130 Watts of 6500 K for $59

[mooner]

I was at Home Depot today and found some 65 Watt flourescent 6500K lights for $29 each (bulbs included). This is very low cost in spectrum lighting so I sprung for two. They are nice little compact units made by Technology FloureX that take up almost no space on my tank top. They are 84 CRI and are totally silent.

I also custom built an acrylic top to suspend both these and my twin Coralife 50/50's. It looks killer! No where near as yellow looking as I had feared. I placed the Coralifes along the two back-sides (I have a 44 gallon corner model) for my inverts. All this improvement for $90 and 2 hours of work.

I now have to watch the heat factor as this is a lot of juice about 1" from the surface of my water. If it gets warm I have a plan on getting that under control by suspending them just above the acrylic top with some buttons and getting some cool fan driven air under them.

These little things could easily be worked into a canopy unit or suspended from a power cord with a little DIY spirit. They are also weatherproof.

I will post pics of the final project if anyone is interested.

 

[Henry M]

plz post some pics

 

[mooner]

Here ya go. Top pic is with them off (just the Coralife 50/50s are on), middle is a closeup of the units and the bottom is with them on along with the Coralifes.

So far my heat is 100% in check with a small fan on the setup.

 

[Anonymous]

Yep. Lots of people are using these lights for sumps, refugiums, and tanks. I have one over my 10 gal livebearer tank at work.

They are made by a company called Lights of America. Flourex is their name for the 6500 temp bulb. They also sell the same fixture with a lower color bulb. check out the display at HD, and you can deffinately tell the difference. You can do a search for LOA here on RDO and get lots of info on these bulbs.

Some people have had problems with the lights burning out. You might want to drill some vent holes on the top of your lights. (somewhere in the instruction sheet that came with my light it said to have them pointed up 45 degrees. I think it's so the heat can disipate easier.)

B

 

[liquid]

Mine burned out after about a year. What happens is they get too hot and eventually the circuitry fries. To extend the life of mine, I ended up hanging it pendant style over my 10 gal. Once the unit fries you basically have to buy an entirely new unit.

Shane

 

[mooner]

Good info! Thx.

I have a fan BLASTING down on them and they are doing OK and are cool to the touch but it that fan goes off ... watch out.

Any good info on just where to drill some vent holes? I don't wanna hit their brains with the bit.

 

[liquid]

The circuitry is underneath the morgul socket. Everything else is bulb, plastic, and reflector material.

Shane

 

[Anonymous]

I actually took the whole thing apart and drilled a row of 1/4" holes on both of the long sides of the back. I drilled about 3/16" in from the edge, so they would be as close to the outside as possible. No heat problems yet.

it only takes 6 or 7 screws to gut the thing. just unplug it first and go for it!

B

 

[mooner]

Interesting Update!!

I don't know if it was just me but I had to take mine back today because they were ruined by the *&&*()& bubble wrap around the bulb which I didn't notice and was NOT in the instructions!

I had these on for a week and the smell of burning plastic was not going away. I decided to take them down last night and apply the "drilling of holes heat fix" as discussed above and I see this brown goo that used to be plastic bubble wrap around the damn bulbs and sealed inside with screws! Geez, I felt like a dolt but don't you think at least a mention in the instructions?

Anyway, I got new ones this morning and now the bubble wrap is removed and I am back in business and no horrible smell! They look a LOT better without the brown goo! Go figure

I know, I know...you get what you pay for. Once these babies get week (6-9 months) I will have my custom hood and MH setup.

 

[bb7551]

are these found in ALL home depots? if so are they by the worklights and everything or where? I have ben in there alot and I can't seem to find them John

 

[mooner]

bb7551,

As far as I know they should be. These are with the Merc Vap and Sodium Vap lights. They are seperate from the bulbs section (not sure why). I can't find them on their web page either. I did find on their web page a Metal Halide 175W that was not in my local store.

Sorry I was not of more help.

 

[Anonymous]

I got mine at wal-mart for 24.96 with the 65k bulb.
HTH,
David
_________________
apollo mist pics

 

[bb7551]

How heavy are they and what are the dementions, I would like to put one over my 10 gal and would like to know if it will fit? John

 

[mooner]

How heavy are they and what are the dementions, I would like to put one over my 10 gal and would like to know if it will fit? John

They are 12"W x 8"D x 4"H and are about 3 lbs each. They're actually lighter than they look.

 

[bb7551]

LOL, I just came back from walmart and I have one. I am going to use it in my ten gallon nano. Will it be good with zoo's shrooms a maze brain coral, and mabey a leather. Will this light work nicely? Thanks. John

 

[mooner]

LOL, I just came back from walmart and I have one. I am going to use it in my ten gallon nano. Will it be good with zoo's shrooms a maze brain coral, and mabey a leather. Will this light work nicely? Thanks. John

***TAKE OFF THE BUBBLE WRAP OFF OF THE BULB*** There is nothing in the instructions about this but you MUST do it. You will just need to loosen the four screws on the face and take it off. Be careful with the bulb as it is a bit fragile.

I have just exactly what you described and they are all happy. I have shrooms, polyps a leather and will soon add a green brain, gorgonian and a bubble anemone. All have med light reqs and I shy away from light intense inhabs like clams, many SPS spieces, etc until I upgrade to MH (years away). These are good lights for moderate needs but I don't want more exotics to suffer.

I can give you an idea of what to expect: Since I put these over my 44 gallon I have had two diatom blooms which have subsided, I an now expierencing a NICE coralline bloom which is overtaking some very unsightly hair algae! I will focus my cam on an area of coralline so you can see that it is killing off this green hair algae. What you see just to the right of the yellow lobophytum coral here was once a plume of bright green hair like you see to it 's lower left. I hope the purple coralline takes that area over too! I bet it does.

These lights are a bargain and the only drawbacks are that you will be limited to low and med light spieces and the overall color is a bit white/yellow. I also have some actinic blue around the back of my tank.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[bb7551]

8O I am so excited I can FINNALY get my mini reef running, now with those corals what would I need to keep them happy? Iodine, Calcium, for the brain and trace elemants? That is it? I can do that LOOL. Thanks! John

 

[mooner]

John,

Not sure if this entire set up of yours is all new but you will want to cycle it good with LR if it is before adding the inhabitants. Sounds as if you may have already done that tho?

I do the recommended dosage per gallon of the following:

Kent MicroVert
Kent Coral Vite
Kalkwasser drip (for calcium, go slow, very important, watch your Ph!)
Kent Tech 1 (iodine, subjective as to need, be careful & not overdose!)
Kent ProBuffer

I run 350 GPH in power heads and have a magnum HOT 250 filter which has all media removed and is just a bio-farm. I check my params every week.

That is what I do now but I am still learning. You can probably do without the tech 1 as many on this board will tell you to shy away from iodine for a brand new tank and I would agree. I only use a quarter dose of that stuff.

Get multiple opinions on this as I am no expert.

 

[bb7551]

What is Kalkwasser drip? I have never seen it before. Thanks, John

 

[mooner]

What is Kalkwasser drip? I have never seen it before. Thanks, John

It's a dripping method for additional calcium it also keeps your tank topped off. Here is a good writeup:

http://www.thereefweb.com/top_off_device.htm