could I make this lighting happen?

nemo lover

Member
I have an old dual bulb NO-80 watt hood from all-glass. I don't use anymore. It has been sitting on my porch for a while. I had an idea and was wondering if it would work? If I take out the insides and replace the ballast and sockets with 220watt vho and install a radio shack ,or computer fan would this work? Would I have to replace anything else?
 

sly

Active Member
That's what I did with my 240 watt PC setup. It works but the problem I found is that it gets too hot for the plastic. I did the exact setup you mentioned. I have a variable speed computer fan that blows through the light to keep it cool. I'm getting ready to upgrade mine to metal. The plastic has started to warp from the heat and is just too flimsy to begin with.
I'm going to buy a flourescent shop light fixture from Lowe's. They're about $14 and fit perfect under the canopy on my tank. Because it's metal it won't warp, of course, and I can also lift it off the class cover on my tank to keep the glass from getting so hot and baking the salt on there. It's hard to do this with a plastic fixture because it will just bow.
I'm going to gut all the wiring and balasts from the fixture and install 435 watts of PC retrofitted. I'm also going to mount my moon lights in the hood. I built them myself from Radio Shack parts. I'm going to mount the balasts remotely, though. They get too hot to be left under the canopy and so I'm going to put them on the floor instead and mount heat sinks on them if the need arises.
:)
 

nemo lover

Member
I took apart the hood and I was thinkin I would replace the ballast with a 220 vho and place replace with endcaps. Would I need anything else? The hood has little vents I could cut out squares and place two fans in these spots one on the left and one on right but blowing outwards. Do you think If I built little leggs for the hood to keep it off the glass, with the fans it would keep it cooler? I found a vho ballast for 35 bucks and I have two fans already just get some endcaps. So for like 50 bucks I might be able to have some lights for my next setup or just in case of emergency.
Sly I run pcs now how much more heat do vhos produce or do they produce more? That looks like a fun project you getting ready for. I would love to see pics after your all done.
 

sly

Active Member
Sounds like it would work. One thing i recommend is putting your lights on seperate ballasts and wiring in a plug for each. If you have an actinic and a 10000k bulb, for example, you could put each bulb on a timer and plug them both in so that your 10000k bulb turns off first, then your actinic. This way your actinic will produce a dusk effect and cause less stress on your fish than just turning off both lights at the same time.
I'm not sure if VHO gets hotter than PC. Anyway you can find to elevate the fixture off the top glass, the better. Like I said, I kept baking the salt onto my glass from my hot lights being right at the glass. My glass is now etched and won't come completely clean.
My retrofit kits haven't shown up yet but I'll post some pics as I go. I'm going to leave the moon LED's on all the time and not put them on a timer. They don't use much electricity and won't burn out so why turn them off? :)
At night my led's look like little spot lights shining through the haze of the water. It looks cool. Kind of like my fish are at a Pink Floyd concert.:joy:
 

nemo lover

Member
lol
yeah thats cool. Did you make you moonlights? I order two 250 watt mh retrofits and 2 220 watt vho's for my birthday. I'm not putting them up till we move.I also have heat concerns on them over a 55 gal. So I might just have to get a bigger tank:D I read a thread here about diy moonlights. When I get the mh up and runnig I am gonna do the moonlights.
 

sly

Active Member
Yea, I made the moon lights myself. I bought bright blue LED's from Radio Shack along with 150ohm resistors and a 6 volt DC "wall wart" transformer. Just solder the resistor to one leg of the led and then solder that to the wires of the transformer. They only had two LED's in stock. I want 7 so I'll have to wait until they order more. When I do the fixture I'll add the other LED's to the moon string.
I bought the new lights I'm getting for my birthday too. It was June 21. :joy:
 

nemo lover

Member
holy sh** mine is 20th It was fathers day so I got to cheese my dad and husband out. lol. small world huh. I met a girl last night who was born on the same day, same time as me, and in the same hospital. She also has a little boy born on the same day as my oldest daughter. Now thats freaky.
I was gonna use the radio shack leds too.But I would like the light to be as close to simulating the moon as possible and I think I would need to have a little higher in nm's to have the correct wave length.
I really am getting in to this diy stuff. When my husband and his friends come home/over the first thing they ask me is "so what did you build today? Miss handy woman of the year" I have been doing alot of diy lately. And just did my first fraggs with mushrooms. My husband thought for sure I had lost my mind when I told him "don't worry they'll grow back".
 

sly

Active Member
I went to Lowe's and bought the fixture I wanted. It cost $24 instead :confused: , but that's still cheaper than buying a full system. The one I got was wider and could accomodate the lights I wanted. I should recieve my retrofit kits tomorrow and I'll get started on it. I'm going to take pictures along the way and show you the steps I take. I'm kind of excited! I like building stuff. :joy:
 

nemo lover

Member
Yeah I talked to a friend on a different mess board, and he did the same project I did. He bought a ballast went and bought endcaps @ home depot for 4$. He said has been runnig for two years no problems. except his ballast was alot bigger than the one im getting he had to mount it on top. Yeah I gonna get started on mine too. I will also post pics. a.s.a.p. My card reader is broke so I will prob. have to go to a friends house to down load the pics.
Yeah im excited also. also that I'll be saving some $. with all the extra stuff I have laying around ill be able to set up another tank soon.
 

tunze

Member

Originally posted by nemo lover
Would I have to replace anything else?


I've done this before . One thing you might want to do if you are using an all glass hood is recess the reflector higher in the housing . You might get lucky and it will fit or the endcaps will stick out below the housing like this pic.
 

nemo lover

Member
yeah if that is a problem I run into I will just make leggs for the hood to stand on. Thanks for all the info :D nice pics tunze. did you take pics when you were building?
 

tunze

Member
Legs ,,,,mmmm wonder why I didnt think of that:notsure:
I built that light hood about 6yrs ago and still had it around. I took the pictures just now so I could show you how the endcaps fit. Heres another shot of them.
 

sly

Active Member
I got my setup mostly done. I have it hooked up and working, but I need to swap out 2 of my bulbs. I'll post some pics soon. :)
 

nemo lover

Member
Just got done wiring the ballast I haven't installed the fans yet. I will have everything done by tuesday evening. Ill post pics.
 

sly

Active Member
Yea. I need to post some detailed pics of mine too.
Just been real busy lately...:sleepy:
 

nemo lover

Member
I am an idiot when it comes to electrical. The wiring was a little more complex than I thought it would be. I sent the hood over to my husbands brothers for him to make sure I have everything hooked up right. and so I don't burn my house down.
 
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