$17.40 VHO DIY pendant for a 20H

[dogstar74]

Of course the cost does not include the ballast kit or bulbs, but this is my documentation of the build of my pendant to house two 24 inch VHO bulbs over my 20H.

I was tired of being limited to a FOWLR tank due to low light constraints. But with three kids, money has been so tight lately, I could not afford a better light set up.

Well lo and behold, For christmas I received an ARO VHO ballast retrofit kit from hello lights! But I was stuck with how to mount the darn thing.

Now I have loved watching many people document their beautiful 20H build ups. Mostly DSparks tank. What an inspiration. But as I live in an apartment, I don't have access to many tools. So I had to go pretty low tech for my pendant.

I then proceeded to that mecca of ideas! Lowes.

There I found a 30 inch window box planter that I wondered if it would fit the bill. So about 17 bucks later, I'm on my way home with enough stuff to get me started!

 

[dogstar74]

Next I decided to cut off the trim of the planter, as it was pretty distracting.

Then I Split about 6 feet of black dripline longitudinally with a skill knife.

Next I checked the length and cut to fit.

 

[dogstar74]

I then drilled a hole in each of the midline standoffs of the drip plate which I will from this time on refer to as the cap.

A wide angle view of both holes.

These will allow me to hang the pendant from the ceiling with picture hanging wire.

Next I marked where I wanted the ballast.

Then I cut the hole in the cap that would allow the ballast to pass through.

I didn't know how to line up the holes in the main body though. As I wanted it to be perfectly lined up with the cap. So I had a stroke of brilliance. USE A FLASHLIGHT!

So here I am marking the drill holes for the mounting screws for the ballast.

Here's a trial fit.

And here's the cap in place. Perfect fit!

 

[dogstar74]

NExt I trial mounted the lights.

I liked where everything was positioned, so I stripped it all off, and it's off to the painters!

"And from this day forward... you shall be known as.... Lord VADER!"
Here she is all wired up.

Here's what the lights look like mounted.

I mounted the power cord in the cap on the back by drilling a 1/4 inch hole and cutting the plastic into an H shape for two flanges. By doing this, you can insert the cord and it will be held quite securely.

Here's what it looks like from the inside, as you can see, it's quite secure.

Here's what it looks like with the top in place.

And here she is above the tank. Suspended from the ceiling with hooks and anchors. As well as picture wire That is essentially a large loop held together with a cable tie.

The lights are more blue than purple. But my digital camera is old and cannot process flourescent colors very well. Thus my blues become more purple.

This is a great improvement in intensity. I used to only have a 15 watt NO All glass aquarium light over the tank. But now I have nearly 50 watts! I should be able to mount some softies or shrooms now and have them survive.

Thanks for reading about my project.
Aaron

 

[shouldabenacowboy]

That is a cool setup!!

Great idea..

SBC

 

[sir_dudeguy]

geez thats a great idea! are you gonna put in a reflector eventually or no? I'd think that would help

 

[dogstar74]

The URI VHOs have an internal reflector already. So I question the efficacy of putting one in there. But if it would help, you certainly could glue a piece of mylar in there easy enough. I just painted the inside to keep the light from bleeding through the paint. It really shows the defects in the paint job if light gets through.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

so those lights already have reflectors on em? I'm not a VHO person at all so i got no clue about them...but are the reflectors for vho's not like the ones for t5? Or am i just being blind and not seeing them right there? Just curious at all

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

or at lowes, aluminum edging(cheap)...i think it would boost brightness by 15%-30% - imo

Simple, cheap, effective, good looking...that's what i call a DIY

 

[todd rose]

nice

 

[dogstar74]

I still think mylar glued would even be cheaper, and have a higher luster than edging, but you make good sense.

Thank you for all the comments.

 

[dogstar74]

One thing to watch out for if you are going to try this yourself. Be more patient than I am with the first coat of plastic paint. It really runs easily if you get too thick of a coat. And it's easy to do. You almost just want to dust the object with a VERY thin first coat before you start to lay down the color in earnest.

 

[oldreefer76]

hmm if those are uri vho's the reflector is internal to the bulb and they are 75w each for a total of 150w not 50

 

[dogstar74]

Whooo Hoo! more watts for the buck. Thanks. I wasn't sure how many watts they were. I just knew it was more! Thanks for the tip.