AquaticLife Hybrid Mod

[siggy]

I temped in the power cord to test everything and realized where do I want the cord to go in at? I'm thinking inside center, so I can chase with the led cables. Well as you can see....I have my 1&1 lighting option On independent switches so now I can choose which bulbs/look I want to run.
Thinking about this now is that when I get this on Apex, Will the breakout box handel the current of a single ballast so if I run a 4/wire cable for power I can separate later and use The BOB to control, If not a relay will do.

 

[siggy]

That looks great!!!

Thanks, finally getting some time, We are having a January thaw here so I took time off to take down Christmas lights, THAT'S what I told the wife. I still have to do final assembly, main power, end caps & get it mounted.

Dave @AquaticLifeProducts no project is complete without ...Lost or Unnecessary extra parts:confused: I seem to have MISPLACED a bulb holder..... actually my very beautiful and thoughtful wife cleaned and organized my workbench:mad: for me, I thought after the Carburetor issue she would have resisted the urge to tidy up my work space.;Meh Sooo how can I purchase parts for these?

 

[nkyreef]

have the LED function as the dimming and the T5 for more support only and keep the cost down?

+1. The controlability of the many LED fixtures will suffice for me. I don't know too much about t5 lighting with respects to dimming. I suppose it could be beneficial for acclimating purposes.

 

[nkyreef]

I am turning mine off using my apex. Then I run my kessils at about 80% intensity during the day.

What were you're intensity settings before you added the t5s?

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Thanks, finally getting some time, We are having a January thaw here so I took time off to take down Christmas lights, THAT'S what I told the wife. I still have to do final assembly, main power, end caps & get it mounted.

Dave @AquaticLifeProducts no project is complete without ...Lost or Unnecessary extra parts:confused: I seem to have MISPLACED a bulb holder..... actually my very beautiful and thoughtful wife cleaned and organized my workbench:mad: for me, I thought after the Carburetor issue she would have resisted the urge to tidy up my work space.;Meh Sooo how can I purchase parts for these?

Just send me your address and I can send you the metal clip or do you mean the silicon socket?

 

[siggy]

The bulb clip/holder .....THANKS

 

[siggy]

Looking for mounting solutions and I found these. https://www.aquaticlife.com/light-f...atic-life-halo-led-pendant-mounting-arms.html
These look tough and have the cable chaseway thu the tubes. My open back stand has 1-by hardwood (3/4") footer & headers, I am wondering What the capacity for the C-clamp is? I would need 2 per tube, invert the top one and extend the tube to the bottom of my stand and use one there, that way I could do everything from inside my cabinet and wouldn't have to drill anything.

I hear these are going back into production https://www.aquaticlife.com/light-f...it-kits/aquatic-life-fixture-hanger-pair.html
Now it looks as if these screw into the back of the cabinet like the kessils, not my prefered method for a existing system but the closed back people will have to deal with it regardless, back to The Pelfrey Method.
I guess I could add Edge clamps to these, not sure, or if these are in fact the ones they were talking about. Maybe Dave will chime In :rolleyes:

 

[Ewilson]

Are these fixtures on back order or something, nobody seems to have them in stock

 

[siggy]

Are these fixtures on back order or something, nobody seems to have them in stock

I ordered mine during the Initial launch, and most had to get on a waiting list or luck out and purchese the few extras that were left. Best advice is to Google your tail off and you might get lucky.
Dave @AquaticLifeProducts any help on who might have some in stock? or when the next batch is expected?

 

[siggy]

@Ewilson I just seen this...good luck

24" and 48" available at Amazon guys.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Sorry for the delay. Most of the online retailers should start showing stock as we shipped everything we had early last week. My only question or concern is if the preorders took all the stock they received. I do not know.

Retailers like BRS, MD, Marine and Reef and Premium Aquatics all had shipment sent to them. I believe a few others may have them that we do not sell direct to like Aqua Cave.

 

[AquaticLifeProducts]

Looking for mounting solutions and I found these. https://www.aquaticlife.com/light-f...atic-life-halo-led-pendant-mounting-arms.html
These look tough and have the cable chaseway thu the tubes. My open back stand has 1-by hardwood (3/4") footer & headers, I am wondering What the capacity for the C-clamp is? I would need 2 per tube, invert the top one and extend the tube to the bottom of my stand and use one there, that way I could do everything from inside my cabinet and wouldn't have to drill anything.

I hear these are going back into production https://www.aquaticlife.com/light-f...it-kits/aquatic-life-fixture-hanger-pair.html
Now it looks as if these screw into the back of the cabinet like the kessils, not my prefered method for a existing system but the closed back people will have to deal with it regardless, back to The Pelfrey Method.
I guess I could add Edge clamps to these, not sure, or if these are in fact the ones they were talking about. Maybe Dave will chime In :rolleyes:

I used the Halo arms at one of the shows and it did work. The problem and why we have not recommended the Halo arms is that they mount to the glass and with the weight of the fixtures we are very concerned about cracking the glass of the aquarium.

We are working on the universal fixture hangers with a few modifications to the original. The reason we are bringing them back is that they mount and place the weight on the stand and not the aquarium. As you mentioned the problem would be more for aquariums already setup and getting to the back of the stand.

I will post a few photos as we get closer to launch.

 

[siggy]

I will post a few photos as we get closer to launch.

Looking forward to it

 

[Z3speed4me]

The ability to run only 1 light in the front and back is appealing; would be a nice feature to run only half. I really wonder how the tank is going to respond with 4 bulbs added at once..... I'll see on Friday I guess.

 

[siggy]

So I had some time waiting on parts to come in so I got started on my apex install and thought I would share how that is going, btw I ordered a breakout box to control the two banks of t5's .
I used expanded PVC to build the box and screwed and glued with pvc cement (messy) and would suggest a gell.

 

[siggy]

When i first started the controls section I quickly discovered that I would need a lot of room to accommodate everything including The DC power supplies and that I wanted to have access to everthing while working in the sump section so I came up with this.


I hinged the Pvc carcass to the door frame.
The white streaks is from the Pvc cement, I used the cheap stuff that had a higher solvent content thinking It would do a better job crosslinking the material.
What it gave me was The Runs, again use a gel or thick cement.



Now when I work in the sump area I will be able to access everything without getting up, opening & closing doors then kneeling over and over again.



The back side I put a couple of shelves and cross retainers to hold the power adaptors, cables ect and left some room up top for my dos pump.
On the face of the side panel I am going to mount my return, skimmer and wave pump controllers....Hopefully, I do have about 4" clearance.

 

[siggy]

Ok back to the lighting program! I am goining to use my existing kessil Ap mounts, and I am looking at 1" stainless tubing online for $20 per 4' sections but I need couplings with a true 1" capacity,
I have 1" EMT couplings but they are actually 1 3/16" and Im worried it would be too sloppy to trust. Now the kessil extension kits are the correct way to go with this but would require at least 2 kits to hit the bottom
cross brace of my stand maybee three, I need the actual dimensions, the website throws out 57" Is that the overall with the existing mout or kit dimensions? Still deciding .

This is what I am trying to accomplish, using my existing ap clamp , I will invert to grab the top cross brace then use another for the bottom cross brace, in doing this I won't have to move or drill into the stand,
and be able to do all the work from inside the cabinet. The hard part is to just buy the pole mount & clamp, I did make up something, but It would be nice to have the real thing.

Not as nice as @coseal 's work...but it should work .

 

[coseal]

Not as nice as @coseal 's work...but it should work

you kiddin me? that looks great! only aluminum welding you'll see me doin is JB weldin... lol

on the pvc glue front.. try adding some shavings from the sintra to thicken it up a little. control board looks awesome! love the hinge..

 

[siggy]

JB weldin... lol

FUNNY , ya I wish I could Tig or Heli arc we have a dedicated welder at the shop and the hard part is waking him

 

[Crabs McJones]

This is pretty nifty! Following along :)