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DIY Aquarium Projects For those that are handy or looking to save some money, discuss your DIY aquarium projects here.

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Old 03-17-2008, 07:14 PM   #21
grim
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light


what type of switch did you use and how did you wire your lights

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Old 03-17-2008, 07:22 PM   #22
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

Quote:
Originally Posted by grim View Post
what type of switch did you use and how did you wire your lights
That Perfecto hood had a switch on the back, so I just used it. The wiring is very simple, since the ballasts are in the bulbs. You just connect one white wire and a black wire to each socket, then connect the white wires to the power line white wire, and the black wire to the power line black wire. The power line green wire is the ground, which goes to all metal pieces, from one to another.
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Old 03-17-2008, 07:25 PM   #23
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

now heres the kicker do you think that switch could hold four lights cause in the car world it will over load almost all switches then you got meled plastic everywere lol
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Old 03-17-2008, 08:59 PM   #24
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

I'm not at all sure what the current rating is for that switch. My guess is that it would handle 10 amps, which is about the lowest amperage a 110 volt switch is made for. That would be about 1000 watts, or 4-250 watt bulbs. Even 4-25 watt bulbs would only draw about one amp, so it is very likely that the switch will work fine.
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Old 03-22-2008, 05:35 PM   #25
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

were did you get your bulbs from cause the biggest k rating i could find was 5500k from walmart lowes and home depot

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Old 03-22-2008, 06:02 PM   #26
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

GE makes 6500K CFL bulbs, which I got at my local Ace Hardware store. I haven't seen those bulbs anywhere else. I now have 20 watt bulbs in that fixture, with the glass insert in the hood removed, so I get more light down to the water, and much less heat trapped.
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Old 03-22-2008, 10:50 PM   #27
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

thank you i will have to check out ace on monday lol
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Old 05-13-2008, 03:26 PM   #28
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

Today I started measuring light intensity from this modified fixture, using a PAR meter borrowed from Tom Barr. It is a very revealing test!

First, I wanted to resolve my doubts bout the effectiveness of the simple reflectors I used. To do this I moved the fixture off the tank and put it on a simple stand so I could measure PAR at various locations and distances from the bulbs. The set up is:


I measured PAR at 11 different locations over the tank footprint area, for 8 different distances from the bulbs. Then I removed the reflectors and measured the PAR at the same locations at 2 different distances from the bulbs. I plotted that data for the location right under the center of the fixture and that looks like:


You can see that I get about twice the light intensity with the reflectors as I do without the reflectors. To me this proves that simple, mylar covered reflectors like this can be extremely effective, especially for those of us with a limited budget for lighting.
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Old 05-13-2008, 03:44 PM   #29
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

how are the plants holding up under these lights?

I'm considering modifying my light fixture (for 10gal, holds one 14W/11k tube), but I don't want to take the step to do so if live plants won't survive.
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Old 05-13-2008, 03:44 PM   #30
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Default Re: DIY Mod for Perfecto 10 gal Light

That looks great Hoppy! Any chance you can shove some aluminum foil behind the bulb and see how that goes? I've always wondered how much worse they are as reflectors. There is also the lack of consensus on how good diffuse white reflectors are. I can't wait to see the rest of your data with the PAR meter.
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