diy halide pendant?

This is my opinion, so dont bash it, but I wanted to throw it out there for consideration...

With pendants, and the testing that is done, I dont think that the results that you will find when you put them over water will be the same. Something that many pendant makers seem to overlook is the angle of diffraction for the light as it enters the water. Huh?

Well, if you look at many of the reflectors that do well in tests, it would suggest that they are strong performers as well when put over an aquarium...but if you were to compare even two 250wattDE PFO pendants to a single 400watt bulb in a lmenarc you might be shocked to see the lumenarc having more of an impact (seen it myself).

This is due to the angles that many pendants output the light at. If you look at the reflective angles that PFO pendants put out the light...sure, its alot of light...but alot of it is not coming out straight down...its coming out at diagonals. The greater the angle, the more light simply gets bounced off the surface of the water as it tried to enter the aquarium.

Lumenarcs have all of their facets designed to focus the light straight down as much as possible. That means little diffraction by the water, and more light into the tank.
 
I would not have the Regent or NOVA II. The PFO and SLS beat it by a decent margin in other tests. The ROIII are $99 each. To DIY a regent setup wil cost around $50-$60 each, plus the time and tools involved.

I point you again to the fact the Sanjay even stated that the Regent and NOVA pendants needed better reflectors. The SLS PFO and Super SUN units performed better and would presumably do so with the lower wattage versions. If you read his comments in context, he is saying that given the same bulb, the Regent and NOVA units leave room for improvement compared to the PFO, SLS and Super Suns. You have to read the text that goes along with the numbers, it is very helpful when trying to make assumptions based on units or combinations NOT TESTED.

I do agree that the DIY regent is as good as the NOVAII and costs a lot less.

Bean
 
I put these together mainly based off of price of all the stuff together:

1) Regent housing ~ $20 each

2) HQI socket $4.99 each; fosters smith

3) Coralife 10k bulbs $45 for 2 hellolights;RC special + 2 for 1 special

4) 2 magnetic ballasts $60; shipped off ebay

so for appx $160 I got 2 full units that I'm pretty happy with

:)
 
I think the bottom line with any of this is as long as your cost coincides with your expectations then all is well.

Bean
 
First off, I got my pendant (not a Regent) for only $8, and I'm sure you can find similar ones locally at Walmart for about the same price. So add in sockets, ($20), and a wet-location junction box (~$4), and some misc connectors, most of which I already have, and for under $35 I can make a 'decent' HQI fixture.

That price is just too tempting for me, espeically since I like to DIY. It is WAYYYYY cheaper, and for me, spending 3x for maybe 20% increase (who knows exactly???) in efficeincy isn't worth it to me. I would classify the lights I am building for a 30g tank as being 'bright enough to keep clams.' I know some of you like to save every photon, but for a poor DIYer like me, I'd rather settle for homemade. :D

I couldn't really find any other tests directly comparing the NOVA II, but I did get some numbers on the other site where Sanjay tested other 250w DE reflectors.

Again, for my tank's size - almost a 2' x 2' footprint - I am really only focusing on the 2x2 area stats. % of PPFD from 6" to 12" from lamp is as follows (taken from two articles.)

Small Diamond Light (LA3) lost 22%

Regent DIY 150W Double Ended lost 19%

Sunlight Supply 250W Reef Optix III+ lost 23%

Hehe, might be a little biased though. ;) But it is SO hard to get a solid conclusion on any of this because all of the #s for the PFO stuff is running off of their magnetic HQI ballast, whereas for the others, it is electric, not a fair comparison in my mind, in terms of measuring total light output. (Unless you are buying a complete package from a company - which we are not.)

Sorry if I am opening a can of worms here. :) I guess it boils down to how much of a compromise you are willing to make between price/efficiency.

EDIT: Just saw your post:
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6703548#post6703548 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BeanAnimal
I think the bottom line with any of this is as long as your cost coincides with your expectations then all is well.

Bean
Click to expand...
I couldn't agree more. ;)
 
Ahhhh, a 24"/60gallon cube? I have one of those...it was my first reef. I used to use a hamilton reefsun over it, but I swapped out the ballast for a PFO HQI and the reflector for a lumenarc (scored it off the repo site for $40), and kept the using the 14,000K hamilton bulbs (the 250watters blow, but the 400watters rock).

Heres the thing...with the hamilton setup, I was actually considering needing more light, but with the lumenarc...that made a world of difference. The tank is pretty much nothing but a few acros (a 12" diameter ORA tortuosa) and a couple clams (a zebra maxima and ultra maxima right now)...so the more light the better. My tort seems to be growing 2x as fast under the lumenarc as compared to the reefsun before it. It might be 18" around by this summer if it keeps growing like it is...

Now, looking at those readings from the lumenarc, I wouldnt worry about the light lost in a 2x2 area. FWIW, like I mentioned in the last post, the lumenarc just gets more light in the tank. Keep in mind that those readings arent done underwater or taking glass into consideration. FWIW, this is where hands-on really comes in. You could get a mini-luminarc, but really, the regular lumenarc3 does a great job.

The light that the testing is showing doesnt take into consideration what the sides of the aquarium will do. All that glass at such an angle will deflect most of that light right back to the rocks. I have zoos that grow under ledges and nobody understands how until I turn the lights on.

FWIW, you can get awesome reflectors from this place...

http://www.propertyroom.com

They have lumenarcs going for cheap all the time...maybe a scratch or two...but really good shape for cheap ($40 shipped for mine). You might want to check it out rather than go super cheap.
 
:lol: Do you know how huge Lumenarcs are?

My tank is actually 30g, it is only 16" high. The footprint is basically 2'x2' with one corner 2/3 clipped off.

It is open top, with STRONG emphasis on top-down viewing. I am making my pendant as small as possible. :D

I think there is no one 'perfect' reflector (though some are better than others.) Some are designed to spread light in wide areas, other focus it more intensely. I am going to try and orient my reflector to maximize light to where I am going to put my corals/clams. With a hanging pendant, I can easily manipulate height, and since I'm building it myself, I can also adjust the orientation and angle too. I hope this will work to my advantage and let me get away with supposedly 'inferior' materials.
 
is a pendant even needed if you are going to have an enclosed area on the top of the tank, my in the wall set up as a 4 foot tall opening on the top but it is enclosed when i put the back cover on it so the light has no where to go but down. i have read that white paint is more reflective then polished metal
jeff
 
Drake a pendant with a built in reflector focuses the light. "White paint" and "polished metal" are very general terms. Either one may be more effective depending on the surface texture, the color or type of metal, pigments or aloys, and the wavelength of light to be reflected... TO NAME A FEW.

"no where to go but down" I don't think you hav a grasp of what light is or how it moves. Firstly it does not "fall" if it has no place to go. Secondly each time a given amount of light bounces off of something, some of it is lost due to scattering. Thidly, the longer distance the light travels, the weaker it becomes (unless it is in a vacuum), this is because it bounces of of the stuff floating around in the air. Fourthly, (is that a word) you want the light to strike the tank at a fairly vertical angle, otherwise it will spill out the sides of the tank or bounce off of the water before it penetrates the surface.

So the simple answer to your question is that in no way is your white painted 4 foot chimmeny anywhere near equivilent to even the most modest reflector made out of crinkled tinfoil.

Bean
 
i am just having a hard time scrounging up the the money to buy 3 pendents at $99 bucks each when i already have the mogal sockets and electric balast...i have been running 3 175 watts haladies over my 6 foot 125 gallon tank but i am now switching to the in-the-wall with the new house and am going poor in the proccess so i was looking for cheap alternatives
 
Get 3 SLS retro reflectors (or other brand of retrofits) and mount your sockets under them. You should be ok until you can afford something better, or may just decide to keep them and never upgrade. You can build any suitable holder, in your case aluminum bar would work well. Let us know if you need mounting ideas.
 
what do you mean by aluminum bar? i have seen other post about people cutting 4 ft sono tubing for concreate in half and curving aluminum in there...not sure if that would give a good light pattern or not, wish there was a template for the best curves for transmitting light to the water
jeff
 
http://www.reefgeek.com/products/categories/lighting/104275.html

Those are nice reflectors for your bulbs. They have bases built in, and you could sell what you have...

-or-

try these that are a but cheaper and also have bases.

http://www.hellolights.com/methalparref.html

You can attach them to a piece of square aluminum bar hung above your tank like a closet rod. You could build a hinged shelf and mount them underneat. You could use brackets mounted to the wall to hold each light... there are dozens of possibilities. Mine pendants are mounted to a single aluminum bar that has a wire rope at each end. The wire rope is hooked to a pulley system so that I can raise and lower the lights for maintenance, and acclimation when I replace bulbs.

Bean
 
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