Lighting for 48x24x24 Low Tech (medium/low light plants)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I'm right there with you, visual aides help tremendously. I don't know if you are a paid hustler for SB but I am definitely getting a pair of these now. I just need to decide if I want the entry level model or the upgraded ones with the built in timers. Which ones do you run? From the online pictures it looked like base model had two electrical plugs but I could not tell with the upgraded model if it was one power plug since you would have the option with the timer.

I don't want 4 cords coming down off the back of my tank, so thats something to figure out. 2 no big deal.
 
nope, not paid (but hell they should) i just think they are great lights for the price.

i have the basics, didn't care for the timers TBH. they are just on off timers built into the fixture, so not worth the cost for me. just slap a cheap $10 timer to a power strip, plug all 4 into the power strip, and you have a timer for all the lights. if you wanna get fancy and turn one color set first and such, buy 2 timers and play with it. or you could always rewire them to be a single plug in. there are also PC PSU extension cables and splitters that you could use to daisy chain them, without rewiring the internals.

Personally i'm gonna wire in a PWM (pulse width modulator) from a raspberry PI to control the output levels in the future. that will be a good winter project to play with when i get there, just for something fun to play with. I'm a software dev by day, so it's fun to play with hardware i can control with software :)
 
Ahhhh the raspberry PI.... I just got my first one about a month ago just to set up OSMC on. I love the little thing so far and options are endless. Ill have to talk to the company and see what they can do, they apparently build each one as they are ordered (so should save them time and money) to just wire one plug for the base model. Ill see if they can do that, if not ill think about my options. It would save me $140 to go with the base model.
 
Yea, for that $140, I can think of a lot better things to spend on and just deal with 4 cables lol.

Though the wifi versions look awesome, that's just too rich for my blood.
 
Yeah, you aren't wrong..... I guess I could always cut cords, solder and use heat shrink to clean it up and have one cable per light. But like I said before, tank is display tank in living room. I also have 3 boys, so less cables the better.... Although they are good about staying out of things they shouldn't mess with I have a 7 month old crawling around and well.... If you have kids you know that you can't ALWAYS stop them.... Dudes are sneaky lol
 
Yup, my daughter used to get into everything. Sounds like a canopy build would work for your setup if you wanna keep it really clean looking, then cabling would be hidden. You can also mount a power strip to the back of the canopy and run a single wire down.
 
so i just got my sb reef lights in for my 120. mock setup about 4" from the top of the tank, and it looks good. it will be better once i mount it properly, but the 6-8" from the lid seems perfect.

IMG_20170913_183445.jpg
 
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Reactions: tarheel96
Looks solid, I'm excited to try these for myself. How many hours you gonna run them each day?
 
100% power for 12-14 hours a day. i want that algie for my plecos :) o and plants to grow better.

been doing this on my 46 for months now. plecos clean everything, never need to feed them, plants grow like crazy as well. love it.
 
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