DIY Luxim Plasma

dipan

Member
So I managed to buy a basic Luxim plasma setup for an attempt at using it for my new tank build documented here. This is just the start of a DIY plasma build thread. Anyone is welcome to chime in and post their projects here also. I'm not sure I'll be happy with the color temperature of this bulb, but I'm hoping it will work.

Unfortunately, the bulb is the 5300K rated one. There is supposed to be another 6000K rated bulb and I'm hoping I will be able to swap in whatever bulb I need when these are more widely available and out of whatever development phase they are in right now. It's not in the reflector yet, but I decided that the best thing for my application would be a Lumenarc III (the big one).

Here are some pics (normally worth a thousand words or more:)) ...

luxim007.jpg

luxim006.jpg

luxim001.jpg

luxim002.jpg

PAR measured about 12 inches from the bulb:
luxim003.jpg


My trial 20 gallon tank with a pair of UVL lamps (Super Actinic and Actinic White) in a standard Hagen fixture (no individual reflectors, bulbs about 4 months old and could use a cleaning):
luxim005.jpg

Note that this is not where the plasma will go :)

PAR measured 2-3 inches below the center of the bulbs:
luxim004.jpg
 
If you do a google for "DIY Luxim plasma" you will see that it is not too hard to find ...

As for cost ... a little over $600 ...
 
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225 mE? 2-3" below the light?

What am i missing?

Yep. Does it sound wrong? The bulbs are kind of old, about 4 months or maybe a bit more. The lamps and reflector also need a cleaning. When the evaporation takes about 1" of water off the top, the spray is pretty prominent resulting in salt deposits. I can remeasure when after I get a chance to clean the light off. Keep in mind these are the 24w lamps for a 2' fixture. PAR at the edges was measured at less than 100 ...
 
And they do not have individual reflectors.

Were you measuring wattage with the meter in the first few pics?
 
I am extremely intrigued with the idea of lighting a tank with this type of lighting. It appears Plasma Lighting more resembles Metal Halides without the heat and energy consumption (i.e. more efficient). I have to say that the biggest gripe I have with this hobby is the inefficiency of the equipment.

I have been waiting for the cost of LED fixtures to come down, but it's just not happening. Not to mention, I just haven't seen enough tanks with LED fixtures to justify jumping into such a large purchase.

With the plasma price point, I'd be more apt to jump in sooner versus waiting another 3 years to find out LED's just don't cut it. $600-$700 is not all that bad especially if you need fewer of them to light a tank than you would halides.

Kudos to you for experimenting with these and documenting your findings in this thread.

Jay
 
Yep. Does it sound wrong? The bulbs are kind of old, about 4 months or maybe a bit more. The lamps and reflector also need a cleaning. When the evaporation takes about 1" of water off the top, the spray is pretty prominent resulting in salt deposits. I can remeasure when after I get a chance to clean the light off. Keep in mind these are the 24w lamps for a 2' fixture. PAR at the edges was measured at less than 100 ...

Ahhh...i assumed that was what the plasma was putting out at 2-3" of water. I should have read closer :beer:
 
And they do not have individual reflectors.

Were you measuring wattage with the meter in the first few pics?

Nope ... I assume you mean the multimeter ... I was just making sure I wired the light properly. Needed to figure out what wire was hot and what was neutral on the extension cord that I sacrificed as the supply cord for the AC/DC converter power supply for the light.

I am extremely intrigued with the idea of lighting a tank with this type of lighting. It appears Plasma Lighting more resembles Metal Halides without the heat and energy consumption (i.e. more efficient). I have to say that the biggest gripe I have with this hobby is the inefficiency of the equipment.

I have been waiting for the cost of LED fixtures to come down, but it's just not happening. Not to mention, I just haven't seen enough tanks with LED fixtures to justify jumping into such a large purchase.

With the plasma price point, I'd be more apt to jump in sooner versus waiting another 3 years to find out LED's just don't cut it. $600-$700 is not all that bad especially if you need fewer of them to light a tank than you would halides.

Kudos to you for experimenting with these and documenting your findings in this thread.

Jay

Thanks ... unfortunately I'm thinking this will not be enough blue without serious actinic supplements, something I wanted to avoid. I'm still going to try it and hopefully more appropriate spectrum bulbs will be available eventually. I'm not sure this is going to beat LED watt for watt, though. That cost also doesn't take into account the reflector (or the sacrificial extension cord :)) But that would only be another $100 to $150 ...

Ahhh...i assumed that was what the plasma was putting out at 2-3" of water. I should have read closer :beer:

I might kill everything in that tank if I tried to put the plasma over it :eek1:
 
so are you thinking one per tank? OR would you place them like metal halides? I would think one for like a 4'-5' tank and maybe 2 for 6'-8'? IS this the thinking? And would'nt these use less energy also?? And how about heat?
 
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is using the 250W LUXIM Plasma LIFI Lighting in one of their deep tank, and it looks amazing.
 
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so are you thinking one per tank? OR would you place them like metal halides? I would think one for like a 4'-5' tank and maybe 2 for 6'-8'? IS this the thinking? And would'nt these use less energy also?? And how about heat?
My tank is a bit less than 4 feet long, so I was just thinking one of these with the big Lumenarc III reflector. They are rated for 250w and do run reasonably hot, but not as hot as a halide. I'm already planning on putting a fan on the bulb's round heatsink. I'll put a fan on the electronics box within which I'll place the power supply and the Luxim driver/igniter. Both get pretty warm/hot. Placement could be an issue as the cord from the igniter to the bulb is only 2 feet long as you can see in some of the pics. So the electronics box will probably have to be mounted to the light rack.

I'll be interested in seeing how this progresses...
It will probably progress pretty slowly. I was hoping that I could send the whole deal off to someone like hahnmeister soon so he can do a spectral analysis. I can't send him a PM, though, so hopefully he chimes in.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is using the 250W LUXIM Plasma LIFI Lighting in one of their deep tank, and it looks amazing.
I did see some pics of that somewhere also ... Not the tank itself, but the light over the tank. Got any links for what the tank itself looks like?

cant wait to see it over a tank with water! very interesting
Hopefully soon. I'm trying to get my tank setup and this light at the same time. Right now I'm doing more plumbing than messing with the light, but I did do some more ...
 
luxim009.jpg


luxim010.jpg


luxim011.jpg


PAR about 12" from the bulb with it mounted in the reflector. I was thinking this would be more, but maybe it's because the Lumenarc III is spreading out the light so well and not further concentrating it straight down ...
luxim012.jpg


Found the limit of the PAR meter. This is about 3-4" from the bulb:
luxim013.jpg
 
Very nice testing. It would be cool to see the PAR versus water depth. Do you have an empty tank you can test?
 
Very nice testing. It would be cool to see the PAR versus water depth. Do you have an empty tank you can test?

I'm working on my new inwall tank right now. That's really the reason I decided to try this light. Quite some plumbing to do before it's ready though. I may be able to fill it with water this coming week, though I was planning a freshwater test fill. Does the added density of salt in the water affect PAR at different depths? Or would a freshwater test be OK?
 
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