Got my new lights going finally. HID's. Iphone pix

[tunedis95]

Well ive been playing with these automotive HID kits. I finally got 3 55 watt 12,000k hid kits running off of one power supply. I'm not to happy running 12k, but its alright. These lights make the water look really nice due to the ripples. I will eventually have my 5500k and some 20,000k bulbs going and wired up to switches to change from clear white to deep blue. These lights gotta be up there with them 150WATT metal halide lights. What ya think so far?

pictures dont do justice.





the view from the sofa

[fshfrk]

I like them. . I wonder what they would look like with some darker rocks?

[electricblue]

they're pretty strong light but i do have an extra ballast and bulb so i'm wondering how you got them to work of a power plug

[tunedis95]

I like them. . I wonder what they would look like with some darker rocks?

thanx man!!!. I guess nobody else cares for my little project...ha ha... Ditto on the darker rocks. I just really like the Holey Rock because of all the holes...lol....i've been wondering if i can paint my rock? i know spray paint is ok but i dont know if a lot of spray paint would hurt the fish. Other than that i'm not interested in any other rock due to the fact of less hiding spots. I donno....Any ideas???

they're pretty strong light but i do have an extra ballast and bulb so i'm wondering how you got them to work of a power plug

Well i did a lot of reserch and compared information because the last thing i wanted to do is fry equipment or damage anything. But all in a nut shell...

You obtain a computer power supply. snip all the wires except for a few yellow, black wires and one green wire. Connect one of the yellow wires to a switch and then to the green wire. Then connect a couple yellow wires to the positive wire from the HID ballast. After taking care of the yellow and green wires, connect a couple black wires from the computer supply to the negative coming from the HID ballast. Finish connecting the ballast to the bulb( BE SURE THE BULB IS CLEAN FROM FINGER PRINTS AND ANYTHING ELSE). Plug in the computer power supply to your wall outlet, and lastly flip the switch a viola. Bulbs take a few second to get up to temperature and then your tank is blinging. TO ADD. I'm going to be putting a few 120mm fans in the canopy to move some of the heat out, which will also run off the power supply.

A little 411 on HID Lighting. Its the same principal as metal halide lights but so much cheaper for me. A 150 watt MH light produces a little over 14,000 lumens(candleight). A 35 Watt HID produces around 3,000 lumens and a 55 Watt produces 5,000 lumens. So my three HID's produce the same amount of Lumens as your 150 watt MH light which is about what my HID's draw as well. But here i can light up the WHOLE tank. And i can get any color MH lights come in.

[fshfrk]

Might be cool to paint your holey rocks but I could not bring my self to do it on my favorine rocks. May be You could try krylon paint. I've used it in plenty of fish tanks with no problems. A dark gray or rust color? Try it first on some of your less than favorite rocks.

Watch the fish for problems with the lights. Their eyes and a possible burns on top. I don't know just saying. I know one guy who's assasin snails crawl out of his tank I think because of MH light. Anothers fish had burns on top but he may not have had a lens on his MH lights. Good luck.

[tunedis95]

I might try this painting of rocks. Atleast one piece for a couple months and see what it look like with a little time working on it. I'm sure it would look a lot better if it holds up.

Think I should put some spf50 sunblock n the water?? Ha ha. They should be good. It's 15,000 lumens spread out over 8x2 feet of tank. Hmmmm

[supadave]

I like it ......Tunedis95 . How much did everything cost ?

[tunedis95]

I already had power supplies, already had a box full of HID kits. I did order the 12,000k bulbs. Which were 40 bucks for two sets. Is u were to buy everything new it would cost around 60 bucks for a single hid kit(2 bulbs) and power supply

[supadave]

I already had power supplies, already had a box full of HID kits. I did order the 12,000k bulbs. Which were 40 bucks for two sets. Is u were to buy everything new it would cost around 60 bucks for a single hid kit(2 bulbs) and power supply

So ....the bulbs come two to a set ? Are you using three bulbs or four ? That much light for $60.00 bucks is awesome .:emt_thumbs:

[tunedis95]

One kit comes with two ballast and two bulbs. Of u have ballast already you cam order just bulbs. The light I have on all my vehicles are from ddmtuning. I'm using 3 bulbs right now because the top of the tank is split in three.

[TaTeR ToT]

Love it dude, looks sick!
Aquatic life lighting just recently came out with a t5 fixture with an hid In the center, nasty bright but also super super hot, it melted Tue brave on the display tank in under an hour, how's the heat from these lights.

I got a set of vvme hids 12k bulbs, I have been tempted to try them, but it gets so hot I'm afraid I'd need a chilled.

[tunedis95]

That is pretty much my set up, i have 48 inch flourescent fixture that can run with the HIDsThe ballast and lights do get hot. I've had the lights going for over a month, and over three months on my 30 gallon tank. I have not hs any problems, or smells. For a reflector I'm using a sheet of metal that is used for roofs and I just bent it to where it reflects light in different angles. And I can easily switch out bulbs too. I do plan on adding fans here in the next dew days, have some 120mm,and 180 mm that I'll use for that. Keep the comments coming. Good ponts and advise given

[TaTeR ToT]

Ok cool, I'm going to have to find a way to mount the vvme's, appreciate it bro.

[tunedis95]

One weird thing though. I could not figure out y this is. But for the single power supply to power all three of my lights I found out by accident that when I stack another power supply on top(not connected to anything) and connect the green wire from the occupied pwr supply to a single yellow wire from the spare power supply it turns on all three hid's. Even four of them. Kind of odd but it works for now. If ya have any advise for that let me know???