well as daylight around 6400 dK. I've made a couple
of strip lights for my kids' aquariums using them and the plant growth
was wonderful. I used a length of white plastic rain gutter, spray

Yeah I tried that too. The rain gutter turns brown and brittle over
time from the heat of the lamp. When I need to do this I use a standard
black aquaruim hood made to take incandescents and scew in as many 23W
daylight bulbs as I can (you can usually add a couple more byt adding
another incandescent fitting.

Keep in mind the refelctor in a fluorescent setup is going to give you
almost half your light as it reflects the light that's otherwise waster
because it's pointing the wrong direction (down, not up). So, a good
bet
would be to to go a hydroponics shop and get the heat and moisture
resistant
mylar and urethane glue it to the inside of the canopy.

Yup. An effective reflector is always a challenge for me in my home
made as well as store bought light holders. Mylar's a good idea. Might
try that. That's like that space blanket material, right?

Mr Gardener

lighting idea?
 

Mr. Gardener wrote:

Yup. An effective reflector is always a challenge for me in my home
made as well as store bought light holders. Mylar's a good idea. Might
try that. That's like that space blanket material, right?

Or you could use aluminum flashing.

--
It's turtles, all the way down

lighting idea?
 

If you want Mylar just use old chip bags. They are made from Mylar & the
insides are reflective.

"Larry Blanchard" wrote in message
...
Mr. Gardener wrote:

Yup. An effective reflector is always a challenge for me in my home
made as well as store bought light holders. Mylar's a good idea. Might
try that. That's like that space blanket material, right?

Or you could use aluminum flashing.

--
It's turtles, all the way down

lighting idea?
 

mylar and urethane glue it to the inside of the canopy.

Thanks for the link. I'm resurrecting an old 120g and I'll probably
build a new canopy for it. I can have something made out of stainless
steel, so shape is not an issue. The tank top is 60" x 18". I usually
order glass plates to cover the top and then install the lighting in a
sliding or fixed canopy, in this case, four 4' fluorescent lamps would be
my typical approach. On my last canopy, I used the following:
2 Philips F40-DX Daylight CRI 85, 6500K $3cdn each (Home Depot)
1 Sylvania F40/GRO/AQ/WS Gro-Lux $7.50cdn (Home Hardware)
1 GE F40C50 Chroma 50 Sunshine CRI 90, 5000K $7cdn (Canadian Tire)
..which provided a wide bright spectrum.

With your experience with these screw-in fluorescents, do you think it is
worthwhile investigating their use, or do you think I should stick with
my garden-variety and inexpensive approach using multiple inexpensive
lamps?

If it's all you have, screwins are ok. Just. But you're not gonna
light up a 120 with them unless you want the moral equivalent of
LED moonlighting.

We've oulived the T12 era and I'd only consuider compact flourescent,
T5 or T8. T8's you can get a in a pinch at green home recycling centers,
only buy ones with reaaly good angled polished aluminum reflectors, pass
on any that have white reflectors. T5's I'd be surprised if you could
find in places like this, but I did find a bunch of CF twin 40W fixtures
last year (woo hoo!) so it could happen.

I looked into halogen spot lighting, but their efficiency is not much
better than incandescent, though I may still use it for accents (I want
that shadow ripple across the bottom of the tank for the evening
transition), and for helping certain plants.

Yeah, I do that too.

I have the feeling that if I can wait long enough, there will be a
solution available using LEDs. Now that would be interesting, especially
is I could dim them, and turn on different banks for changes in hue (a
slight blue tinge in an open area, red-brown hue over the plants).

Crappy tire sells a cheap 35 or 70W HPS(1) fixture and bulb. And an even
cheaper mercury one. I'm just sayin..

Chose something that uses cheap (ie theres lots of them made) tubes. Color
is personal taste - warm whiteif you prefer red, daylight if you prefer
blue. I like the look of C50's and grolux but I'm not convinced they have
any effect on plant growth whatsoever.

(1) 12000 lumens from 70W or something like that. A 40W tube is about 3000 lumens.
T8 or T12 or CF.
--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

lighting idea?
 

In article ,
CanadianCray wrote:
If you want Mylar just use old chip bags. They are made from Mylar & the
insides are reflective.

Have you tried this? The heat and moisture resistant mylar only lasts
a year in my fixtures. God knows what would happen to a chip bag :-)

That's "crisps" to the rest of you. Everyones knows real chips come in
newspaper.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

lighting idea?
 

Missed a bunch of the threads on this topic, but I assume your looking
for a reflector.....how about the acrylic mirrow stuff. I use it under
the hoods I make for my sal****er tanks and it lasts just fine. I
line the hoods with this material which is pretty darn cheap to
buy.......just get the el cheapo mirrows that wal mart sells for under
$10.00 that are normally 12" x 48" that hang on a door or wall. Just
make sure its acrylic and not golass which is pretty easy to do just
by the weight of it alone you can tell. I have used a heap of this
stuff over the years in a marine enviro.
Another good source is a mylar film called monokote which is available
as a heat shrink or as a pressure sensitive adhesive backed film, and
is available in most hobby shops that sell RC airplane stuff. I have
used it as well and it holds up to quite high wattage and heat of
power compact bulbs just fine. YOu can get it in assorted colors or
very shiney chrome metallic.....in sizes of about 36 inches x 6 inches
or so...
On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 01:35:38 +0000 (UTC),
(Richard Sexton) wrote:
In article ,
CanadianCray wrote:
If you want Mylar just use old chip bags. They are made from Mylar & the
insides are reflective.

Have you tried this? The heat and moisture resistant mylar only lasts
a year in my fixtures. God knows what would happen to a chip bag :-)

That's "crisps" to the rest of you. Everyones knows real chips come in
newspaper.

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

lighting idea?
 

Only in the UK

"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
In article ,
CanadianCray wrote:
If you want Mylar just use old chip bags. They are made from Mylar & the
insides are reflective.

Have you tried this? The heat and moisture resistant mylar only lasts
a year in my fixtures. God knows what would happen to a chip bag :-)

That's "crisps" to the rest of you. Everyones knows real chips come in
newspaper.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

lighting idea?
 

In article ,
Larry Blanchard wrote:
Richard Sexton wrote:

They suck because they emit lihgt in a radial pattern. Like a ilght
buld which ic of course why they're made that way. Now, compare them
to a fluorescent tube, and think where that puts the light compared
to a screw in.

I think you're a little out of date. Sure, there are lots of twisted
screw-in fluorescents out there. They weren't what I was talking
about, but yes I've used screw-ins as well.

But I used screw-in fluorescents with U-tubes, just like the regular
CFs. AllGlass even makes one (10W) and I've seen its duplicate at
Walmart. Walmart also has some 15W,6500K ones with 4 U-tubes and I've
seen some at Home Depot that are up in the 50-100 watt range, but I
don't know about the color temperature.

I understand the difference. I got a bunch of the straight tube screw
ins 15 years ago. They were ok but I eventually replaced them with
conventional tubes. Can't say the last time I saw one now, they're
all sporal screw ins.

OK, the ones with multiple U-tubes may not be quite as efficient as the
long single U-tubes, but I can easily fit 4 15 watt ones into a 30"
hood that held a single 18 (or is it 20?) watt tube. That's a big
improvement.

Hey, it'll work.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

lighting idea?
 

"Roy" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 28 Jan 2006 11:19:04 -0500, "NetMax"
wrote:
"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
snip
I have the feeling that if I can wait long enough, there will be a
solution available using LEDs. Now that would be interesting,
especially
is I could dim them, and turn on different banks for changes in hue
(a
slight blue tinge in an open area, red-brown hue over the plants).

Thanks for any feedback.

They already are available if you homebrew it. Look for Luxeons not
LED's. I currenlty have an array of 24, 3 watters that are doing a
great job on a reef tank. They do generate some heat so a fan and heat
sink is best used, but thier color spectrum and intensity is far above
any of the typical LEDS. You can mix various colors to get the effects
your looking for. I have a mix of 460-470 nm luxeons mixed in o9n a
separate circuit that also doubles as my moon lights at
night......next project is a mix of reds and oranges trying to
duplicate sunrise/sunset . Even the SPS and clams I have in this tank
are doing fine, all illuminated with Luxeons, no PC or MH of any type.

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

I'm off to research. hmmmm 45 to 190 lumens per watt *impressive*.
These look very interesting. Stainless steel hood would make a good
heatsink... a trio of low voltage constant current sources in the tank
stand, and some passive heat baffles in the canopy. I wonder if I would
even need a glass cover? If the Luxeons use solid state technology, then
I might just epoxy-coat the exposed connections. Humidity should not
condense on their warmer surfaces, and if I have no aeration causing air
bubbles to pop at the surface (slowly coating the inside of the canopy
with calcium), then the installation should be quite reliable, efficient
and cost effective. :o)

Thanks Roy!
--
www.NetMax.tk