Fluval Uno And Duo Lighting Ballast/contoller Upgrade

[dannowittmorris]

I've seen a few posts (and been in a few) re the Fluval habit of sticking a 15w ballast into a tank with an 18w lamp, I recently added an 18w external hoping for 36w and noticed the lower brightness of the original "18w"which is what raised my suspcions and have since added a 3 lamp, this time a 15 w but with an 18w tube (for even light across the tank) now I have 48w.

I wanted to add more lighting as I discoved the WPG rule is US Gals not UK, so I am on 1.88wpg not 2.24 like I thought and thought I'd see if I could fit an off the shelf 18 w T8 contoller in the hood to swap the original 15w??.

Any one done this?, I suppose I could even fit a 36 and wire a 2nd lamp in sequence to give me 3 18w tubes. (then my goldfish can have their 15 w back )

Any one do it, know how, or even care

I was looking at buying this and sriping it off the board and using my Arcaia tube holders.

http/www.bltdirect.com/product.php?pid=5...ar+Tray+18+watt

 

[jaarus]

Hiya,
Try the DIY section as well - maybe a simple mod to do?

 

[SuperColey1]

I used one of those but only a single 1 tube version for the following reasons (in my fluval Duo)

1 - I wanted to keep the T8 at the front for a while and couldn't run a single t8 18W with 30W power coming from the ballast as I fear I would have fried fish for tea.

2 - It was cheap (ebay is much cheaper for these you dont need the end caps on it just the wires as you will be twist joining them to the wires of the water tight end caps inside the water tight recess in the fluval hood.

3 - It had to be cheap as it is a stop gap until I am ready plantwise/CO2wise/knowledge wise/dosing wise to cope with 2 x 55W

A lot of people said to me why dont you just get a twin starter for the 2 x 55W rather than 2 single starters.

Reason - I want to be able to control them individually i.e. one for the 'Midday' burst and the other for the normal daylight.

My journal has a section I think on page 6 where I did the alterations to the hood with the exact same style unit you are linking to there.

You will need to cut the cage it comes on to buggery to get it in as its much too big for the recess, but it is quiet, not too hot and the light does not filcker.

Andy

 

[dannowittmorris]

I used one of those but only a single 1 tube version for the following reasons (in my fluval Duo)

1 - I wanted to keep the T8 at the front for a while and couldn't run a single t8 18W with 30W power coming from the ballast as I fear I would have fried fish for tea.

2 - It was cheap (ebay is much cheaper for these you dont need the end caps on it just the wires as you will be twist joining them to the wires of the water tight end caps inside the water tight recess in the fluval hood.

3 - It had to be cheap as it is a stop gap until I am ready plantwise/CO2wise/knowledge wise/dosing wise to cope with 2 x 55W

A lot of people said to me why dont you just get a twin starter for the 2 x 55W rather than 2 single starters.

Reason - I want to be able to control them individually i.e. one for the 'Midday' burst and the other for the normal daylight.

My journal has a section I think on page 6 where I did the alterations to the hood with the exact same style unit you are linking to there.

You will need to cut the cage it comes on to buggery to get it in as its much too big for the recess, but it is quiet, not too hot and the light does not filcker.

Andy

Cool cheers Andy, I will be keeping my 3rd 18w (the only "true one") on its arcadia and stick it in the rear of the hood for the Dawn/Dusk Lighting cycle I have.

Ps to save confusion my middle is the only true one, the other two are seperates as my tank is an Uno.

I'll check your post.

Dan.

 

[dannowittmorris]

I used one of those but only a single 1 tube version for the following reasons (in my fluval Duo)

1 - I wanted to keep the T8 at the front for a while and couldn't run a single t8 18W with 30W power coming from the ballast as I fear I would have fried fish for tea.

2 - It was cheap (ebay is much cheaper for these you dont need the end caps on it just the wires as you will be twist joining them to the wires of the water tight end caps inside the water tight recess in the fluval hood.

3 - It had to be cheap as it is a stop gap until I am ready plantwise/CO2wise/knowledge wise/dosing wise to cope with 2 x 55W

A lot of people said to me why dont you just get a twin starter for the 2 x 55W rather than 2 single starters.

Reason - I want to be able to control them individually i.e. one for the 'Midday' burst and the other for the normal daylight.

My journal has a section I think on page 6 where I did the alterations to the hood with the exact same style unit you are linking to there.

You will need to cut the cage it comes on to buggery to get it in as its much too big for the recess, but it is quiet, not too hot and the light does not filcker.

Andy

Cool cheers Andy, I will be keeping my 3rd 18w (the only "true one") on its arcadia and stick it in the rear of the hood for the Dawn/Dusk Lighting cycle I have.

Ps to save confusion my middle is the only true one, the other two are seperates as my tank is an Uno.

I'll check your post.

Dan.

Just checked out your posts on the ballast changes, you lucked out on that unit for a fiver, I've searched E-bay back and forth and theres nothing available, though it did link earlier to the shop on the link I posted.

I think its settled, I'll get the double 18w unit (but try to get it cheaper) and stick that in the hood and buy a set of replacement IP64 tube holders from my local aquarium shop. With the current arcadia 18w at the rear for the Dusk/Dawn cycle.

So a double 18w aquarium unit for about £25 (worst case), rather than £19 for two seperate controllers. Bargain.

PS off topic, but how many BPM are you getting with the 2 Nutrafins?, I have had trouble with low CO2 and have had to boost it with Flourish excel, but I just added a second unit (ferplast) well Evian and I keep the bottle by the external light control, just topped it at 33bpm up from 11, how this compare?, I am on the Ferpast mix till I run out, then I have a stach of yeast to go with.

 

[SuperColey1]

Looks better IMO to have the weak dawn dusk light in the front.

At the front - looks like it is disappearing into the darkness and sense of depth
At the back - look like you are in a dark tunnel seeing light at the end.

Just a tip

You can see my dawn dusk lighting compared to the full on monty in my journal too. I think the dawn dusk lighting actually looks really good as you can really see some different colours in there rather than the blast of light reflecting off the green lol.

Aw shucks heres a pic so you don't need to trawl through my journal

Full Lights

Dawn / Dusk Lights

Good Luck with yours

Andy

 

[SuperColey1]

Didn't read all your post properly so will answer other bits.

I prefer the 2 seperate controllers, then you can stage your lights to have a 3 hours midday burst on one i.e.

hours 1-2 - 1 tube = dawn
hours 3-4 - 2 tubes = daylight
hours 5-8 - 3 tubes = midday burst
hours 9-10 - 2 tubes daylight
hours 11-12 = dusk

This will also help keep the algae down

Nutrafins:
Just answered this in another post but here goes
2 Nutrafins + a 2Ltr DIY bottle

Recipe in the Nutrafins = Sugar to the first line, ½ properly measured teaspoon yeast, warm water to the second line, lid on shake and reconnect.

DIY = 11 desertspons sugar, 1 properly measured teaspoon yeast, water to just above wher the bottle curves into the neck, lid on shake and reconnect.

I said in the other post I will put pictures of it in my journal on Saturday night as I will refill the 2Ltr on Saturday)

Therefore 2 Nutrafins + 2LtrDIY gives me 4 bubbles per second (this is not a typing error) and the drop checker is bordering on the dangerous!!! I do have good ceramic diffusor though

Andy

 

[dannowittmorris]

Didn't read all your post properly so will answer other bits.

I prefer the 2 seperate controllers, then you can stage your lights to have a 3 hours midday burst on one i.e.

hours 1-2 - 1 tube = dawn
hours 3-4 - 2 tubes = daylight
hours 5-8 - 3 tubes = midday burst
hours 9-10 - 2 tubes daylight
hours 11-12 = dusk

This will also help keep the algae down

Nutrafins:
Just answered this in another post but here goes
2 Nutrafins + a 2Ltr DIY bottle

Recipe in the Nutrafins = Sugar to the first line, ½ properly measured teaspoon yeast, warm water to the second line, lid on shake and reconnect.

DIY = 11 desertspons sugar, 1 properly measured teaspoon yeast, water to just above wher the bottle curves into the neck, lid on shake and reconnect.

I said in the other post I will put pictures of it in my journal on Saturday night as I will refill the 2Ltr on Saturday)

Therefore 2 Nutrafins + 2LtrDIY gives me 4 bubbles per second (this is not a typing error) and the drop checker is bordering on the dangerous!!! I do have good ceramic diffusor though

Andy

Just got my twin 18w controller (its for signage), really small too so it'll drop right in, I'll take some pictures whemn I install it, I finally got pearling but only after 7 hours of lighting, so I'll see how it goes with the extra 6 watts, (taking me to over 2wpg), I've also got a drop checker on the way so I'll knwo if my CO2 is ok soon as well, I can always add a 3 bottle.

 

[SuperColey1]

If I were you I would get one of those digital pocket scales so you can measure your macros accurately and also the 6g Bicarb to add to the 5 Ltrs of DI to make your 40dKH etc.

I find pearling (apart from water changes) normally happens towards the end of my light cycle but my full lightins now reduced due to huge beard/staghorn algae outbreaks.

Its now 4 hours 18W, 4 hours 73W, 4 hours 18W

Might be a good idea to reduce yours a bit and build it up week by week as the plants get more used to having light at last. lol

Andy

 

[dannowittmorris]

If I were you I would get one of those digital pocket scales so you can
I find pearling (apart from water changes) normally happens towards the end of my light cycle but my full lightins now reduced due to huge beard/staghorn algae outbreaks.

Its now 4 hours 18W, 4 hours 73W, 4 hours 18W

Might be a good idea to reduce yours a bit and build it up week by week as the plants get more used to having light at last. lol

Andy

Thanks Andy good idea, stick a siesta in the middle???.

I also changed my co2 mix over last night for some dessert wine yeast and sugar, seemed a bit (well very) insipid until i noticed the canisters usually flat bottoms had "popped", I'd gone and trapped the hose under the tank hood!!!!, once freed it went ballistic for 5 minutes and is now doing over 60bpm!!!!, the dessert wine yeast should be more tollerant of high alcohol levels so I'll have to see how long it lasts.

Now I need to ask another question, what do you mean re this info??? measure your macros accurately and also the 6g Bicarb to add to the 5 Ltrs of DI to make your 40dKH etc."

I am currently using Tropica Plant nutrician + and Flourish Excel as I cannot be bothered to mess about, so far so good!!!, what is 40dKH.

Sorry.

 

[dannowittmorris]

If I were you I would get one of those digital pocket scales so you can
I find pearling (apart from water changes) normally happens towards the end of my light cycle but my full lightins now reduced due to huge beard/staghorn algae outbreaks.

Its now 4 hours 18W, 4 hours 73W, 4 hours 18W

Might be a good idea to reduce yours a bit and build it up week by week as the plants get more used to having light at last. lol

Andy

Thanks Andy good idea, stick a siesta in the middle???.

I also changed my co2 mix over last night for some dessert wine yeast and sugar, seemed a bit (well very) insipid until i noticed the canisters usually flat bottoms had "popped", I'd gone and trapped the hose under the tank hood!!!!, once freed it went ballistic for 5 minutes and is now doing over 60bpm!!!!, the dessert wine yeast should be more tollerant of high alcohol levels so I'll have to see how long it lasts.

Now I need to ask another question, what do you mean re this info??? measure your macros accurately and also the 6g Bicarb to add to the 5 Ltrs of DI to make your 40dKH etc."

I am currently using Tropica Plant nutrician + and Flourish Excel as I cannot be bothered to mess about, so far so good!!!, what is 40dKH.

Sorry.

PS, just read your other posts, see what you are onn about re the 4dkh soloution, i was going to ask if rahter than 5l with 6g I could do 1.2 g with 1 lt, but you beat me to it, Good man!!!!. not sure in my digi scales go that low though!!!.

 

[SuperColey1]

How times change. lol

Ive given up on the solution made from the very acurately weighed 1.2g and 1 ltr and have made up a 6g and 5 Ltr version. No proof it wasn't working. Just hoping that the permanent borderline yellow was false. (It wasn't)

I don't bother with siesta. As long as your drop checker stays a decnt colour and you limit your 'midday' super lighting then you should be OK.

The Siesta is normally just to let the CO2 build up again if it is unstable.

Andy

 

[dannowittmorris]

How times change. lol

Ive given up on the solution made from the very acurately weighed 1.2g and 1 ltr and have made up a 6g and 5 Ltr version. No proof it wasn't working. Just hoping that the permanent borderline yellow was false. (It wasn't)

I don't bother with siesta. As long as your drop checker stays a decnt colour and you limit your 'midday' super lighting then you should be OK.

The Siesta is normally just to let the CO2 build up again if it is unstable.

Andy

Did the lighting upgrdade the other night, so now I have 3x 18w tubes over the tank and only 2 plugs, it took about an hour and a half to make the whole change.

Very pleased and the components required to run two 18w tubes came to about £13 inc delivery from E-bay, so in summary its easy to improve a fluval/hagen hoods under powered lighting, and even possible to add additional lighting very cheaply, far cheaper than buying additional external contollers, it would have been possible to power a 3 for about £15 but I wanted 1 seperate for a sunrise/sunset effect.

No photos though as I forgot sorry, I get pearling about 2 hours earlier now and have been able to use the cuttings from my rampant growers to bulk up my tanks planting and shortly to add to my low tech Sera Start work tank. (My gold fish now have plastic plants £9 inc postage on ebay for 6 and well worth the money).