luminace reflectors - finally finished

[hobogato]

no, it isnt a typo, its my cheezy name for a reflector i made for my tank.

i have wanted to put luminarc or luminarc minis on my tank, but there wasnt enough space. after studying a luminarc mini, i came up with this modified reflector that is 2 inches narrower, but the normal 14.5 inches long - it just so happens that will fit perfectly over my tank. one down and two more to assemble, then i will replace one spider reflector with one of these and take a quick pic to compare its output to the other spider reflectors in the tank.

i am making them out of the solar tube material that they had for sale at lowe's. it comes out to about $60 to make two.

ill keep ya posted

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/luminace.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/luminace2.jpg

[BIGBIRD123]

Ace,
You should have warned us to put our shades on! 8) :shades Pretty BAD *****. You THA man!

Steve

[matt]

You know, there are some people in this world that will make anything. I think Ace is one of them....nice job! I wonder if it will work, and I bet you do too! :D (Of course it will work, jk)

BTW, they do make lumenarc minis, but maybe you checked into that and they're still too big. This is more fun anyway.

[hobogato]

yeah, the mini is 14.5 X 14.5, and i could only fit 12 inch wide. this is basically the mini with 2.5 inches cut out of the middle. it is 14.5 X 12.

[ReefOne]

i'm making one right now!!! Lowes claimed they didnt have it so I had to get some tube from HD that is 95% Reflectivity but cost 30 bucks. Where in lowes is it located? Looking sweet!

[akm]

That's pretty awesome Ace, definantly nice work. The only thing is since it can't really reflect a perfect image like a lumenarc, will the light still be reflected downward just not in neat patterns? Because it looks like it's scattering a lot of the light so I wonder how much will be reflected straight down?

I just noticed is the wavyness in the metal cause by the rivets?

[hobogato]

not sure aaron, we'll see how it works soon.

ram, it was on aisle 47 in my lowes, near the windows and skylights.

[hobogato]

here is a pic with all lights off except two 250 watt mh. both are the same ballast and bulb, the one on the left is the old spider reflector, and the one on the right is the new reflector. i think the difference is even more noticable in person :)

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/lightcomparison.jpg

[klondike4001]

How much for one of those????

[hobogato]

if you buy it from a retailer - $110 + shipping. it is too much work for me to make them and sell them for less.

[ou812pezz]

What a bright idea.:shades Do you plan on making two more?

[brewercm]

Just got back from his house and those are really sweet. And yes they definately dispurse the light down and around and hardly out of the tank at all. Great work Ace, as usual.

[hobogato]

What a bright idea.:shades Do you plan on making two more?

i made three - one for each SE fixture in my tank, i just posted the pic with only one installed to show a comparison.

[purplesprite]

maan, thats cool,good job man.from the picture it looks like you get about half a foot more light spread and way more intensity.post a final pic when your done.

[dark8nge1]

Hey Ace, how many bulbs do you have running over your tank right now? Your tank is 6 ft right?

[hobogato]

8 ft. i have three SE 250's and two DE 250's. i just finished replacing the reflectors in the DE pendants with that same solar tube material, and as soon as my new reeflux 12k bulbs get here, i will post a before and after shot here.

[ou812pezz]

Do you plan on listing those left over spider reflectors?

[hobogato]

nope, i reused the metal for something else

[hobogato]

ok, so i finally finished this lighting rework project. here's a recap - i made luminark type reflectors for my 3 single end 250 watt mh lights, i made replacement reflectors (didnt change style) for my DE 250 watt pendants, and i made brackets so my PC actinics hang just above the water level but can easily be hoisted for access to the tank.

here are a few pics.

tank with all lights on before i started - 8 @ 65 watt PC true actinic, 2 @ 65 watt PC 50/50, 3 @ 250 watt SE CV 14k with spider reflectors and 2 @ 250 watt DE CV Reeflux 10k standard pendants
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/2006_062.jpg

tank with all lights on now - 8 @ 65 watt PC true actinic, no PC 50/50, 3 @ 250 watt SE CV with new reflectors and 2 @ 250 watt DE CV Reeflux 12k (new bulbs) with new reflectors in pendants - it doesnt really look this blue in person.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/newtanklights.jpg

pendant with old reflector
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/oldDE.jpg

pendant with new reflector
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/newDE.jpg

anyone want these? you can have em just pm me, they are the old DE reflectors - nothing wrong with them (well, one of them has been straightened out and rebent, so it isnt perfect)
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/freebies.jpg

[Marlin]

WOW!!! Dramatic difference with the new lighting scheme. SWEEEEET.

[purplesprite]

looks great Ace, thanks for posting pics.New lamps really make a big difference.Its gonna be cool to see how the corals color up with that different spectrum.