DIY Luxim Plasma

dipan · 11/13/2009, 03:55 PM

So I managed to buy a basic Luxim plasma setup for an attempt at using it for my new tank build documented here. This is just the start of a DIY plasma build thread. Anyone is welcome to chime in and post their projects here also. I'm not sure I'll be happy with the color temperature of this bulb, but I'm hoping it will work.

Unfortunately, the bulb is the 5300K rated one. There is supposed to be another 6000K rated bulb and I'm hoping I will be able to swap in whatever bulb I need when these are more widely available and out of whatever development phase they are in right now. It's not in the reflector yet, but I decided that the best thing for my application would be a Lumenarc III (the big one).

Here are some pics (normally worth a thousand words or more

) ...

PAR measured about 12 inches from the bulb:

My trial 20 gallon tank with a pair of UVL lamps (Super Actinic and Actinic White) in a standard Hagen fixture (no individual reflectors, bulbs about 4 months old and could use a cleaning):

Note that this is not where the plasma will go

PAR measured 2-3 inches below the center of the bulbs:

HerdofCrickets · 11/13/2009, 03:59 PM

Do I dare ask where you find these, and how much?

dipan · 11/13/2009, 04:03 PM

If you do a google for "DIY Luxim plasma" you will see that it is not too hard to find ...

As for cost ... a little over $600 ...

HerdofCrickets · 11/13/2009, 04:17 PM

Cool, thanks!

Off to Google!

1DeR9_3Hy · 11/13/2009, 05:36 PM

225 mE? 2-3" below the light?

What am i missing?

dipan · 11/13/2009, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1DeR9_3Hy

225 mE? 2-3" below the light?

What am i missing?

Yep. Does it sound wrong? The bulbs are kind of old, about 4 months or maybe a bit more. The lamps and reflector also need a cleaning. When the evaporation takes about 1" of water off the top, the spray is pretty prominent resulting in salt deposits. I can remeasure when after I get a chance to clean the light off. Keep in mind these are the 24w lamps for a 2' fixture. PAR at the edges was measured at less than 100 ...

luther1200 · 11/13/2009, 06:53 PM

And they do not have individual reflectors.

Were you measuring wattage with the meter in the first few pics?

ITR · 11/13/2009, 09:24 PM

I am extremely intrigued with the idea of lighting a tank with this type of lighting. It appears Plasma Lighting more resembles Metal Halides without the heat and energy consumption (i.e. more efficient). I have to say that the biggest gripe I have with this hobby is the inefficiency of the equipment.

I have been waiting for the cost of LED fixtures to come down, but it's just not happening. Not to mention, I just haven't seen enough tanks with LED fixtures to justify jumping into such a large purchase.

With the plasma price point, I'd be more apt to jump in sooner versus waiting another 3 years to find out LED's just don't cut it. $600-$700 is not all that bad especially if you need fewer of them to light a tank than you would halides.

Kudos to you for experimenting with these and documenting your findings in this thread.

Jay

1DeR9_3Hy · 11/14/2009, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dipan

Yep. Does it sound wrong? The bulbs are kind of old, about 4 months or maybe a bit more. The lamps and reflector also need a cleaning. When the evaporation takes about 1" of water off the top, the spray is pretty prominent resulting in salt deposits. I can remeasure when after I get a chance to clean the light off. Keep in mind these are the 24w lamps for a 2' fixture. PAR at the edges was measured at less than 100 ...

Ahhh...i assumed that was what the plasma was putting out at 2-3" of water. I should have read closer

dipan · 11/14/2009, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luther1200

And they do not have individual reflectors.

Were you measuring wattage with the meter in the first few pics?

Nope ... I assume you mean the multimeter ... I was just making sure I wired the light properly. Needed to figure out what wire was hot and what was neutral on the extension cord that I sacrificed as the supply cord for the AC/DC converter power supply for the light.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ITR

I am extremely intrigued with the idea of lighting a tank with this type of lighting. It appears Plasma Lighting more resembles Metal Halides without the heat and energy consumption (i.e. more efficient). I have to say that the biggest gripe I have with this hobby is the inefficiency of the equipment.

I have been waiting for the cost of LED fixtures to come down, but it's just not happening. Not to mention, I just haven't seen enough tanks with LED fixtures to justify jumping into such a large purchase.

With the plasma price point, I'd be more apt to jump in sooner versus waiting another 3 years to find out LED's just don't cut it. $600-$700 is not all that bad especially if you need fewer of them to light a tank than you would halides.

Kudos to you for experimenting with these and documenting your findings in this thread.

Jay

Thanks ... unfortunately I'm thinking this will not be enough blue without serious actinic supplements, something I wanted to avoid. I'm still going to try it and hopefully more appropriate spectrum bulbs will be available eventually. I'm not sure this is going to beat LED watt for watt, though. That cost also doesn't take into account the reflector (or the sacrificial extension cord

) But that would only be another $100 to $150 ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1DeR9_3Hy

Ahhh...i assumed that was what the plasma was putting out at 2-3" of water. I should have read closer

I might kill everything in that tank if I tried to put the plasma over it

1DeR9_3Hy · 11/14/2009, 03:08 PM

I could envision a bubbling tank, with 220 F. salt water in it...

dipan · 11/14/2009, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1DeR9_3Hy

I could envision a bubbling tank, with 220 F. salt water in it...

Believe me, I want to see this over water too, but not that tank!

Mr..Tang · 11/14/2009, 05:08 PM

so are you thinking one per tank? OR would you place them like metal halides? I would think one for like a 4'-5' tank and maybe 2 for 6'-8'? IS this the thinking? And would'nt these use less energy also?? And how about heat?

kentrob11 · 11/14/2009, 05:20 PM

I'll be interested in seeing how this progresses...

chris4869 · 11/14/2009, 06:22 PM

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is using the 250W LUXIM Plasma LIFI Lighting in one of their deep tank, and it looks amazing.

cubsare1 · 11/14/2009, 06:50 PM

cant wait to see it over a tank with water! very interesting

dipan · 11/15/2009, 03:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr..Tang

so are you thinking one per tank? OR would you place them like metal halides? I would think one for like a 4'-5' tank and maybe 2 for 6'-8'? IS this the thinking? And would'nt these use less energy also?? And how about heat?

My tank is a bit less than 4 feet long, so I was just thinking one of these with the big Lumenarc III reflector. They are rated for 250w and do run reasonably hot, but not as hot as a halide. I'm already planning on putting a fan on the bulb's round heatsink. I'll put a fan on the electronics box within which I'll place the power supply and the Luxim driver/igniter. Both get pretty warm/hot. Placement could be an issue as the cord from the igniter to the bulb is only 2 feet long as you can see in some of the pics. So the electronics box will probably have to be mounted to the light rack.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kentrob11

I'll be interested in seeing how this progresses...

It will probably progress pretty slowly. I was hoping that I could send the whole deal off to someone like hahnmeister soon so he can do a spectral analysis. I can't send him a PM, though, so hopefully he chimes in.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris4869

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is using the 250W LUXIM Plasma LIFI Lighting in one of their deep tank, and it looks amazing.

I did see some pics of that somewhere also ... Not the tank itself, but the light over the tank. Got any links for what the tank itself looks like?

Quote:

Originally Posted by cubsare1

cant wait to see it over a tank with water! very interesting

Hopefully soon. I'm trying to get my tank setup and this light at the same time. Right now I'm doing more plumbing than messing with the light, but I did do some more ...

dipan · 11/15/2009, 03:10 PM

PAR about 12" from the bulb with it mounted in the reflector. I was thinking this would be more, but maybe it's because the Lumenarc III is spreading out the light so well and not further concentrating it straight down ...

Found the limit of the PAR meter. This is about 3-4" from the bulb:

emoore · 11/15/2009, 03:23 PM

Very nice testing. It would be cool to see the PAR versus water depth. Do you have an empty tank you can test?

dipan · 11/15/2009, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emoore

Very nice testing. It would be cool to see the PAR versus water depth. Do you have an empty tank you can test?

I'm working on my new inwall tank right now. That's really the reason I decided to try this light. Quite some plumbing to do before it's ready though. I may be able to fill it with water this coming week, though I was planning a freshwater test fill. Does the added density of salt in the water affect PAR at different depths? Or would a freshwater test be OK?

kentrob11 · 11/15/2009, 06:09 PM

How long do these plasma bulbs last? Also, I'm wondering if you could address the color/actinic issue by placing a ring of cree blue LEs around the center mounted plasma bulb....

2 TAZ · 11/15/2009, 10:49 PM

Looking Forwood to seeing over water, I'm surprised you'll get that much spread though from 1 buld, even with the reflector. I thought the plasma bulbs were more concentrated, more similar to LEDs

dipan · 11/15/2009, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kentrob11

How long do these plasma bulbs last? Also, I'm wondering if you could address the color/actinic issue by placing a ring of cree blue LEs around the center mounted plasma bulb....

I'm not sure that would be enough. I don't think there is enough space at the top of the Lumenarc to even mount any LED's with their needed heatsinks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2 TAZ

Looking Forwood to seeing over water, I'm surprised you'll get that much spread though from 1 buld, even with the reflector. I thought the plasma bulbs were more concentrated, more similar to LEDs

Well, I was thinking that this might be the case, but at a decent height (my tank is 36" tall), comes decent spread, especially with the geometry of the Lumenarc III reflector. It spreads light pretty well. It was suggested by others in I think the original cherrycorals thread that this is not the ideal reflector for this type of bulb, but I figure it's good enough for my application and is readily available. Space above my tank is relatively limited. I think it is about 40" x 24". This reflector is 20" square. If I need more light on the sides I was thinking along the lines of an AquaIllumination LED bank on either side of the central reflector. If this color temp proves to be impossible to work with, I will probably switch the central bulb out to a bluer bulb that will not require actinics like a Radium 400w or AquaConnect 400w.

I guess a plasma bulb is only kind of like a point source. The waveguide is behind it by design, so it cannot obviously emit light all around it like a sphere (as a metal halide bulb with the floating central arc tube), but more like a semi-sphere with light being thrown in all directions away from the plane of the waveguide (the white stuff the bulb is buried in). I don't think it is particularly directional, similar to an LED without optics ...

Obsession203 · 11/15/2009, 11:37 PM

I am also very interested in the results any additional information on this

Johnny C · 11/16/2009, 12:08 AM

IMO you might want to consider a glass UV shield for the light... cool thread though!

11/13/2009, 03:55 PM	#1
dipan Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 304	DIY Luxim Plasma So I managed to buy a basic Luxim plasma setup for an attempt at using it for my new tank build documented here. This is just the start of a DIY plasma build thread. Anyone is welcome to chime in and post their projects here also. I'm not sure I'll be happy with the color temperature of this bulb, but I'm hoping it will work. Unfortunately, the bulb is the 5300K rated one. There is supposed to be another 6000K rated bulb and I'm hoping I will be able to swap in whatever bulb I need when these are more widely available and out of whatever development phase they are in right now. It's not in the reflector yet, but I decided that the best thing for my application would be a Lumenarc III (the big one). Here are some pics (normally worth a thousand words or more) ... PAR measured about 12 inches from the bulb: My trial 20 gallon tank with a pair of UVL lamps (Super Actinic and Actinic White) in a standard Hagen fixture (no individual reflectors, bulbs about 4 months old and could use a cleaning): Note that this is *not* where the plasma will go PAR measured 2-3 inches below the center of the bulbs:

11/13/2009, 03:59 PM	#2
HerdofCrickets Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Overland Park, KS Posts: 123	Do I dare ask where you find these, and how much? __________________ Kansas City Reef Association (KCRA) 180Gal Reef, 3x250w SE, Octo Extreme 300

11/13/2009, 04:03 PM	#3
dipan Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 304	If you do a google for "DIY Luxim plasma" you will see that it is not too hard to find ... As for cost ... a little over $600 ... Last edited by dipan; 11/13/2009 at 04:19 PM.

11/13/2009, 04:17 PM	#4
HerdofCrickets Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Overland Park, KS Posts: 123	Cool, thanks! Off to Google! __________________ Kansas City Reef Association (KCRA) 180Gal Reef, 3x250w SE, Octo Extreme 300

11/13/2009, 06:53 PM	#7
luther1200 Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: NJ, shore Posts: 4,392	And they do not have individual reflectors. Were you measuring wattage with the meter in the first few pics? __________________ Matt, 65G reef tank Current Tank Info: 65g reef, mix of sps, lps, few softies. Hoping to upgrade within the year.

11/13/2009, 05:36 PM	#5
1DeR9_3Hy Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,241	225 mE? 2-3" below the light? What am i missing?

11/13/2009, 09:24 PM	#8
ITR Moved On Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Brookfield, Connecticut Posts: 174	I am extremely intrigued with the idea of lighting a tank with this type of lighting. It appears Plasma Lighting more resembles Metal Halides without the heat and energy consumption (i.e. more efficient). I have to say that the biggest gripe I have with this hobby is the inefficiency of the equipment. I have been waiting for the cost of LED fixtures to come down, but it's just not happening. Not to mention, I just haven't seen enough tanks with LED fixtures to justify jumping into such a large purchase. With the plasma price point, I'd be more apt to jump in sooner versus waiting another 3 years to find out LED's just don't cut it. $600-$700 is not all that bad especially if you need fewer of them to light a tank than you would halides. Kudos to you for experimenting with these and documenting your findings in this thread. Jay

11/14/2009, 03:08 PM	#11
1DeR9_3Hy Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,241	I could envision a bubbling tank, with 220 F. salt water in it...

11/14/2009, 05:08 PM	#13
Mr..Tang Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: North Carolina Posts: 437	so are you thinking one per tank? OR would you place them like metal halides? I would think one for like a 4'-5' tank and maybe 2 for 6'-8'? IS this the thinking? And would'nt these use less energy also?? And how about heat? __________________ "Hey, my name is Mike and I'm a Reefoholic" Current Tank Info: Member of the shallow reef club

11/14/2009, 05:20 PM	#14
kentrob11 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: O'Fallon, IL Posts: 4,322	I'll be interested in seeing how this progresses...

11/14/2009, 06:22 PM	#15
chris4869 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Bay Area, CA Posts: 1,009	The Monterey Bay Aquarium is using the 250W LUXIM Plasma LIFI Lighting in one of their deep tank, and it looks amazing. Last edited by chris4869; 11/14/2009 at 06:27 PM.

11/14/2009, 06:50 PM	#16
cubsare1 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: menasha Posts: 315	cant wait to see it over a tank with water! very interesting

11/15/2009, 03:10 PM	#18
dipan Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 304	PAR about 12" from the bulb with it mounted in the reflector. I was thinking this would be more, but maybe it's because the Lumenarc III is spreading out the light so well and not further concentrating it straight down ... Found the limit of the PAR meter. This is about 3-4" from the bulb:

11/15/2009, 03:23 PM	#19
emoore Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 541	Very nice testing. It would be cool to see the PAR versus water depth. Do you have an empty tank you can test?

11/15/2009, 06:09 PM	#21
kentrob11 Premium Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: O'Fallon, IL Posts: 4,322	How long do these plasma bulbs last? Also, I'm wondering if you could address the color/actinic issue by placing a ring of cree blue LEs around the center mounted plasma bulb....

11/15/2009, 10:49 PM	#22
2 TAZ Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: jACKSON NJ. Posts: 95	Looking Forwood to seeing over water, I'm surprised you'll get that much spread though from 1 buld, even with the reflector. I thought the plasma bulbs were more concentrated, more similar to LEDs

11/15/2009, 11:37 PM	#24
Obsession203 Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: CT Posts: 24	I am also very interested in the results any additional information on this

11/16/2009, 12:08 AM	#25
Johnny C RK Magazine Staff Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Buffalo, NY Posts: 3,274	IMO you might want to consider a glass UV shield for the light... cool thread though! __________________ 57G Illuminata Rimless Reef; Vortech MP10/20, Super Reef Octopus 1000, 6-Bulb ATI Powermodule T5's, Apex Lite... Build Thread Under My Username.