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Deluxe247 
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 Topic: Crazy Lighting Question
Posted: March 12 2010 at 11:14am |
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Don't think I'm crazy for asking, but has anyone ever heard of someone rigging up plain old Halogen lamps for a reef? I'm talking like the 150W double-ended tube bulbs in a $10 fixture. I need to upgrade my lighting, but have literally NO cash, and such a setup would be less than dirt cheap. But I'm mainly concerned about whether or not this type of light would even produce the right PAR since they're generally VERY yellow. And then there's the cooling issue, since those babies get so hot! Any input is helpful. thanks!
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90G Mixed Reef
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: March 12 2010 at 11:52am |
I've used halogen lights with correction filters to get the right spectrum.
I have one I can show you if you want to swing by sometime next week. The real problem is the heat! But yep, you can do it with a $10 halogen light (and a $10 filter).
Adam
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 12 2010 at 12:09pm |
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Tell me a time and place and I'll come check it out!I'm interested to see how you could deal with the heat (without forking out cash for a chiller, which kind of defeats the budget purpose.)
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90G Mixed Reef
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Ahanix
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Posted: March 12 2010 at 12:24pm |
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Just go buy some $5 walmart fans. or i'm sure you could retro fit some cpu fans right to the $10 fixture
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: March 12 2010 at 1:00pm |
The heat problems I've found with them are in regards to the filters.
I'm swamped with aquarium projects for the next weeks. It's crazy busy. But if you can swing over in the afternoon sometime (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday next week?) that would be okay.
Adam
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 12 2010 at 2:31pm |
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Adam, I'll PM you about coming over next week. What exactly are these filters? Tinted glass or something else? How do they affect the overall output?
Ahanix, I may end up going with a walmart fan or something, but for now I have a couple of 3" AC cooling fans that I'll wire right into the cord for the lights (so the fans kick on automatically when the lights do). We'll see how that works I guess.
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90G Mixed Reef
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Ahanix
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Posted: March 12 2010 at 2:50pm |
I know that someone on the for sale section is selling a 4x39w fixture for like $30
Odyssea 36" light 4x39W T6HO $30
dunno if that would work for you for now atleast. Obviously only about 3w per gallon, but its a start.
Edited by Ahanix - March 12 2010 at 2:51pm
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 25 2010 at 10:05pm |
So I looked up color correction filters for tungsten halogen lights.
There are a few stage lighting companies in SLC that sell Lee filters so
I picked up a couple of sheets to try out. Here are some images of my DIY lighting upgrade. This is a temporary fix until we move (hopefully
later this year) and I can do either LEDs of Solatubes. The frame is
all scrap acrylic I had leftover from my architecture school days. The
fixtures each cost about $13 and came with bulbs (1 300W and 1 500W). I
bought another 300, put 300W bulbs in both fixtures. Bulbs are about
$10. The fans are the expensive part at $20 each. All components run
on 120V power so I tied them all into the same power cord and hooked it
up to a timer. While I'm acclimating the tank, the new lights only run
for about 4 hours a day. March 13 2010 when I first installed the lights (no color correction)  March 25 2010 with 1 layer of Lee Full C.T.Blue 201 filter  the lighting frame  
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90G Mixed Reef
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BDerron
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Posted: March 26 2010 at 5:26pm |
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so were did you end up getting the filters from?
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Deluxe247
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Posted: March 26 2010 at 6:32pm |
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I got the filters from Oasis Stage Werks about a block south of Gateway on Rio Grande in SLC. They com in 20" x 24" sheets for about $7
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90G Mixed Reef
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