I want to upgrade the light on my 12 gallon Aquapod

fishfarm

New Member
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Been a year, tank did awesum for about 6-8 months, I love the Aquapod, but some of the SPS grew great and then crapped out after a while and I need better lighting. I need to either put new CPF bulbs or upgrade, thinking of T-5's. Looked at LED's but at that price I should just set up the 210 gallon that I already have MH for. Suggestions? Ken
 
Hey Ken,
A 70 W MH Viper would be a good choice. You can probably find a used one for pretty cheap.
prod_display.cfm
 
fishfarm;496102 wrote: Looked at LED's but at that price I should just set up the 210 gallon that I already have MH for. Suggestions? Ken
LED's too expensive.
 
We put one Ecoxotic 12 W LED on our 12-g Aquapod, 3 months ago. Stuff still growing, kicking butt and taking names. Our regulars have been watching to see how stuff does.

For $99 per unit (we used one), that's not prohibitively expensive. Never have to change the lamps. Change the stock power compact lamps twice and you've already spent more.

Jenn
 
JennM;496367 wrote: We put one Ecoxotic 12 W LED on our 12-g Aquapod, 3 months ago. Stuff still growing, kicking butt and taking names. Our regulars have been watching to see how stuff does.

For $99 per unit (we used one), that's not prohibitively expensive. Never have to change the lamps. Change the stock power compact lamps twice and you've already spent more.

Jenn

Jenn....did you just replace the stock PC unit with this? I've got the same tank and thinking about the same thing athough I just got a 150w MH ballast so I may remove the top completely.
 
Yep. We pulled all the guts out of the old fixture, Brian cut a little piece of acrylic (from HD) to fit, drilled holes to match the screw holes that were already holding the old fixture in, mounted that in the lid, and mounted the LED on it. Took him all of about 30 minutes.

You saw the tank on my counter. We've been running it for years with stock lighting, changing the lamps each year - now we don't have to worry about it for another 13.8 years :)

Jenn
 
Question Jenn are those LED as powerful as mh just without the heat? Im pretty new to the hobby and am also looking to maybe upgrade and if so those would be a nice upgrade to my 7.5g nano and i could grow more corals!
 
Can't compare apples and bowling balls. They are not the same.

All we keep in our Aquapod is one LPS (Frogspawn), a Rose Anemone and some softies - blue cloves, mushrooms and zoanthids. I haven't tried any SPS in there yet under the LED.

Having said that, we have 1, 12-w unit under the hood. There's room for 2 more. If I was going to try something a bit more light-needy, I might add one or two more units.

So far everything that was in that tank before we swapped lights, is doing just as well, and perhaps even better (blue cloves LOVE the LED) than it did under stock PC.

Jenn
 
These are pictures taken in January.

This is our 12-g Aquapod with standard 2 x 27W PC:

Aquapod_Before.jpg
alt="" />

This is after installing the 12-W Panorama:

Aquapod_After.jpg
alt="" />

My poor photography skills don't do the tank justice - you kind of need to see it.

And what you can't see in a still photo... the shimmer. LEDs give you the same sort of shimmer that you get with MH, but can't possibly get with fluorescent.

Jenn
 
Hmmm I should take a pic of this tank now... 3 months later, after looking at this photo, I'm realizing now how much the stuff has grown...

The "after" pic is definitely more blue (I like more blue) - and it's every bit as bright as the PCs were.

Jenn
 
JennM;496367 wrote: We put one Ecoxotic 12 W LED on our 12-g Aquapod, 3 months ago. Stuff still growing, kicking butt and taking names. Our regulars have been watching to see how stuff does.

For $99 per unit (we used one), that's not prohibitively expensive. Never have to change the lamps. Change the stock power compact lamps twice and you've already spent more.

Jenn

+1
Exactly what I did in my 12g Aquapod (thanks Jenn) and love it. Great color and growth and all for a fairly decent price especially considering the lifetime of the bulbs
 
I have a not even a month old Nova extreme t5 24x4 if anyone is interested. Still got box and everything
 
http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-Metal-Halide-Pendant-150W-with-T5-p/54241.htm">http://shop.aquatraders.com/Odyssea-Metal-Halide-Pendant-150W-with-T5-p/54241.htm</a>


Running it over my 24g aquapod and the corals live it , palys and zoas all browed ut under the pc they have turned bright green ad pink with the lighting. bulb says its 15k but liiks more like a 10k temp. I have not figured out if its the ballast underpowering the bulb or the bul jut being cheap , buy hey for $99 shipped tou you cant beat it with a stick. great deal for the price and i love it. heap but VERY effective
 
Back
Top