This saga all began at Ed and Jen’s house during the September NJRC meeting...our first meeting...when the raffle portion of the meeting concluded with the final item, a 660 IceCap ballast. And the winner was.......Ed. However, it didn’t end there. Ed commented something to the effect that he had six of these and, out of extreme generosity, asked for another ticket to be drawn. Well, I can only say, a big THANK YOU to Ed. This was the first step in upgrading our Coralife compact unit to t5’s.
When the swap came around this past weekend, our first stop was to Chris at IceCap. I would have loved to slap down the change and purchased IceCap’s retrofit, but being unemployed and a saltwater enthusiast, I have a lot more time than money. (I know what you are saying “unemployed - saltwater enthusiast”...there are two words very rarely uttered together). So with all the time and only a little money, we went for endcaps, reflectors and T5 bulbs, with the intent of building the support out of scrap plywood lying around the shop.
Here is my ghetto wood frame with the wiring fed throw holes in the ½ inch plywood. Included was a frame of ¾ inch plywood ripped to 1 ¼ inch strips. This was done to add rigidity to the ½ inch plywood base:
Flipped the frame over and attached the endcaps using stainless screws:
Straightened out all the wires and attached the ballast. The wires were not custom cut because, if there is one thing I’ve learn, you are always working on your next upgrade, and nothing is permanent. The ballast was mounted on small pieces of ¾ ply to allow air circulation below the ballast, assisting in keeping it cool:
Oh, and here’s the little benny...we also won a timer at the swap raffle that I incorporated in the light unit. ”Just set it and forget it”:
Installed the bulbs (two white, two actinic), along with the reflectors:
And here is its temporary home, a 48g bowfront. Eventually it will end up in the canopy of a 90g, currently under construction.
The amazing part...the otherwise drab candycane pops out a vibrant green - what I thought were brown button polys are now green - an otherwise drab maroon shroom is now Christmas red and green. And most of the zoas are popping. It’s a totally different tank!
Again, thank you Ed for your extreme generosity.
When the swap came around this past weekend, our first stop was to Chris at IceCap. I would have loved to slap down the change and purchased IceCap’s retrofit, but being unemployed and a saltwater enthusiast, I have a lot more time than money. (I know what you are saying “unemployed - saltwater enthusiast”...there are two words very rarely uttered together). So with all the time and only a little money, we went for endcaps, reflectors and T5 bulbs, with the intent of building the support out of scrap plywood lying around the shop.
Here is my ghetto wood frame with the wiring fed throw holes in the ½ inch plywood. Included was a frame of ¾ inch plywood ripped to 1 ¼ inch strips. This was done to add rigidity to the ½ inch plywood base:
Flipped the frame over and attached the endcaps using stainless screws:
Straightened out all the wires and attached the ballast. The wires were not custom cut because, if there is one thing I’ve learn, you are always working on your next upgrade, and nothing is permanent. The ballast was mounted on small pieces of ¾ ply to allow air circulation below the ballast, assisting in keeping it cool:
Oh, and here’s the little benny...we also won a timer at the swap raffle that I incorporated in the light unit. ”Just set it and forget it”:
Installed the bulbs (two white, two actinic), along with the reflectors:
And here is its temporary home, a 48g bowfront. Eventually it will end up in the canopy of a 90g, currently under construction.
The amazing part...the otherwise drab candycane pops out a vibrant green - what I thought were brown button polys are now green - an otherwise drab maroon shroom is now Christmas red and green. And most of the zoas are popping. It’s a totally different tank!
Again, thank you Ed for your extreme generosity.