DIY lighting setup for MH/VHO

solandri

solandri

New Member
I'm looking to make myself a MH/VHO light setup for a 180 I'm setting up in a couple weeks. It's not going to be a reef but I want to promote all the growth I can and I might even add some easy to care for corals down the line. The full hood my LFS has is $1100 .. That's a bit too much for my liking so I've been looking into how to do this. Does this sound good: Dual PFO 400 watt MH balast and a IceCap 430 balast. So I'd have two 400 watt MH bulbs and two VHO strip lights. Is this enough? And what kind of VHO lighting do you guys think I should go with?
Also, does anyone know of some good sites or plans I can refer to as far as a DIY hood with reflectors goes?
Thanks
-Mike
westonm@sas.upenn.edu
 
lordofthereef

lordofthereef

Member
sounds good to me.
i would use actinics for vho.
just do a search for diy aquarim hoods. i'm sure you'll get alot of sites. good luck.
 
larrylwill

larrylwill

New Member
I have a 55, I built a hood out of some Walnut wood I had, I added 1-175w MV bulb and 1-250W MH as well as 2-40W Atinic. This about 7 years ago. You can buy 250W MH standard ballast for under $50, usually about $40. The bulbs are your choice for color spectrum, depending on how much you want to spend. I live with the off the shelf Lowes for $15 and use the suplement Atinics to get the spectrum up. I also bought an outdoor MV light and stripped the transformer and socket. I use a coated MV bulb. Dont laugh the MV is near the same spectrum of the MH only lower in intensity. My shrooms and polops grow better under it. I have NO algie problems and plenty of purple coraline. I bought a $7 Walmart shop light 40W and stripped the end caps and transformer. I turn the atinics on 1 hour befor the MV and MH and leave them on 1 hour after the go off. I use Walmart timers $5. The fans cost $8 and are only 35dba noise I have less than $150 in the whole thing. Not including the wood. There are openings at each end in the top and the fans suck out, so that the air flow is in and over the transformers and the bulbs then out. This pulls in cool air and blows out hot air. The top (where the fans are) is only 1/4" wood and is only slightly warm to the touch dispite the bulbs are only 1-2" from touching it. Been using it since about 1995. There are many ways to light an aquarium and they all dont have to cost $500 and up.
Heres some pictures.
 
solandri

solandri

New Member
Broomer, thanks for the link. That man has an outstanding setup. When it comes time to build my hood I think I'll be using those plans.
Larrylwill, look like I can get away with doing this much cheaper than I had thought. Can you really use MH bulbs for $15 from lowes?? Do they produce the right kind of lighting? And where can I find cheap ballasts?
-Mike
westonm@sas.upenn.edu
 
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