New Lumen Bright Reflector. ... any info on them

[BreadmanMike]

If you guys have questions for JRaquatics or Mike you'll have to ask them in here.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumd...s=&forumid=581

[melev]

Originally posted by gary faulkner
Now I'm really confused. I was going to hang mine today at 18. Guess I will just experiment. 250 refflux 12k X3 over 84x24x30 with 6in sand bed. Both ends will be in the shade as I will place the three together in the middle of the tank.

Sorry about that Gary. Mine are 18" off the water, and I mean the surface to the bulb.

As bulbs age, PAR drops off. By lowering the light fixtures, you can use the bulb a little longer. When you get new bulbs, lift them higher.

In my case, I just got my PAR meter a few days ago. And before it arrived, I thoght about my 10,000K bulbs are getting old, and how I wanted to test them to see what the output is. It occurred to me that if the PAR is sufficiently lower now, perhaps I could slip some 12,000K bulbs in their place without changing the reflectors' height. My reef would continue unaffected, and I'd get more blue out of the bulbs.

It's just a thought - I usually don't like looking at a tank with a lot of blue.

Depending on how you hang the reflectors, perhaps the center one could point straight down while the outer ones are slightly angled to light the ends more evenly.

[GlassReef]

Great thread! Lots of very usful info. I thought it was about time I posted a few pics from my build thread to illustrate how I set my LBs up. The tank is 98" X 36" X 25" and I used four large LBs with 400W 12K Reeflux bulbs and dimmable CoralVue ballasts. In addition, I installed eight 36" T5s (split between Actinic and 10K.

First I made an aluminum frame using a special 1" sq. tubing with composite connectors. I made four evenly spaced squares - each one just large enough to allow the LBs to fit inside the square and rest in a 3/4" lip that is an integral part of the tubing.



The completed frame with LBs, T5s, etc.



I placed the ballasts on the wall above the tank.



The frame slides on rollers, so I hooked up an umbilical cord type of connection to allow sufficient movement.



I then enclosed the whole thing with expanded PVC sheet and added three fans at each end.



The bulbs are currently hung 16 1/2" above the water. They may have to go a little higher - first PAR tests are showing readings of 365 at the bottom of the tank.

My red house will take you to more detailed pics if your interested.

[livenow]

Do you need to have bulb filter, splash guard. It looks like in photo's you are running these with nothing between water & bulb.

[melev]

I really like that, Tom. It seems to be a combination of ideas from a number of reefkeepers that I'd love to emulate myself.

That came out beautifully.

[gary faulkner]

Originally posted by melev


Depending on how you hang the reflectors, perhaps the center one could point straight down while the outer ones are slightly angled to light the ends more evenly.

Good tip, Marc.

Thanks

[BeanAnimal]

Originally posted by melev
I really like that, Tom. It seems to be a combination of ideas from a number of reefkeepers that I'd love to emulate myself.

That came out beautifully.

Hey look Marc... It appears that somebody did read that wordy overflow project and incorporate it into their dream tank


Glass, a few feet of "TechFlex" braided sleeving would dress up our umbilical even more!

[melev]

I've seen the Wordy Overflow several times lately. Who'da-thunk-it would stick?

[BeanAnimal]

Good designs always stick Marc! Maybe its time you link that wordy article up to the melevsreef I put up a link to your not-so-wordy site cus it has perty pictures and I know you don't mind the traffic.

Funny... some guy in the ukraine (if google translation is right) has taken credit for the design and laments that he can not believe that others keep taking his ideas and posting them on the internet and accepting the credit!

In any case... Even if a guy from the Ukraine took the time to translate my article, I will forgive you for not reading it in English

[GlassReef]

BeanAnimal - I know a good idea when I see it. BTW: I do have a "cheap" kind of TechFlex around the cable bundle - I just couldn't find the real stuff.

melev - Aw, come on, Marc. Some of those ideas were mine. Give some credit.

[BeanAnimal]

http://www.techflex.com/

If you can't find anybody to sell it to you, let me know. I have a wholesale account with them for my business. I use the stuff for cabling installs, custom AV cables, electronics projects and of course my fish tank.

[GlassReef]

Originally posted by livenow
Do you need to have bulb filter, splash guard. It looks like in photo's you are running these with nothing between water & bulb.

As far as my lights are concerned, the bulbs are almost a foot and a half from the surface of the water, so I not really worried about spashes, etc.

[GlassReef]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
http://www.techflex.com/

If you can't find anybody to sell it to you, let me know. I have a wholesale account with them for my business. I use the stuff for cabling installs, custom AV cables, electronics projects and of course my fish tank.

That was my problem - nobody willing to sell retail. Thanks for the kind offer. I might need to take you up on it a little down the road.

[BeanAnimal]

http://www.techflex.com/online_dealers.asp

The prices at cableorganizer.com and partsexpress.com are pretty close to my wholesale price (I don't do enough volume to hit the lowest price tier). In any case, just let me know.

[melev]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
Good designs always stick Marc! Maybe its time you link that wordy article up to the melevsreef I put up a link to your not-so-wordy site cus it has perty pictures and I know you don't mind the traffic.

Funny... some guy in the ukraine (if google translation is right) has taken credit for the design and laments that he can not believe that others keep taking his ideas and posting them on the internet and accepting the credit!

In any case... Even if a guy from the Ukraine took the time to translate my article, I will forgive you for not reading it in English

I'll have to check out your site again and see if you melev-ized any part of it I could point to.

Originally posted by GlassReef
melev - Aw, come on, Marc. Some of those ideas were mine. Give some credit.

I love it! You did a great job. Marc (Fudge) did the rubber skirt on his canopy, and Steve Weast did the plugs on the light rack, as well as rolling tracks to move the beast aside.

You get all the credit for building something very beautiful and practical!

[MstgKillr]

I have been reading through a lot of posts but I can't find my answer. I am considering Lumen Bright Reflectors for my 215 Gallon SPS Reef Tank (72x24x30). I already have (3) CoralVue 400w Ballasts and 12k Reeflux bulbs. I believe there are three different versions of the reflector, Large, Mini, and Wide Mini.

Which version of the reflector would be the best for my tank?

How do you mount the reflectors to the canopy? Any pictures?

How much room do I need from the water surface to the top of the canopy for the different reflectors?

Thanks,

[GlassReef]

Originally posted by BeanAnimal
... cableorganizer.com and partsexpress.com are pretty close to my wholesale price ...

The link to Parts Express did the trick. The one time I had looked there I saw only the 50' bundle and overlooked the 25'. Thanks again!

[melev]

Originally posted by MstgKillr
I have been reading through a lot of posts but I can't find my answer. I am considering Lumen Bright Reflectors for my 215 Gallon SPS Reef Tank (72x24x30). I already have (3) CoralVue 400w Ballasts and 12k Reeflux bulbs. I believe there are three different versions of the reflector, Large, Mini, and Wide Mini.

Which version of the reflector would be the best for my tank?

How do you mount the reflectors to the canopy? Any pictures?

How much room do I need from the water surface to the top of the canopy for the different reflectors?

Thanks,

This article will definitely help you, which you may not have read yet based on your questions. It also contains the pictures you requested:
LumenBright Reflectors - Enlighten Us!
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-06/review/index.php

[Reefer08]

Anyone have any comparisons of the Lumenbright reflector againgst other reflectors such as lumenmax/lumenarc ? Id love to see how these compare with same bulb and ballast combo.

Anyone else notice on their LB that the optical facets don't point the light downwards? So the light just bounces offa the facets then finally downwards, is this why these are more focused in the middle??

[MstgKillr]

What does everyone think of the Lumen Bright Wide Mini?

I was thinking of using 3 of them with 400w 12K Reeflux on my 215 but I don't know if 14.5" from the surface of the water to the canopy is enough room.

Any suggestions?

[BreadmanMike]

Originally posted by Reefer08
Anyone have any comparisons of the Lumenbright reflector againgst other reflectors such as lumenmax/lumenarc ? Id love to see how these compare with same bulb and ballast combo.

Anyone else notice on their LB that the optical facets don't point the light downwards? So the light just bounces offa the facets then finally downwards, is this why these are more focused in the middle??

The Lumenmax2 had better numbers with a 250w Radium on a Galaxy then the Lumenarc did with a 400w Radium on a Galaxy ballast. I just sold my Lumenarc's and ordered Lumenbrights because I was so disgusted.

A local guy got one of those par meters in that group order and this is what we got on a 25" tank directly under the bulb. All bulbs are less then 2 months old.

Lumenarc with 400
8" from bulb - 738
on top of water 454
1" underwater 323
Halfway down 238
Bottom 157

Lumenmax2 with 250
on top of water(8" from bulb) 1258
1" underwater 757
halway down 536
bottom 323

My conclusion is that the Lumenarc is useless, unless your tank is wide and shallow. I can't wait to see the growth and colors I'll get with better reflectors for my situation.

[poopsko24]

Originally posted by BreadmanMike
The Lumenmax2 had better numbers with a 250w Radium on a Galaxy then the Lumenarc did with a 400w Radium on a Galaxy ballast. I just sold my Lumenarc's and ordered Lumenbrights because I was so disgusted.

A local guy got one of those par meters in that group order and this is what we got on a 25" tank directly under the bulb. All bulbs are less then 2 months old.

Lumenarc with 400
8" from bulb - 738
on top of water 454
1" underwater 323
Halfway down 238
Bottom 157

Lumenmax2 with 250

on top of water(8" from bulb) 1258
1" underwater 757
halway down 536
bottom 323

My conclusion is that the Lumenarc is useless, unless your tank is wide and shallow. I can't wait to see the growth and colors I'll get with better reflectors for my situation.

only death will occur

[bigevill1]

I am going to be upgrading my reflectors to these as well and my question for those of you in the know is whether or not you think 3 mini-wides (the new ones) with 250 watt bulbs would be enough on a 210 gallon tank? Right now I am running two 250 watt and two 175 watt bulbs with crappy reflectors. I was thinking that going down to 3-250 watters should do better with great reflectors. Opinions?

[melev]

Absolutely, bigevill1. I was using Spider reflectors with 250w bulbs, and changed them to the large Lumenbrights, and the PAR increased 300% over my Toadstool Leather (went from 145 to 444). Be very slow to acclimate your livestock to the more intense lighting as recommended in the article and this thread. If you just read the posts in the past 4 pages, you'll find what you need to know.

My tank is a 280g.

[JohnL]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1531096