Marine Depot Purchase

[pacificbetta]

Dear all

I am in the midst of placing an order with Marine Depot http://www.marinedepot.com

If things go well, I will be confirming my order next Monday, Singapore date, and the package should take about 2 weeks to deliver. If there is anyone who wants to hitch a ride on the incoming order, please contact me direct @ 98582018. Of course you must pay for the items, your part of the freight and any applicable taxes yourself. And also be prepared to furnish a contact number for verification, as I have no intention to be stuck with items that I do not want.

And NO LIVESTOCKS.

Rgds

Edwin Lam

[Tanzy]

Their refractometer looks to be a good buy, but bulbs are so so. What are you getting from them?

[pacificbetta]

A 2ft light hood. Too lazy to build one myself:)

[Tanzy]

That's the spirit...

[clowntrigger]

Pacificbetta, their service is good, just in case you have not order from them before. I have order twice from them, but all the while have the goods ship to a US address. How much did they charge you for the shipping of the light hood?

[pacificbetta]

US$140 shipping not incl of taxes

[Achilles Tang]

Lighthood???

Can't you find this in SG?

Or izzit some super duper whizz-up chio unit like Tanzy is selling off?

[pacificbetta]

SG got a 2ft hood with MH and 55W PCs built in together and comes with a good reflector? If so, please direct, should be able to save a little $$$

EL

[Achilles Tang]

Show me a pix... I thought I saw an Azoo unit like that!

[spade]

Juz tag along ....

would like to know whether can get this in S'pore ??? cost US$103.95 (excluding delivery+tax) from MarineDepot

[pacificbetta]

http://www.marinedepot.com/a_lt_mh_pfo_fx.asp?CartId=

Picture show a PFO reflector equipped item, looks similar to tanzy's 4 ft reflector. I am working to have that changed to a spider reflector, still awaiting marine depot's reply on that.

EL

[Achilles Tang]

WoW!

For a 2 ft, that unit will give you instant steamboat dinner!

It comes with a small fan right?

Did they give an indication of its weight? It's just one mogul bulb included?

Don't forget they use a different AC from us... or you need a transformer!

[pacificbetta]

Price for 220V unit, including 2 icecap fan, one 250W iwasaki, two 55W PCs cost around USD700 excl S/h & taxes.

For the hood above actually one 4" fan will be enough, I installed 2 for other reasons.

SPADE: you need to add about US$50 for marine depot to use a 220V ballast. Best if you are interested, to contact them direct and thinker your system yourself.

AT: Can I take your reaction of "WOW" as "no, I have not seen them around locally"????

Ed Lam

[Achilles Tang]

Wow as in the heat produced in such a unit for a small tank.

Give you a tip: Spiderlights cost a lot more.

Get the PFO Optimum reflector that's practically the same thing, half the price.

Actually, if you have the time to DIY... it will be much cheaper to do it locally.

[pacificbetta]

Mine is a 5.5ft tank. I am trying to refocus some of my lights to a small area of the tank for sps corals when and if reefworld bring them in eventually (damn, I have been waiting for months literally for that to happen). It is actually a very moderate amount of light considering the fact that some in the "more light = better" school of thoughts actually told me to use a 400W MH.

I intend to mount the lamp perpendicular to the front of the tank. PFO light reflectors are intended for use parallel to the tank and my rock structure will not allow optimal usage of the lights with a PFO reflector.

A spider reflector on the other hand give me a better chance for success and at the same time control my power budget a little.

EL

[pacificbetta]

Any shops that DIY for customers? I really am too busy to spend the effort. Been working 12-14 hours every day for the last few months, anytime I can spare, I will prefer to appreciate my tank more than handle DIY projects.

EL

[Achilles Tang]

Yeah... I am also waiting to accumulate enough acros to warrant a 180% increase in my MH wattage.

Actually I am under some sort of pressure from other members (u know who you are!) who want me to join their league of high wattage MHs! Wife will kill me when the electric bill comes!

Soon soon... if someone is willing to take over my AB Aquasunlight pendant for at least $1600! Comes with 2 x 150watt HID, 2 x FL actinics, 1 x moonlight, 1 x digital timer. It's a new unit, barely 2 mths old.

[Tanzy]

PacBetta,

Oh yes! 400W is da way!

When you decide to upgrade, just switch out and sell the 250W ballast, screw on a new 400W bulb and you are on your way.

BTW, what ballast are you using? PFO? Blueline? Icecap?

[robe]

Pacbetta,

Whoa, before you commit yourself to buying stateside lighting hood. Take note that US bulbs uses E39 base you cannot replace your bulb later on with one being sold in Singapore as they have an E40 base.

The 98% efficency reflector they use is the same one you can buy locally having a mirror finish aluminum reflector for $15 for a four foot length.

For that amount of dollars almost USD850 a lot of shops will be willing to custom make for you the lighting hood of your dreams. they can make 2 of that for you but of course you have to settle for normal magnetic ballast. Anyway the savings in electricity for a 250w MH lamps with E-ballast and magnetic ballast is not much. Furthermore Iwasaki lamps are designed to work at its best with ordinary mercury vapor lamp ballast.

If you are willing to spend go with the 400w AB or 20K Radium MH instead you wont need the PL lamps anymore. The PL lamps won't be noticeable anyway when your MH lamps is running. The only way to balance the greenish tind of 6500K Iwasakis is to have at least 160w VHO or a 250w 20KK MH lamp.

[Tanzy]

Robe,

Yes, all the MH bulbs in US are E39, but the socket in the PFO pendant is a E40. I have no problems using E39 bulbs in a E40 Mogul socket.

[Achilles Tang]

Robe, I doubt if the reflector you mentioned is as multi-faceted as the ones you see at our hardware shops... although mirror finish, they are at most bend at two angles only.

Unless you have the exact dimensions for a Spiderlight reflector, then maybe you can rebend/bend extra facets into your own DIY Spiderlight.... maybe you can ask Alvy for more details...

Alvy... over to you...

[pacificbetta]

To lump all my replies as follows:

Ballast specs:

a. IceCap 250W Electronic Ballast

b. PFO EL1-2 Electronic Ballast for PCs

Anyone has a good shop where I can talk to them to custom make a hood for me? I need a name, and a address or telephone number. Need a aluminium body and built-in fans for the hood.

The PCs are there to make the light appear less yellow, and also to spread the lights out a little.

Last, I need to take care of some of my brains (corals that is, not the spongy stuff residing in my head), a 400W MH will restrict the placement of my brains. I have already have a bright orange/red prata that turned green on overexposure to PCs!!! So, no 400W MH for me, at least not with my current tank. Sorry I have to break some hearts, but unless someone can convince me with some hardcore statistics, I intend to stick with a 250W. PS: I hate overdesigning things, being a design engineer by profession, against my professional enthics

Thanks for all the help

Edwin Lam

[robe]

Hi tanzy,

If it is E40 then its okay as you can buy from Eye lighting the MH bulbs but I would not recommend E39 bulbs into E40 bases as the bulb can loosen with the constant expansion and contraction of the socket as in some cases can cause overheating due to poor contact, shorten the lifespan of the bulb or not burning to its full intensity. The current running through the bulbs is more than 2 amperes.

[robe]

To create a near parabolic reflector u can use the formula for a parabola using the center of the lamp as the focus. Since it is hard to create a perfect parabolic curve u can bend the reflector into several flat reflecting surface to approximate a parabolic curve. U probably don't need to extend the parabolic surface too much to maximize the light rays to create perfect right angle reflectance to maximize the light rays hitting ur tank.

If u don't want to use mathematics to create the curve theother way is to clamp the reflector bet two piece of 2 x 1 inch wood and bend it 10-15 deg each time with a two inch flat surface between bends till u get a good approximation of a curved reflector. To adjust the focusing u need to place ur bulb in the holder together with the reflector and from a distance of around 12 to 14 inches from the bulb take a look at the reflection of the bulb along its lenght if u cannot see the reflection that means the angle is out and the light rays will not hit ur eye position. Adjust the reflector at the bends till u can get to see the bulb reflection from the multifaceted flat surface of the reflector.

[Tanzy]

Robe,

That was my initial concern, but Champion Lighting assured me that nearly all the reefers in US use E39 bulb on E40 socket. It seems that all the sockets that these online shops sell are E40.