FRANKENLIGHT: Project GHETTO.

[SeymourDuncan]

In an emergency light fiasco I was left to the basement to figure out a battle plan. Thursday I am trading my RO for a new light since I am moving at the end of the month and the house comes with a unit.

In all my searching I tried rigging a shelf rack, wood scraps, and even another aquarium stand...only to be missing just one piece to make it work when i found this monster of a fixture in my basement.

4x2ft (ONLY) w/4xt8s and it was on fire at one point. I took it all the way apart and wiped off the grime. Now im left with a HUGE 6inch deep metal canopy for a 6ft by 18" tank...ok, move the corals to the middle for a few days and ill be fine... not so bad, so i got to work.

The bulbs from my fixture were fine, I had some ectra hagen ballasts lying around so I attached them, and added a single t8 actinic ballast as well. In the frankenlight is a gfci with 3 plugs, i have the 2 t5 ballasts and a pc fan connected, and that is ran to a timer. The t8 actinic was not ran to a timer due to space on the powerstrip, so I manually turn it off and on, its only 40w, so It doesnt make a huge difference on anything but aesthetics.

The entire thing is ziptied together and/or wedged. i used 4 screws in it and that is it. SCARY?? Kind of. It only has to last a day or 3. It is now suspended by 4x4s over the display, turning a 1500 dollar aquarium into a work of, i guess art? Take it as the poor and the rich living in harmony if you want, I take it as the worst light fixture I have ever seen. It makes me cringe and wince everytime the dog walks near it. I would love to see other Ghetto Fabulous lights if you got em! This just cracks me up, and I hope it makes you laugh as well.

The rust and the zip tie

The only good part about it, the gfci

isnt this a neat arrangement?

I spoke too soon, looks like spaghetti

"Oh my god Hunny, Are you really going to plug that in?" Said the most wonderful Girlfriend in the world.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

NOW!!! the actual plan. I am taking this apart in a few days and assembling it with all the lights on the front, the electronics in the back, then I am hanging a refugium light from it and a 6 inch fan pointed at my BEHIND THE TANK sump. I have a floor tank, so its like a 6ft fireplace full of corals. Pretty sweet, but the sump has to set behind it until I move and do the basement up. I point a fan at my mangroves, it makes them stronger (like the need it) but also blows the leaves away from the sump when they fall, then my cat plays with them and I take it and throw it away. MANGROVE LEAF DROP CAT ALARMS, now available at your local animal shelter with micro chip and spay/neuter.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

It will be bolted together, painted, and hung from an elegant chain to the ceiling on a pulley, so it will match the new house.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I also plan on adding an LED strip in the middle. I have started thinking of ways to make this as modular as possible, so that one day it will be all led., which wont be hard, zip ties make for easy replacement for sure, but I may end up doing something else.

 

[steamer51]

I started with normal output lighting and still have it on hand to put on my tank if something goes wrong. Cheap and not good enough for SPS but I believe would keep things going short term until better lighting could be replaced. Home Depot etc. sells 4 foot shop lights (two bulb) for $10 that use either T8 (32 watt) or T12 (40 watt) tubes. Two of these fixtures fit nicely over a 55 gallon and three can be used over an 18" tank like a 75. If I had a 6 foot tank I think they could be staggered, two feet not covered on the right side and two feet not covered on the left side so the ends would be a little covered instead of dark with just the center four feet lit. Reef type bulbs (10,000K etc.) cost as much as T5 bulbs do but "Daylight" 6500K (which I believe are good for corals) are available at HD etc. for $3 each for T12 or T8.

Bottom line is $16 will get you 80 watts (64 watts if T8 but they are supposed to be brighter than the T12) over a four foot area and multiple fixtures will fit depending on how wide the tank is and there are no external ballasts to mount somewhere. It is not as powerful as the same wattage of MH or T5 with individual reflectors but I think it would help.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

^^^why would i wanna spend money? I have 4x54 t5s, and a 40watt t8 so thats 256 watts, and it illuminates the whole tank minus the upper r and l corners, where its empty water....great place to hide my powerheads. Plus it gives the fish a sense of depth i thing since it gets dark, but thats just how i did it.


Home depot is 20miles from my house..so that adds to the cost.

Lol, i guess you missed the point of the thread, but thats ok...it looks like a cry for help, but its more of an emergency practicle joke spawned from a faulty canopy light. I did the sahke it like homer test b4 putting it up, now problems there.

I also prefer t5s, and have 4 of the bulbs u speak of....lighting my kitchen. They are nice and bright, but i like the options and sleekness of t5s. I can cram alot more into a confined space @ higher wattages. I even thought of doing 2ft bulbs the other direction instead, but didnt have enough ballasts on hand.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I missed your point too....duh, great idea. I do need a backup light lol...frankenlight is killer scary looking

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I took the light apart tonight when the timer went off to reposition the bulbs, this time i took my time. After i get the fixture tomorrow, i am going to paint it, right now it looks like a giant donut box...definately attracts cops. Anyhow, pics will be posted when i wake up of the revamped frankenlight. Hopefully i get an led strip too throw on some moonlighting...that would be great. The new structure is much more sturdy, i used screws, and the zipties were reserved for holding wiring in place.

The bulb placement was from front to back...2x54w actinic t5 (stock deep blue bulbs from another fixture), 10000k&18000k 54 watt t5, 40w purple actinic. I also hung the 75wfish fuge light and the fan off the back of the fixture, as it hangs over 6 inches. I placed the electronics on the overhang rather than stupidly in the middle too. I wasnt in such a rush and of course that made it turn out much nicer.

Next step is finding a good color to spraypaint it. I might do green with black stitches and throw some bolts on the sides of it...but its in the classier part of the house...marble walls (painted not actual marble..not ballin that well)...so i dont want to monster out that room

 

[SeymourDuncan]

Ok, So now I have a replacement light. 4x65w pc lights. 2x10000k and 2x50/50 420/460 actinics. WHAT A DIFFERENCE!? MY white sand is now Robins Egg Green?!?!? the corals pop nicely though...i guess time will tell. I Traded an undersink RO unit, wasn't a bad deal at all. I think its like an Orbit or something, either way, I have so many aquarium to light I am not trying to take out a loan lol, so PC it is today.


This gave me the opportunity to reassemble the Frankenlight.

I took it all the way apart and this time actually screwed in the frame for the reflectors and ballasts.
I did use zipties to secure the cables and ballasts. I built it during blue time on the frag tank, so the pics arent outstanding lol. But neither is the build.
___ ____
from the side, the reflectors are positioned like this from front to back / although not such a sharp angle on the front reflector. It illuminated the tank perfectly!!!

I have all the lights plugged into one gfci since the timer is being used on the new light, but I plan on getting a timer to put in the light so that i can run one long cord to the ceiling with a chain where it will be plugged in, this will now light my 75gallon tank when I move.

I still plan on painting it and I am looking around for a good cover. Trying to decide if I want to use actual glass or not. I will silicone it into the light so that water will never make its way into it...re sealing it when i buy new bulbs is cheaper than dealing with salt creep destruction. A ghetto light will soon be a sleek addition to my new fish room

 

[SeymourDuncan]

My whole living room is smurf blue from the aquariums. I love it.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

I also skipped the cooling fan for now, I just used a clip on pointed at the bulbs, but since it was open, it wasnt very hot. I put a roll of E tape on the light and it didnt melt the glue after an hour, so thats good. I also didnt smell fire, so thats a plus.