AB AquaspaceLight questions

[fnj]

Well I think I'm finally going to take the plunge and buy my lighting fixture. After reviewing all the information I could find, and changing my mind at least a million times on what type of lighting I should get, I've settled on the AB AquaSpacelight 3x250w HQI w/ 4x24W PC actinic (I think

). My main reasons for going with this fixture are:

1. Electricity savings. The other option that I was considering was the 3x400W Iwaski w/ 2 or 4 x 160W actinic. This option would cost me about $85-$110 a month to run where as the AB fixture would cost about $45. The savings in running this fixture for 1 year would easily compensate the difference in intial price between the two options.

2. Heat. Since the AB fixture will be hung from the ceiling I will make a canopy with an open top. This, coupled with a few fans should make it easier to keep the temp in the tank lower. IMO, a fully enclosed canopy with the Iwaskis would be very hard to maintain the lower temp.

Anyway, I have a few questions before I make this purchase.

1. Does anyone have any experiences with www.customaquatics.com? They seem to be the only vendor I can find that carries this fixture. Their price is $1099.

2. I know a few of you have this fixture. After running it for a while what do you think of it? Do you still like it? Anything that you don't like about it?

3. Can I run the actinics and the HQI's on separate timers with this fixture? Can I run each HQI bulb on separate timers?

4. Any reasons I shouldn't go with this fixture? I know I will get many different opinions on this, but I'd like to know everything up front before I dump a ton of money on something

BTW, this will be going over a 125g tank. I plan on housing mostly SPS corals in this tank. Right now I only have a couple of softies in there. I probably will get rid of all of them once I get the lights, but we'll see.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
Frank

 

[Carpentersreef]

Hi Frank,
I've had mine for almost a year now, and have never regretted the cash outlay. It's got a powder coated finish that cleans easily, and is completely silent. People have asked me if it hums, and it does not. Another bonus with the double ended HQI's is that they only have to be changed every 12 - 18 months. Compare that to much more frequent changes of the mogul ended MH's. Another money saving area.
The cords are separate for the MH's and the actinics, and can be run separately. The MH bulbs are all on the same circut, though, so they are either all on, or all off. The cord does get quite warm supplying the halides, but no complications from that so far. I had to wait 6 months for mine, because it had to clear CSA standards, and that may have something to do with how warm the cord is. I didn't buy it through Custom Aquatics. I bought mine through my LFS (Wai's Aquarium) who is the Cdn distributor, and he gets them directly from Germany.

A pic of my setup can be seenhere.

Mitch

 

[yabby]

Hi,
I have a similar model, with 2*150W HQI. It was one of the BAD designs form Champion lighting. I believe they purchased the hoods and the retro fitted ICECAP ballasts. After I purchased it I read that the ballasts ALWAYS overheat and burn out. I removed the ballast myself and also added a 32W blue quad compact for a moonlight with the extra space saving (both ballasts sit way from the tank). The TRUE model, I'm sure, don't have this ballast problem.

Anyway it works great and I imagine the set up you are thinking of would be very nice indeed, they look very smart.

No hum from the lights.

I mounted mine on the tank itself, I glued 2 linear tracks to the sides of the tank and mounted a cradle on these. The light sits in that cradle and when I want to reach into the tank of change the posn. of the lighting I just side it back and forward.

The hood sits about 4 inchs from the water surface, and I use no cover on the tank at all. The nice thing about these lights is that the UV glass filters on them are also excellent splash guards.

For cooling I just have a fan mounted above the tank, but I only have to use this in summer and I think most of the heat comes from 2 sen 900 pumps in the sump.

You can buy purpose built wall mounts for these lights (to side then forward and back) , and I have seen very nice ceiling cable mounts which can retract up/down

In other words why bother with hood?, the tank looks so much better without that big 'hat' sitting on top!

Well hope that helps

Cheers
Paul

 

[samurai9]

Hi fnj,
Check out www.premiumaquatics.com ; they have some of the best deals on lighting I have seen thus far. Does that fixture you're looking at come with bulbs? At PA you can get a 250w HQI pendant complete with 12K bulb for $350.

 

[fnj]

Thanks for all of the replies.

Yam: I really like the color and growth that I've seen with the 20K Osram bulbs. But if I go with the 3x400W MH and 4x160W actinic it will cost me about $110 a month in electricity. In comparison the AB fixture will only cost me about $45 a month. So I don't mind spending a couple of hundred more for it since I will be saving a lot of recurring costs in the lower electricity usage. Also the 20K bulbs are quite pricey, and from what I've read, they need to be replaced every 12 months or less. This also adds up fast.

Mitch: Thanks for the info. I guess if the cord ever really becomes a problem it could be replaced with a cord that has larger gauge wire, correct? BTW, how long are the cords that are on that fixture?

Paul: For a canopy I was thinking of just a four sided fasade that would go around the edge of the tank. I just want to limit the amount of light leaking into the room from the hanging fixture. The canopy's main purpose is to reflect all of the light back into the tank.

samurai9: The fixture comes with all of the bulbs included. The HQI bulbs are the double ended AB 10K bulbs, which I believe actually burn at 13K. Are the fixtures that you are talking about from Premium Aquatics the PFO mini HQI pendant? At $350 a pop they would cost just about the same amount of money since I would need 3 of them. But the PFO pendants don't include the PC actinic balast and bulbs. The AB fixture does.

Thanks again guys. Is there anything else that I'm missing?

 

[Carpentersreef]

fnj,
the cords are 6 ft. long, and I was thinking the same thing, I'll replace with heavier guage wire when the time comes. One other piece of advice, make sure that you get the unit with the electronic ballast. The earlier models came with an exterior tar ballast, and you don't want that.

Mitch

 

[Yam]

Reef Fanatic has carries it as well for the same price. I've ordered from them numerous times and their customer service is great. Fast shipping and they offer a points program where the more you buy, the more you'll get discounted on your next order.

It's a very classy hood, and you'll save a few hundred buying a hood that compares in style to it. The ballasts are inside the pendant, so understand that it is very heavy. There are a few facts I would take into consideration.

1. I like vho's a lot better. I have run both vho's and pc's, including the 7100K and the true actinic pc's.

2. Also you are limited in bulb choices. I'm running an 250W hqi ushio bulb w/110W true actinic pc, and for me, its still too yellow. OTOH my other tank has 2x400W 20kk Osrams on a hqi ballast, 1x400W 6500K, and 4x110W Super actinics, and this is the right kind of bulb combination to achieve the color I like. hth

regards,
danny

 

[Yam]

fnj: If you like the color of the hqi's, then great. The aquaspacelight would be your best bet. Just make sure you see the fixture on in person. The only downfall with DE hqi's is the limited bulb selection. Especially the 250W ones. HQI bulbs are cheap too, and they last 12-18 months, longer then mogul halides.

BTW, they do make 250W 20KK radiums. You could skip the actinics, unless its for dusk dawn, but bulb replacement wipes out any savings from electricity.

regards,
danny