Custom Sea Life Prism Pendant

[cmylam]

I was wondering if anyone owns or knows much about the Custom Sea Life Prism Pendant. They have three MH wattages (I am thinking of the 400 W, naturally). Basically, it has the one MH bulb in the middle with two 32 W Actinic PC bulbs to the front and back of the MH.

I have a 50 corner pentagon, so I am wondering if the one MH bulb will be able to fully light the tank. The odd shape makes this awkward, as the back of the tank is not getting all that much light right now with the current 24" ABS hood with two 65 W PCs. The widest across the tank is about 30", and the height of the tank is 24". Would very much like to have sps corals. The tank is about 7 months old, and I'm already comtemplating imminent upgrade.

Any opinions for a fledgling?

 

[MattM]

We have two of the 400W CSL pendants over our 75gal show tank. They are very nice, although certainly not the cheapest lighting available. The 400W uses a 5500K Venture bulb that is much whiter than the color temp suggests, with the addition of the 2 x 28W PC, the light is perfectly white.

This unit would work very well over a 54 corner. In fact, it's the light we normally suggest for this tank.

 

[cmylam]

Thanks for the reply. A few more questions, if you don't mind. How do you mount the thing to the ceiling? Is the weight load going to be a problem? Is this something the landlord is going to have to find out about? I'm just wondering about the logistics about keeping the MH a certain height from the corals. I don't have a canopy, so anything other than a pendant means that the MH would be pretty darned close to the water surface. Wouldn't want the softies fried to a crisp!

Thanks...

[ July 24, 2001: Message edited by: cmylam ]

 

[Stashu-Dave]

Cmylam,
I've also got a pair over a 75( 2x 400Watters) I actually made a shell/ fake hood with an open top and used aluminum "L" bracket to make a pair of boxes to "sit" the pendants in. O.K. tough to picture, but it looks sharp. To answer your question ther are 2 screw holes in the top of the pendant so that you could screw in eye bolts and then fairly easily hang the fixture from the ceiling. The actual pendant is not very heavy, but the ballast sure is.I also wanted to A: Recommend the 400Watt Fixture, and B:Warn you that the 2x32Watt PC's get drown out very easily with a 400 watt bulb, so choose your halide wisely. I've tried 10K with Actinic PC's and 20K with 6700K PC's and would vote for the 10K German Bulb. Let me know if you have any other questions( I can probably e-mail a picture of my hood if you wanted.
Dave

[ July 24, 2001: Message edited by: Stashu-Dave ]

 

[cmylam]

Thanks for all of the input, guys. Sounds a little daunting. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment, so drilling into the ceiling through to the attic is definitely not an option. Landlord doesn't even know I have the darned tank! At any rate, I can't tell how heavy the thing is, as it's not really listed on the descriptions.

I looked at the PFO pendant, and it's only 16" wide, which I worry is not going to provide enough light to the edges of the tank. As I noted, the widest part at the front of the tank is about 30" wide. 16" is almost 50%! (Of course, the CSL one is only 1.5" wider, and the bulbs are just the same, although it would probably reflect a little more.) I can just imagine the center of the tank getting scorched while the edges remain in darkness (perhaps I'm being a bit overdramatic here). Plus, I am concerned about the issue of heat from the MH. It's already kind of warm in that corner already. How many degrees would the MH increase the water, even with some distance from the surface of the tank?

The price on the PFO seems more reasonable than the CSL, although it was hard to tell from the Marine Depot site. I was a bit confused as to what actually comes with the pendant, or even if it comes assembled. The CSL pendant I found for under $500 at FFExpress, but over $700 at my LFS. Nice markup.

I am worried that the walls and ceiling are not going to be able to support the weight. I also don't think that drilling several holes is going to ingratiate me to the Landlord.

Any further advice and/or pictures on setups that would work with a corner tank would be welcome! I am actually getting some "hardy, low-light" SPS frags this week to test my future upgrade...

 

[Ritteri&Bubbles]

Both the PFO pendant and CSL pendant will light up a 36" long tank with no "shadows" in the corner when raised 8" above the waters surface. I have one over a 30 gallon tank, I got my PFO lighting setup from Marine depot complete for $389 including shipping, included was 400 watt ballast,10,000K german 400 watt bulb, and MH/PC PFO pendant and 2 28 watt pc actinic bulbs. They did a price match for me. Killer deal. I used to have the CSL pendant. Kinda made cheesy compared to the PFO, definetly a notch down in quality. Also, the unit only weights about 12lbs. I have mine suspended from the ceiling with 2 anchor bolts on the 30g tank. But you could also attach this pendant to a custom built canopy too, very versatile unit.

[ July 24, 2001: Message edited by: Ritteri&Bubbles ]

 

[danmhippo]

I have 2 400W 10K MH pendant Over the 150G (don't know the brand of it). Depending on what you want to keep in the tank. I prefer soft corals and mushrooms. Thus, the 2 MH will be sufficient to give me the bright center for the softies. The shaded/darker edges will be great for the mushrooms and sunflowers.

The light and the casing itself is not heavy enough to be a cause for concern. The pendant lighting comes with wire ties for you to secure them onto the cieling with drywall screws. The heavy part of the whole setup is the Ballast. You will have to anchor them either on the floor or in the attic. HTH

[ July 24, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]

[ July 24, 2001: Message edited by: danmhippo ]

 

[Ritteri&Bubbles]

Anchor bolts and chain is how you hang em. Both can be picked up at HD. PFO makes a nicer version of the Hanging pendant, and it too can use either 175,250 or 400 watt bulbs.And also comes with dual 32 watt PC fixtures built in, plus uses a larger fan to cool down the unit. It seems to cost a bit less too. Here is the link.
http://www.pfolighting.com/aqwebsite/aqpendents.htm

 

[cmylam]

Ritteri&Bubbles:

Thanks for the info. I actually called Marine Depot to figure it out, and they quoted me at about $425 for 250 W MH setup. Do you have the info that you used to get the price match for your setup? He told me he would honor it if I can get actual numbers and sources....Thanks!

He actually recommended that I get a 250 instead, since I have a sand bed in a 24" high tank. What do you think?

 

[danmhippo]

Just to answer your question on temperature.

I posted a thread a few weeks ago about a disaster in my tank. The 2 400W MH was by accident stays lit for 48 hours straight. The temp surges from a norm of 80F to 92F. The MH was about 14" from the water surface. I think most people would agree the room with MH on for a extended period of time (say, 3+ hours) would definetly be warmer than any other rooms in the house.

 

[David Grigor]

Alternative to hanging from the cieling. You can buy those metal shepard looking things that they use to hang plants and/or birdhouses. Or can make you own simliar from some wood and attach to the back of you stand.

I have seen this done on people personal web sites but don't recall a specific one for you to view......

 

[GOES4EVER]

cmylam, send me your email addy and I will send you a pic of how I mounted my prism pendant over my 36" tank, I built a curved arch which goes over my tank, where I hooked two eye bolts to, so I can raise and lower my pendant on chains