Cheap lighting - ODNO

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Glad to hear that your plants liked the new bulbs! I agree with you, I love the look of fish and plants under those bulbs. It is absolutely unbeatable. Under traditional "daylight" bulbs, everything is just too blue and washed out. It's amazing because I can actually see it when a fish swims from under the GE P&A bulbs to an area illuminated by my 5500K PC bulbs. It's like their color just disappears and they become pale and sickly.

I don't know about those ReefSun bulbs, though. Never tried them. Anything that overpriced couldn't possibly be worth it, IMHO.

[Here4TheBeer]

How long can we expect these bulbs to last when overdriving them 4x?

Or rather, how often should I be replacing them?

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Overdriving them 4x, they should provide useable output for around 12-18 months, depending on temperatures (uncooled bulbs might not last the 12 months).

[ridns]

Ok, just for kicks I put the 5000k T8 bulbs in for 1 day. The plants still pearl, but not as much. I switched them back. My tank is now balanced and pearling like I never thought possible! 2 48" T12 P&A Bulbs ODNO 4X, PH6.8, KH7, CO2 injected, Plantex & Flourish 3 times a week, and occasional Fleet ennema. I have to use RO water due to horrible water out of the tap. The plants and fish are lovin it!!!
:hehe:

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Congrats, man. When you have a good, stable system like that, try not to change parameters much! Things are good =)

[chode]

Has anyone Over-Driven the the 17watt bulbs in an Eclipse 3 hood? Will this provide enough watts for a 37 gallon tank? I am temporairly using this tank until I set up my 110.

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Not that I know of. If you put two in series, it is doable, but I don't believe you can OD a single bulb that small.

[chode]

The hood has 2 24'' bulbs? Are these bulbs to small to overdrive?

[GulfCoastAquarian]

I didn't know it had two bulbs. Hmmm, yes you could definitely overdrive those! Wire them up in series and put all four outputs to one side and you should have right near 5000-6000 lumens (just like a single four foot 32w bulb with 4x ODNO).

[jart]

i plan to mount my ballasts remotely (in the stand under the tank). i was wondering what gauge wire people were using between the ballast and the lights. i would think that it would be most reasonable to use the same gauge as what actually comes with the ballasts (not sure at the moment what gauge that is). so, the questions are:

1) does the fact that the wires will be about 4 feet long necessitate using a lower gauge (thicker) wire?

2) does (in your opinion) the fact that i'm using the 4x odno method mean that i should be using a lower gauge wire?

thanks in advance.

[GulfCoastAquarian]

If you look at most electronic ballasts, they ask that their full current capacity pass through only one (or two) yellow "common" wires so doubling up is no problem. Most ballasts come with a fairly small 18g or even 20g wire. 16g wire is fairly cheap and might make a safe bet to use. I've never run ODNO remotely with four foot leads so let us know how it turns out. I can't imagine why four feet of 16g wire would affect the oscillator by a significant amount.

[jart]

hmmm... i thought it likely most people WOULD be running the ballasts in a remote location. you must have them in the hood then. so, i take it you don't have a problem with the heat the ballasts give off?

[GulfCoastAquarian]

I've mounted them in the hood and yes they do produce some heat, but not as much as the bulbs. I usually mount them on the back of the canopy, though. So they are somewhat remotely mounted, but with only 1-2 foot leads at the most.

[PikeLee]

Hey guys,

I’m hoping someone can clear some of this up for me. I have a 90g tank with an AGA dual light strip (2 4foot tubes). I’m going to setup a low to moderate light setup. I don’t want to have to use CO2. Attempting for a low-tech setup.

I’m really really bad with Electrics. :roll: So please correct me if I’m wrong with any of the following.

1. I would be able to use the T8 Bulbs with the T12 endcaps that are provided with the AGA dual light strip, correct?

2. Should I worry or upgrade the endcaps that are on the AGA Dual Light strip to newer ones if I were to OD them?

3. I only want to have about 160-170 Watts for this tank. I was told that if I had anymore than that, even though it’s a 2 feet deep tank, that I would accumulate algae and require CO2. That being said, and I since I want to stay away from CO2, Should I OD each bulb with it’s own ballast (4x)? Or should I just use 1 4F32T8 ballast to overdrive both of the bulbs(2x)? (How would the wiring for this?) :?:

4. In replacing the AGA ballast with the new one. All I would have to do is disconnect the old ballast, and then attach the new one by splicing the wires together and using a twist nut, correct? Is there a particular twist nut I should get?

5. Last one. :lol: Has anyone used the OD setup with the F32T8 ballast with T12 bulbs yet? Just wondering on what their outcome was.

Apologies for all the questions, but even though many people have done this setup. I’m quite nervous doing it myself. Especially with the way I am with Electricity. :shock:

Many thanks in advance.

[kor4ever]

I'll try to reply to as many questions as I can.

1. Not familiar with the AGA light strip. But T12 bulbs are 1.5inch in diameter and T8 bulbs are 1inch in diameter, so unless the endcaps can account for that, don't think it will work out.

2. Most people like using waterproof endcaps so they don't corrode with water evaporation. But most endcaps should be fine ODing.

3. 4x overdriving is not efficient, you really should connect two bulbs in series and overdrive 2x. Search through this thread, Sam's talk about the series wiring already.

4. Kind of correct, the old ballast is probably at 1x NO. So you would need to look at Sam's wiring for 2x or more ODing, depending on what you want to do.

5. I think people have, but most people typically use T8 bulbs because they are much more efficient than T12 bulbs. Check out the Lumens and PAR thread, it talks about a Philips T8 bulb that is really good for plants.

Felix