New Hood/Canopy build

I don't recommend using icecap ballast for T5, they over driven the bulbs and dramatically shorten the life of the bulbs. Many people are going away from Icecap ballast for that reason. VHO wise they are the best ballast. I am currently using the 660
 
What ballast would you use for the T5's Tom? I think another i have heard of is workhorse?

Another lighting question: can I use one t5 ballast hooked up to different bulbs and have the ability to turn some on and some off? I want to use the same ballast to light my fuge as I do my T5's on my tank but do not want the lights on the tank but do on the fuge. get my question? maybe that was poorly worded.
 
No I havnt bought anything yet still gathering info,by the way, anybody have any experience with the lumenmax reflectors the surface doesn't look quite as reflective as the lumenarc but them don't seem as tall which might help with the overall height requirements on the canopy(and probably cut down on the lighting gain of the reflector)
 
shaneh said:
What ballast would you use for the T5's Tom? I think another i have heard of is workhorse?

Another lighting question: can I use one t5 ballast hooked up to different bulbs and have the ability to turn some on and some off? I want to use the same ballast to light my fuge as I do my T5's on my tank but do not want the lights on the tank but do on the fuge. get my question? maybe that was poorly worded.
Click to expand...

You can control each ballast separately, but you can not control each bulbs on the same ballast. Wrokhorse is a good one, Reefgeek also carry T5 ballasts beside icecap. Does that answer your question? :D
 
yep, thanks Tom, i know i said i would try to post some pics this weekend but i ended up re-paintting the bedroom for all of SAT and then sunday i got the MH wired up and moved the small 55 out of the bed room, hooked up the overflow kits, put up insulation in the attic and on the windows, and cleaned up the room. Now i can walk in the room with out triping on 20 diffrent things. It's hard to stop woring on the tank and post pics when i still have more to do.
 
Hey Shaneh how tall are you building your hood? I'm thinking of building mine about 16" including 1.25 overhang to cover water line.
 
I'm doing 10 inch tall then a 2 inch overhang to cover the black frame on the tank. I'm going to make the canopy able to flip up so I can work on the tank. I'm running t5's as close to the water as I can because it's a 30 inch tall tank. I really am ready to do the canopy this weekend. The plumbing is all finished but i had a pump problem. I have a gen-x 30 that i bought used on RC for a "good " price.....i got screwed cause the pump has a crack piece on the inside and leaks water. I went to jofish and Ron gave me some help. I picked up some epoxy at the hobby town store. I'll hook it up today to see if it holds but I have a call into pacific cost imports to see if i can get a new part.

I also bought the iwaki-55 off the same guy and it need to be rebuilt, the pump is loose inside the housing......I'll try to get a rebuild kit or may just need to get a new one and use it as a back up pump. the pump works but it is very noisy. Like something is not aligned correctly. My Mag 24 was quite compared to this pump if that gives you an idea.....kinda mad at myself. Tried to save a few buck and it is going to cost me in the long run. I've gone too far to go cheap now. At least i have two back up pumps....I'll keep you posted.


OH: are you planning to paint the inside of the canopy white? Also i got the fans and holders in from coolerguys.com....they are so cool and going to look really clean on the canopy. I don't think my chiller will even need to turn on with 6 fans! Three on each side. I'm gonna use my RK for temp control on them....I'll go into more detail later but it's gonna look pretty good.

I will need some help next weekend wiring my t5 up if anyone has the know how. I got all my light stuff from Steve at coralreefecosystems.com good prices. Should be in by next Friday and ready to go in the canopy next SAT!!! I'll be picking up a few fish this weekend to get the tank cycle going.
 
ok guys ahd gals my next questions are HQI or mogul and why? brand of ballasts, magnetic or electronic and brand of T-5's, thanks in advance for the input. Grant
 
With Mogul ballast you will get more lamps options, HQI is very limited in selection.

Electronics ballast runs cooler and your bulbs will be more efficient.

T5, ATI blue plus, is the best if you are going to pair it up with halide, if you need to add some other colors to balance out the blue you can go with UV, Griesman.
 
So got a few questions as i am getting this thing ready for the demo on sat. I want to have all the wood work done so all we need to do is install the bulbs.

My MH is in the middle of the canopy as I said earlier and the VHO is in the back of the canopy. Do I need to be concerned with the MH too close to the VHO? Just wondering if the MH will mess up the VHO bulb or cause it to burn out too fast if it is only 2 inch away? I'm making the support for the canopy tonight and need to know.

Also my canopy is 10 tall and about 11-12 inch off the water so my MH bulb is about 14 off the water surface, but I made it adjustable to lower about a 1/2 inch from the water with a bracket. Not that I want it to the water surface but it is very adjustable with a bolt and wing nut made of metal. My question is for the T5 bulbs, i can mount them on the inside of the canopy at the top so about 12 inch off the water surface and 42 inch to the bottom of the tank. Or I was thinking of making them about 6 inch closer by building a shelf for them the mount to that is level with the fans. Either way i don't see a way to adjust the height of the bulbs or if I even need to. So my question:

Will i be fine to mount the bulbs to the top of the canopy or would it be better to build a shelf at fan level to have them closer to the water but them i will have less room to work in the tank and may take a chance to break a bulb if not careful. Any one with T5 with do you think? Just keep in mind it is a deep tank 30.5-31. I've heard some ppl say with a deep tank get it as close to the water as possible.

What do you guys think? Sorry for the winded explanation. I'll try to post some pics tonight I finally got my comp back up and running yesterday. Among 100 other things I try to get done on the weekend.
 
Having the halide on top of the canopy is fine, since you are running only one halide, you want a wider spread so mounting the halide higher is better. The VHO can be pretty close to the halide, as long as you have fans at each end to keep it the whole canopy cool then you will be fine. The cooler the T5, or VHO, the longer they will last.
 
Shane if I understand you correctly the only prob I see is the reflecters have to be on the same plane or they will block each others light creating shadows . Grant
 
BTW I finally did my full sized mock up of my hood to check for probs. so things are moving along on mine too.
 
Alright sounds good I'll just mount the T5 lights to the top of the canopy. That makes it easier for me anyways. The t5 would block some of the MH light if I hung them lower. Did you guys all paint the inside of the canopy white gloss? I figures that would be best to reflect more light...but i was thinking what about even silver paint or lining it with a foil type material? I want the light to bounce around right?
 
I pain mine blue gloss because I like the blue look ... :D

You want your VHO close to the inside edge of the halide reflector so it will mix color with the halide better.
 
Perfect that is where the VHO is going to be located!

Tom: What exactly do I need to wire the 660 and workhorse ballast to the bulbs?
here is my list so far that I have, let me know if I need anything else.

wire connectors
small screws for reflectors and end cap holders
electrical tape
wire strippers
cordless drill with Phillips tip
tape measure
drill bits
zip ties with screw connector option
zip ties to make it look clean in the canopy
staple gun
I think I printed out the correct wire diagrams

do i need any heat shrink?

Has anyone seen a foil lined hood?
Is blue a better color to make the color come out more? Was it a dark or light blue?
Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure this thing is good to go for Saturday! =)
 
You got everything you need.

Don't use foil because it will get all broken up by the salt very quickly, I tried already ... lol. I used light blue.
 
I have an idea of very thin polished stainless steal cut to fit each piece of the canopy. may take some time but more reflective then paint. I'll paint it light blue first then look into the stainless or another very reflective material like the lumenarc reflector material.
 
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