DIY Icecap...its not what you think

[mswt5]

No ripples derrick....sorry

metal halides make ripples because the light is coming from just that one sourse.....when you use flourescents you have the light spread out down the length of the entire bulb.....soo.....no matter how bright you get them you will never get the ripple effect.....i know its kinda a bummer.....as far as the plastic protectors they would probably make the bulbs even hotter becuase it will keep air from circulating around the bulb....they do get fairly hot.....i got a little desktop fan and pointed it on them.....they stay cool now

 

[DerrickT]

Didn't someone from this thread said they get the effects by covering one half of the overdriven bulb with reflective taping? My LFS somehow used enough PC's to get some effects. Oh well =(. As long as the corals grow.

 

[ToeCutter]

Just wanted to say I'm running OVRNO (OVDNO?) over my nano now, and I'm happy with the results. About $60, and my tank is well lit.

 

[marm64]

Hi thanks for all the great info I am in the process of starting up a reef tank and was wondering if I can just replace VHO lights with overdriven light? and also are people only overdriving the white bulbs or are you overdriving the Blue Actininc bulbs also.

Thanks for any info. These boards have great info.

 

[Alexis]

Will the f4x32 ballast fire 36watt power compacts? I understand that it may not be as bright, but will it light at all?

THanks

 

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Overdriving actinics and VHOs.

Yes...I have been overdriving actinics for about 10 months now. They work fine.

As for replacing VHOs with overdriven, you can do that...but it depends. If you want to overdrive, then you'll need a new ballast (or something less power than a VHO ballast). It is possible to over drive a NO with a VHO ballast, I would use the T12 tubes only. T8 tubes are a little scary...since you'll be driving 6 to 7 times more lamp current than it is intended.

Driving a 36W PC with a 4x32W.

Well...it depends which 36W PC you have. If it is a osram/philips/german one...then 1x will light it normally (i.e. like it should...at full intensity). If it is a Panasonic/Japanese type, then it will require a 2x configuration. So, if you use the 4x configuration...I think it should overdrive them a bit. How much...I really don't know since I haven't tried. If you want to use a proper ballast to drive the PCs, I would suggest a Fulham Workhorse ballast (check www.fullham.com for dealers near you). The are design to drive an array of lamps. In your situation, a WH5 should be able to drive either two 36W PCs. If you want to drive four, then WH7. If you want to drive one, then a WH3 should work. These WH ballasts are the same ballasts used in AHsupply kits.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

 

[DerrickT]

Oh, I forgot to mention I got my bulbs at my local graingers (www.grainger.com). The part number is 3JJ79. It is a 6500K 48" T8 bulb. This is the highest spectrum for T8's they had. For T12, they have a 7500K, but I just got the T8's instead. They were only around 2 US dollars each. In order to buy from Graingers, you have to own a business. I just simply asked another customer to buy the bulbs for me.

2 dollars..not bad

 

[GROSSR]

I checked your catalog # and they are 239.xx for 36 bulbs. How do you figure $2.00 each.

Is this the correct part #?

thanks

 

[DerrickT]

Gross,

You can get them cheaper and individually buying locally. I have no idea why it's priced that way on the website. But yes, they were around 2 dollars (2.39?). I picked up six. Call your local grainger to make sure.

 

[jonboy]

T8 bulbs 3.49

T8 bulbs 3.49

I stopped by Graingers today.
They have a sale on the bulbs from now to Oct. 31st
Part no. 3JJ79
Reg. price 6.65
sale price 3.49
This is the ge bulb with a 6500 color temp.

I couldn't find the bulbs anywhere else. So I have paid the
6.65 in the past. I bought a case.

I won't have to buy any more for quite some time.
I wish that they would carry the Iwaski MH bulbs also.

Jonboy

 

[marm64]

I have read through this and have been wondering about the people that have been running these what are the results? are you just running the overdriven lights or do you feel that this is not enough light.

 

[afss]

I have 2 4 foot overdriven 6500 and 2 normal output actinics. I have sps, lps, and softies in a 90 gallon tank. All seem to be doing well, and all are growing. The sps is only about 8 inches under the water, about 10 inches from the bulbs. I have seen one piece that has grown about 3/4" in the last 4 months or so. I know they will grow faster with halides etc, but i am still impressed with the growth.
Scott

 

[Ddddrgnfly]

Hey Reef or Anyone Else That Can Answer This One For Me,
In no way am I new to reefin(6 yrs) but I have always run M/H's and PC's.I am very interested in this though and am stting up a 55 for my son.I have a good friend that manages a lamp supply and distribution Whse here locally.He has told me that he can get me whatever I want at cost for this type setup.My question is though,like I said,never messed with NO or VHO,can anyone give me the brand and part #'s of some of the daylight,50/50's and Actinics out there.If he doesn't have them then he said he can crossreference the PN's of any bulb out there. This should prove to be very interesting.

Thanx
Rog

 

[kingMOB]

reefburnaby, has been... hummm... a year now since you started with the project (and I apreciate you a lot for it =), I saw that in the beginning you measured the light intensity of your system...

You know that, one of the things that most concern people who use fluorescents is the useful lifetime of this kind of lighting to our systems, everybody advice to change the bulbs after 6 months when the output drops 20-30%.

So, I'm curious to know if you continued with the measurements of the light intensity along this year, this kind of data could be useful to people who are using the overdrived lighting to know when change the bulbs.

 

[GROSSR]

Yes, I too am interested after a year.

Please let us know.

 

[ToeCutter]

I'm interested too... not only in the light intensity, but the actual spectrum of light put out by the bulbs... I had a rumor that overdriving NO can have a negative impact on the color temperature.

 

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Sorry for the delay...I seem to have missed the last couple of postings.

Well, it has been around a year since my lamps have been running. My current setup is two 6500K overdriven by 2x and one VHO actinic (driven by overdriven 4x). Power consumption is around 160W.

In terms of light output, the lights are producing about 100-120 uE/(m^2*s) of PAR at the bottom of the tank. Around the middle of the tank, the lights have a PAR of 180-200 uE/(m^2*s). These measurements were performed in the tank (i.e. with waterproof PAR sensor) and they were made on lamps that are around 6 months old.

I have changed many thinks in my system to improve the performance of the lamps. I have switched from 4x to 2x overdrive on the T8s. The 4x didn't produce more PAR light than the 2x and it produced more heat. The lamps efficiency decreases (along with spectrum) as the heat increases. Although we are pumping more power in the lamp, the lamp's decreased efficiency negates the extra power.

I am using URI actinics for my lighting. It is working really well and I have used them for 6 months. To drive them, I just use the 4x configuration. I like these more than the T8 actinics and they cost about the same. In fact, I was burning T8 actinics at a very fast rate -- they only last about 3 months. The actinics still come one, but they don't have much actinic power (spectrum shift). Basically, I built a single lamp, low cost, Icecap.

As for my SPS experiment...still going. Not growing very fast, but it does grow at a good rate. But...I don't think I will try blue tip acros for a long time...at least not in a 90 with overdriven T8s.

As for replacement schedule, I replace them at 6 months. They don't need to be replace at that time, but I do it anyway. Judging by the condition of the lamps, I would say they would work quite well at 12 months at 2x overdrive. The VHO actinic still looks good at 6 months - so I will probably replace in another 6 months.

F32T8 ballasts are pretty hard to come by - at least in common hardware stores. So, a popular alternative is the workhorse ballast from Fulham. These are capable of driving an assortment of lamps and they have a pretty good waranty.

So, I have been pretty happy with my lamps for the past year.

- Victor.

 

[GROSSR]

Thanks for the response. I am surprised you used a URI Actinic. I thought the idea was to use cheap bulbs and get the same amount of light as the more expensive bulbs.

I was about to rig up 4 - 4x bulbs. I will modify and go to 2x.


Would you suggest 1 ballast running 2 bulbs or 1 ballast running 1 bulb 2x?

I will be running 3 philips 6500k T8 bulbs and a Coralife T8 actinic.

 

[marm64]

Well, it has been around a year since my lamps have been running. My current setup is two 6500K overdriven by 2x and one VHO actinic (driven by overdriven 4x). Power consumption is around 160W.

I was wondering what type of Actinic you are using? is it a 50/50 blue or what. How much better is it to overdrive the actinic by 4x as opposed to 2x ?

Thanks

 

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

I was using Zoomed actinic T8 bulbs. The colour was not good with these bulbs from the start when they were overdriven. I tried 2x and 4x...and they just didn't shine. URI, on the other hand, was quite good.

My local supplier of Zoomed sells them for the same price as my local supplier of URI - so it worked out to be the same. I will try the good old T12 03s next year and see how well those last. I am sure they will do better than the zoomeds. For T12s, the 4x overdrive should match the Icecaps.

Quite frankly, the 4x overdrive was not good in terms of performance and cost. With less tube life, more heat and no measureable improvement in light intensity, the 4x wasn't very good in the long term. In the short term (i.e. when the bulbs are still cool), the light intensity is absolutely insane.

As for how many ballasts per bulb, I went with one bulb per ballast. There is a slight improvement (in light intensity) with one bulb per ballast.

- Victor.