Check out my new DIY light hood

[seandanekind]

This if for a 400 gallon tank (82" x 45" x 28")

(4) 250W DE halides (10,000K Ushio and AB) in ROIII pendants on 36" Light Rail light movers.
(1) 250W Iwasaki 6500K on DIY magnetic ballast
(8) 36" VHO actinics using 2 IceCap 660's and a Solar 1000 dimmer
(2) additional 30W NO flourescent (in case I need to work on the tank at night and don't want to switch all the lights on)
(1) 100W incandescent moonlight

The whole thing is 41" x 78" x 12" tall. It will be suspended from the ceiling by a pulley system so it can be raised and lowered.

I'm using the light movers to try to cover the surface of my tank using fewer lamps.

Here are some pics...

All the VHO endcaps are mounted...
Dual endcaps 16.5" in from the left & right sides
Single endcaps 31" in from the left & right sides
Dual endcaps on the sides

The dual endcaps on the sides will hold a VHO actinic and an NO daylight lamp (for after hours viewing and maintenance)

Another view from the Front Left corner (remember this is upside down)

Finally, here's the center. A 250W Iwasaki 6500K will go here for a 3 hour noon-time period. Directly behing that is an air vent hole. Behind that you can see a flood light that is filling the space where the moon lights will go.

Total, this hood will have over 2100 Watts:
1250 W of halide (10K and 6.5K - 5*250w)
760W of VHO (actinic - 8*95w)
60W of NO (misc - 2*60w)
100W of incandescent (moonlight 1*100w or 2*50w)

In actuality: 4 of the halides draw 255W each (IceCap electronic ballasts). The 5th halide will draw more like 280W (magnetic ballast). The VHO tubes will run at about 75W each (IceCap 660's). The NO will rarely be used. The moonlights will only be at max power during a full moon.

The average power during my noon phase (3 hours) should be 1900W. I have 2 dedicated 15A house circuits just for this hood..

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I still need to put on the front and rear facades. Then all that's left is mounting this beast...

All ballasts wil be remotely mounted

 

[seandanekind]

Oh yeah. You can probably tell that the entire inside is covered with reflective Mylar. Where needed, I've used reflective furnace tape..

 

[luceneck]

That reminds me of my tour throught he national air and space museum. Ground control to Major Tom!!!!!

Looks nice, I want pictures of it in action!

 

[jman785]

Damn...enough heat generated in there to have DEA raid your house

 

[kentrob11]

Lets see pics of the tank!

 

[minfinger]

Very nice, well thought out...Do you have the bulbs yet?

Now if he can figure out how to harness the energy from the spinning wheel on the meter, he can recoupe some of the lighting costs.

 

[seandanekind]

I've had the halide lamps for a while:
2 Ushio 250W 10K DE
2 AB 250W 10K DE
1 Iwasaki 250W SE

I'll be picking up the VHO on Friday.


Moving the tank

On the Stand

In the Room

Looking the other way...

 

[minfinger]

I remember you Nice room

 

[seandanekind]

It's actually a little different now... I hung black velvet cloth above the screen to improve the contrast. Man did it ever... Absorbs all the reflection that was coming off that white ceiling...

I still haven't finished that in-wall DVD rack...

Back to the tank... I'm in the process of looking for a nice pulley system. It's hard to find a decent looking pulley that's actually rated for more than 50 lbs. I only need to raise the canopy for access when cleaning the tank or moving stuff around. I may also use it to adjust the height when replacing old halides.

 

[seandanekind]

The 400 gallon light hood is up. Hanging from bikehoists. It's pretty level. We'll see if it stays that way once the light movers start shifting the weight around.

Special thanks to Marcus (Acidrain on CincyReef.com) for helping me move and hang the hood.

Here's Marcus (6'5") in front of it for perspective.

Sorry for the blurry pic, but this shows the reflective mylar interior of the hood.

The single 250W Iwasaki 6500K lamp - picture taken with flash.

The single 250W Iwasaki 6500K lamp - picture taken without flash.

You can't see it in the pics, but there is a very dim shadow in the middle of the tank because the Iwasaki is front and center in the hood, directly over the center brace.

Here's some more detail on the hoists I got from www.bikehoists.com:

It's not really self-leveling, but it is still pretty easy to level with a push or a tug on the high or low corner. Basically, it gets the job done.

The Locking Hoists on the right

The other hoists on the left

The pulley inside the hood on the Front Left side

 

[nphotik]

Let there be Light!

 

[seandanekind]

Yep. I'm actually looking for some motorized shades to cover the tank when I want to watch the projector. With the lights on, the image is all washed out...

 

[minfinger]

How many Lumens is your projector?

 

[BeanAnimal]

Putting motoized shades on my in-wall I just built. It is also in the home theatre.... Hrmrmm I a DIY speaker builder also. Enfocus projector?

Bean

 

[seandanekind]

Enfocus projector?

Sony HS10 calibrated with SMART III and Avia. 100" Firehawk.

How many Lumens is your projector?

About 600 when calibrated 1000-1200 in full bright mode. I got the CC40R filter for it, but it was just too dark when calibrated for correct color (probably closer to 300 lumens), so I got Avia to adjust the gain levels. I apparantly prefer a brighter image with veru good colors over better black level with perfect colors... Although LOTR looked damn good with the filter.

Putting motoized shades on my in-wall I just built. It is also in the home theatre.... Hrmrmm I a DIY speaker builder also.

Vance Dickason 5.1 HT kits from Parts Express
2 old DIY Audax 4" bookshelves as rears for 6.1 and 7.1
Vance Dickason / Parts Express Titanic 10" Sub
One 50W Aura Pro Bass shaker on each seat (4 total) blended into the sub at about 30Hz with an electronic sub x-over.

 

[minfinger]

About 600 when calibrated 1000-1200 in full bright mode. I got the CC40R filter for it, but it was just too dark when calibrated for correct color (probably closer to 300 lumens), so I got Avia to adjust the gain levels. I apparantly prefer a brighter image with veru good colors over better black level with perfect colors... Although LOTR looked damn good with the filter.

Why not get up in the 2000+ Lumens range? Would that not drown out the ligth from the tank?

 

[seandanekind]

1) Expensive

2) No, it wouldn't. Not even remotely close...

When that tank is on full power, it has
1x250W Iwasaki 6.5K @13,500 Lumens
4x250W Ushio 10K @ 10,500 Lumens each
8x95W VHO Actinics @ I don't know, but bright and blue
That's 55,000 lumens of just halides!!!

 

[minfinger]

LOL OK...When do we get to see the shades

 

[55chadman]

do you think you will have a problem with the feet on the bottom of the stand do you think you will have a problem with sag and stress on the tank

chad

 

[seandanekind]

You can't see the shades until I buy them!!

As for the legs, they are 1" steel threaded pipe. I got them so I could level the stand, as the floor slopes to the front and right of the tank. It may be putting some stress on the floor:

I'm guessing total weight of stand, tank, water, rock, sand to be about 4700# The legs have 4" flanges that hopefully distribute the weight a bit. My guess is that it's between 70 and 110 psi. on each of the 6 legs.