thincat
Aquarium Advice Addict
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- Nov 7, 2008
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Never to much for a salt tank. Just to much heat. I blow a fan over and under my fixture to reduce heat....To keep water temp down I use a chiller.
MAJOR Problem!
- Thread starter mrg02d
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
mrg02d
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello,
How hot can bulbs get before they begin to fail? I turned off my lights yesterday after about 15mins because the fixture was hot to the touch. The glass was also hot to the touch. The outside of it was 53C!
Would fan cooling of the fixture be enough to cool the bulbs? The whole fixture is designed as a giant heatsink it appears. I might be able to rig up some small fans to blow down on top of the thing.
Matt
How hot can bulbs get before they begin to fail? I turned off my lights yesterday after about 15mins because the fixture was hot to the touch. The glass was also hot to the touch. The outside of it was 53C!
Would fan cooling of the fixture be enough to cool the bulbs? The whole fixture is designed as a giant heatsink it appears. I might be able to rig up some small fans to blow down on top of the thing.
Matt
thincat
Aquarium Advice Addict
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- Nov 7, 2008
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They get pretty hot. I run a clip on fan to help cool the ballast and bulbs. This also cools the AQ water some.
mrg02d
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello,
So what would be a ban temperature to run the bulbs at? I cant get any info on my specific bulbs on the net, so I figured they are all about the same. I am thinking of a way to hook up some fans to cool the thing off, but its got me stumped. A floor fan can keep the case at 35C and the glass at 40C, but its noisy and cumbersome. The hard part is cooling the underside.
I am also trying some other things to limit the power that the ballast can deliver. Using a power meter and a variac, I have the ballast running off of 65V rather than 120V. Power consumed is now 130W, but I have no idea how much the ballast likes or dislikes this.
Matt
So what would be a ban temperature to run the bulbs at? I cant get any info on my specific bulbs on the net, so I figured they are all about the same. I am thinking of a way to hook up some fans to cool the thing off, but its got me stumped. A floor fan can keep the case at 35C and the glass at 40C, but its noisy and cumbersome. The hard part is cooling the underside.
I am also trying some other things to limit the power that the ballast can deliver. Using a power meter and a variac, I have the ballast running off of 65V rather than 120V. Power consumed is now 130W, but I have no idea how much the ballast likes or dislikes this.
Matt
thincat
Aquarium Advice Addict
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- Nov 7, 2008
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I'm sorry I can't help you there. I just run a 6" clip-on and it seems to do the trick. I am running ~240 watts of power. and I have the lights 3" off the water. Did you say that your ballast was the dimmable type?
mrg02d
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello,
My model is not a dimmable type. My idea with the variac didnt work either. Temperature eventually rose to 40C before I gave up and shut it off. I wish I would have measured the temperature in the past before the ballast died to have some idea of what the manufacturer expected the thing to do. Its just one large heatsink. No way to easily cool those bulbs.
Does your fixture have active cooling built in? How hot does it get with the clip on fan? Is your lighting all stock lighting?
Thanks!
Matt
My model is not a dimmable type. My idea with the variac didnt work either. Temperature eventually rose to 40C before I gave up and shut it off. I wish I would have measured the temperature in the past before the ballast died to have some idea of what the manufacturer expected the thing to do. Its just one large heatsink. No way to easily cool those bulbs.
Does your fixture have active cooling built in? How hot does it get with the clip on fan? Is your lighting all stock lighting?
Thanks!
Matt
I would be careful using a variac with a non dimmable ballast, you'll blow it out. Try to put a fan in a position where it will blow across the water surface under the fixture to help keep the tank cooler and one to blow across the top of the fixture.
thincat
Aquarium Advice Addict
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I replaced both of my ballast on my original t-5. One at 6 months and the other just last week. It has always run hot and I think it's how those electronic ballast and lights are. Thin bulbs, more light = more heat.
mrg02d
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Hello,
Hot is right! But over 60C? I found some chart online that claims average t5 bulbs to output 80% power at 55C. I am going to do an experiment with cooling the top to see how that effects the bottom. (Heat ought to flow from high temperatures to low temperatures).
I think that I may need to buy the URI t5 V-HO bulbs since VHO is designed to run even hotter than HO. According to the chart I found, t5 HO bulbs peak at 35C. I cant seem to find anything for t5 VHO bulbs since they seem to be new and controversial.
I will keep you guys up to speed with what I find.
I scrapped the variac idea as it didnt help heating much.
Matt
Hot is right! But over 60C? I found some chart online that claims average t5 bulbs to output 80% power at 55C. I am going to do an experiment with cooling the top to see how that effects the bottom. (Heat ought to flow from high temperatures to low temperatures).
I think that I may need to buy the URI t5 V-HO bulbs since VHO is designed to run even hotter than HO. According to the chart I found, t5 HO bulbs peak at 35C. I cant seem to find anything for t5 VHO bulbs since they seem to be new and controversial.
I will keep you guys up to speed with what I find.
I scrapped the variac idea as it didnt help heating much.
Matt
