DIY Halogen lighting...ideas?

[kampkomfort]

I've been looking for some DIY lighting options for my 55gal FO tank (hoping to move to some corals in the future). I'm on a student budget, so inexpensive is the word.

I've often thought that halogen bulbs, sometimes used in track lighting applications, would be ideal for DIY because of low cost and availabilty. I even used an MR16 halogen to make a headlight for my mountain bike to do some 2 hour night rides, so I know they are versatile (and tough!).

The problem seems to be the color temp, which seems to be pretty low. I've looked around for something suitable, and the Solux halogen bulbs seem to be promising, with a color temp of 4700. The other specs look good too compared to other halogens(low UV, infrared). Here are some links:

Solux Specifications
Pricing

For $6 per 50 watt bulb, I was thinking about putting together a 150 or 200 watt setup. Now I just need to figure out a cheap ballast and fixture.

Any comments on this idea? Am I crazy? Any estimates on what kind of coral growth I could expect from these?

Thanks.

-J

 

[dbman]

No you're not crazy; halogens were used in the early early days of reefkeeping before MH and high output fluorescents were widely available. Unfortunately the color is truly awful; I've used a halogen lamp for a work light when my hood is removed from the tank and it gives a very nasty yellow cast to the tank. Another consideration is that halogen bulbs are really nothing more than an incandescent bulb... 200 watts of halogen will likely actually produce LESS light than 200 watts of fluorescents. Halogen lamps produce COPIOUS amounts of heat as well (hold your hand in front of one of those track lights for a few seconds) and will warm your tank significantly. I honestly think you would be MUCH happier if you just go to home depot and buy two 48" fluorescent shop lights for $9 apiece and buy four decent aquarium tubes for them. Or start looking into budget metal halide setups... you can do a surprisingly nice lighting system for relatively little money if you shop around and do your own wiring and construction.

 

[Jacob1]

They put out so much heat and don't put out a lot of light for the amount of juice. I don't think it would be worth it even if you didn't consider the asthetics.

JMHO
Jake

 

[dbman]

If you REALLY want to be cheap you could go with a couple of 250-W mercury vapor fixtures available at most home improvement centers. Use a white-coated Mercury Vapor bulb and the colors are surprisingly -DECENT- but you do get a good amount of light for your money. I did this for awhile before I could afford MH and kept several varieties of corals. Honestly though you'd be better off just saving for MH - it is really THAT much better.

 

[kampkomfort]

Thanks for the help! I think I'll abandon the halogen idea. It sounded good at first, but sounds like a low-value option. I'll probably try 4X40 watt full spectrum for now and save up for MH (that'll take a while, but I'm in no hurry).

Thanks again, and any other ideas are always welcome!

-J

 

[Mac1]

Hey Kampkomfort,

When I first setup my refugium, I used a HPS lamp from the Local Hardware store. It was 25 bucks. It was 100 Watts over a 29 to grow algae - worked Great! I placed a frag or two in there at the time, and while they grew, they looked like ****. Brown, ugly, hardly any polyps....
I know the budget routine, wasn't that long ago I finished school, but there are other ways. You can get Halide ballast's at the Hardware store pretty cheap if you know what you're looking for. Can buy used bulbs... Trade for stuff is another way. I trade frags for used 175 Watt 10K bulbs, that I now grow my algae under... Local reefers love the frags, and I love the bulbs, so it works out well. See if you can buy a used setup off the trading boards, but be careful who you buy from.

- Mac

 

[I14Green]

TRY Power Compact lighting for now and when you buy your MH setup ,eventually, you'll have something to supplement some actinic lighting. Power compacts are cheaper than MH and will do the trick with enough wattage, about 3-4 watts a gallon. You can get a P.C. retrofit kit with ballast and bulb and build DIY hood for under $200 easily. Also mabey try 3 or 4 - 9 watt power compacts in a row front to back or 2- 32 Watt PC ( $80 Each or less) These will do fine for now . My freind has this setup on his 40 gallon and his corals are doing great !AJ's REEF Page

 

[RichMacys]

The LOA fixtures are a great alternative but arent easy to find. I found that GE and phillips have a boatload of bulbs that are COOL light. I just got some for my Kitchen. They are 6500K and 40w each. Best of all, they were $6.00 each!!! At that cost you could get six of em, and 3 shoplights for $63.00 and have 240w of flor. light above the tank. Or you could get 2 LOA fixtures and have 120w. There are drawbacks to each setup but eith would work.

 

[afss]

what is the model number/serial number/sku number for the 6500 lights? the best i can find here in canada is 4700

.
thanks Scott

 

[Stephen P]

if you are on a buget and want some decent lighting...go to home depot or what ever and get a couple of 65watt LOA fixures. They sell for around $30 each, look in the outdoor night lighting section.

Then if you want to take it up a notch get a single NO 40w actinic bulg for the front of the tank to make it look a bit better.

HTH
Stephen

 

[kampkomfort]

Thanks for all the ideas! Rich...I'd like those #'s too. I can only find the 4700's here. Maybe I'm not looking hard enough.

Thanks again!

-J

 

[kampkomfort]

Well, I went the cheap, temporary route and made a trip to the local Home Depot. This is what I put together (the #'s are from the receipt...I don't know if they are stock numbers or what):

755277080452 Shop Light (2X48" fixture) $7.95
046677288686 Phillips 40W 2-pack $5.94

The shop light is just a standard, normal output fixture that is made to hang from the ceiling on chains. It is just resting on top of my glass hood for now. The bulbs work GREAT for the price ($3 a piece!). They are rated 40W and 6500K. They are Phillips "Daylight" bulbs, and they were almost hidden in the bulb section (lots of them packed in the large box they were shipped in. It took some searching.)

So, now I have 80 watts of 6500K and 40 watts of 4100K that I will probably replace with an actinic. The 6500K is MUCH "cooler" than the 4100K, by the way.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! It might not seem like much, but you can't beat it for $14.

-J

 

[afss]

thanks for the info on the 6500k, do you happen to know the number for the philip[s actinic?
thanks
Scott

 

[kampkomfort]

Sorry...I don't know anything about a Phillips actinic. I was just thinking about dropping "big bucks" for one at the LFS. If you find one, please pass the info. Thanks!

Good luck
-J

 

[tstone]

Kampkomfort
If you want to build your own halides you can do it for a hundred bucks. Here is a link
Aquarium club
Good luck