Jacob’s Blog

Lighting Installed

It seemed like the day would never get here… but finally I have my lights running. Although I won’t use them until my air exchange system is completely running I do have pictures to prove their existence to all of my non-believer buddies! I would have liked to have these up and running about 4 months ago but a few design changes and minor set backs held me up.

First, The Design Changes

I had originally intended to have a canopy that encapsulated the entire top of the tank. The canopy would be air tight to facilitate my air exchange system and would be raised and lowered via a motor and pulley system due to it’s size. I didn’t really want to contend with pulleys and cables due to aesthetic issues. My next design iteration was based around linear actuators and a complex cam system that would have cost too much for my taste and had potential to be a problem if it ever failed. After sitting on my designs I finally decided that I did not want a canopy at all! The main reason for this being that I would only have about 22″ from the top of the tank to the bottom of the canopy when raised to the height of my office ceiling.

Boxes of Light

After deciding I no longer wanted a, somewhat traditional, canopy I began thinking of ways to incorporate the air exchange system with a canopy-less design. After kicking around a few design iterations I settled on what I’m now calling Boxes of Light (BOL’s). The main idea is that each reflector has a box around it, the box is made to fit to the tank with an air tight connection and two of the three boxes are tied into the air exchange when in place. To do this I decided to make a”top sheet” to cover the tank, a thin canopy if you will. The boxes have a snug fit into the topsheet and make a seal via weather stripping. Below are a couple of pictures of one of my BOL’s.

Inside of BOL with Lumenarc III Reflector and 175w Iwasaki 15k Bulb

Outside of BOL with Electrical Quick Disconnect and Air Exchange Opening

The BOL’s are built from 1x pine select boards (which are fairly light, strong, and can be found very straight and true from Lowes given enough time sorting through them) and 3/8″ S1S plywood. The outside is a black suede laminate material. I felt it added a nice touch and matched with the odds and ends in my office. The inside surfaces are painted with multiple coats of gripper/primer/sealer. The only component missing at this point are my flush mount hand holds which have not arrived yet.

Those familiar with the Lumenarc III reflector (by Lumenarc Lighting)  might be curious how I was able to fit it so tightly inside the BOL without the light socket and bracket interfering. In order to do this I designed a very simple replacement bracket. An image of the bracket is below. A local fabrication shop that I do business with fabricated 3 of the brackets for me, they are entirely stainless steel and I expect them to hold up well.

Screen Capture from Autodesk Inventor

This bracket is completely flush with the outside of the reflector. It doesn’t allow for any lateral adjustment of the socket, however I don’t see the need for this anyway. Although not completely obvious in the first picture above the bulb is essentially centered in the reflector. Everything is held in place with new stainless hardware and nylock nuts to prevent any loose nuts or bolts from getting into the aquarium.

The electrical cables are an IEC 320 type and can be sourced from various cable suppliers for much better prices than a large online aquarium retailer sells them for (and they sell only the receptacle, no cable included). I found mine at Cables to Go and McMaster-Carr.

Minor Setback

With everything assembled I was anxious to”see the light”! However that was short lived, literally. After firing up the first of 3 bulbs it was a beautiful sight… for about 30 seconds before my GFCI tripped! All 3 ballasts and bulbs did this same thing! I immediately started troubleshooting which led to Google searching and some discussion with Icecap, all of which left me with one definite answer - sometimes, under certain circumstances, electronic metal halide ballasts will fool certain GFCI outlets into thinking there is a short and tripping… not very definitive. I was feeling bummed out as I did not want to remove my GFCI. I had one last thought, the GFCI in my bathroom was newer and a different type. I ran an extension cord down the hallway to the bathroom receptacle. I plugged in a ballast and waited, and waited, and waited some more but if never tripped! I tried all bulbs and ballasts and they worked just fine on that receptacle. Today I installed the same type of receptacle near the tank. Here is a comparison of the two, just appearance, I don’t know what difference there is on the inside and at this point ignorance is bliss!

The “Bad” GFCI

The “Good” GFCI

Finally Installed

So I have the phase I installation of the lights just about wrapped up. The good news is that I can soon transfer my corals over from the Quarantine Tank into the Display Tank. Below are some shots of the tank with lighting. The bulbs on the ends are Iwasaki 175w 15k, the center bulb is an Aquamaxx 175w 14k. It’s much more blue in appearance than the others but I have no idea what kind of PPFD to expect from it. Hopefully Sanjay will test it soon, someone send him a bulb and a case of wine! :)

So, there it is - the proof! I just need to build the tie-in’s for the air exchange system and mount them to the top sheet. Once that is done air will circulate across the top of the tank constantly bringing in nice cool, dry air from under the house and venting out the hot humid air. If the planets align just right, that should be my next update.

Take care everyone, and thanks for reading.