The AquaIllumination Hydra white LED's are really harsh. If you crank them up above 25%, SPS can't handle it. I'm not exactly sure about why, but everyone who owns the HYDRAs tell me the same story. Aesthetically, I really dislike the super blue that I would have to keep the fixture in order to keep SPS. I've been trying to crank up my whites, but I'd love a different solution.
I'm thinking of trying to retrofit two Kessil a80 tuna white, or one Kessil a160 tuna white to my Hydra.
Requirements:
I'm thinking of trying to retrofit two Kessil a80 tuna white, or one Kessil a160 tuna white to my Hydra.
Requirements:
- Needs to look really good and simple
- Needs to be white to match... everything
- Needs to allow me to run my AI Hydra with all the blues, but give it enough white to look a bit better aesthetically (6500K range)
- Either two A80s or one a160 tuna white
- Brackets (white) that can be attached to the AI Hydra, and hold (balanced) A80s or one a160
- Patience in painting the housings white
- Painting the kessil housing
- balancing just one a160 tuna white without a counterweight
- dealing with two extra cables if mounting two a80s
- making the brackets seamless and nice looking
- Extend my current hanging bracket with a longer bolt and attach an angled (15 degree?) bracket off both ends of it, pointing inwards, and attaching an a80 (on both ends)
- Create one bracket that sits across the middle (shortest side) that is somehow fixed (jbweld? something less permanent but solid?) that will hold two a80s so it's balanced
- Create a bracket similar to the above, but just mount one a160 to one side, and adjust the hanging kit cable lengths so that it counters the weight imbalance (the normal force will move the light forward/back a bit, which means I'll need to adjust the anchor points forward)
- Just wait until AI or someone comes out with a new light that has better white LED's with a white fixture.
- How do I go about getting brackets? Will I need a machine shop? Will I need some kind of AutoCAD program?
- Is it even safe to spray paint the housings of the kessil? I was going to mask off most of it, and maybe even open it up and tape up the holes so the spray paint doesn't get inside. Probably use high temperature paint that might have some resistance to saltwater?
- Will the Tuna Sun actually be good in place of the white LED's, or will they cause the same issue?