Designer Spot Lights for Tank?

Velvet AciD

Velvet AciD

Large Fish
#1
Jun 28, 2003
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#1
Here's a thought;

I have a few pairs of those mini spot lamps that interior designers use for lighting effects, and they happen to be able to mount to walls.

Could I use these for a planted tank? Or would they be too inadequate? How many inches away should I put them before they become useless? I know for sure I can find some high wattage bulbs for those babies. :D

The bulbs are about 3" in diameter and I was thinking about using them on a 10 gallon planted project. The tank would be next to a plain wall on a stand and the lights would be mounted on the wall over the tank.

Ideas? Opinions? Suggestions?
 

depthC

depthC

Superstar Fish
#3
Feb 24, 2003
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Sounds like a great idea and could turn out to look very nice. Id say just get a metal halide light and do some trial and error. The MH lights that hang from the ceiling look great and they work great to so Id be willing to bet that a MH light would work out great.

- depthC
 

Lotus

Lotus

Ultimate Fish
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#6
Aug 26, 2003
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#6
I think the lights Velvet Acid is talking about are halogen lights, like the track lighting or under-cabinet lighting (the nice ones). I have heard mixed things about them for plant growing. Maybe someone else has more info on them.
 

depthC

depthC

Superstar Fish
#8
Feb 24, 2003
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#8
Im not experience or knowledgable at all about MH lights but from what ive accumulated on the subject. It would be overkill for a 10g tank.

This light, is it just like a desktop lamp that has the option to be mounted to a wall? If so im not sure what solutions there are for a incandesant socket. Maybe a screw in flourescant, but IMO they suck. Is this a incandesant socket your working with?

- depthC
 

depthC

depthC

Superstar Fish
#12
Feb 24, 2003
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#12
Yeah the diagram helps but now i think of it im not sure what will work in a incandesant socket. A screw in flourescant would work but they wont put out much light. Maybe a flood light bulb like you have in the diagram would work. They make bulbs for plants just like that and ive heard from various sources that they work pretty good, but everyone has different conditions and such so its just trail and error. Any updates on this velvet?

But again id suggest a plant bulb.

- depthC
 

Velvet AciD

Velvet AciD

Large Fish
#13
Jun 28, 2003
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Well, the latest update is that I tried it on a 2 gallon when I moved back to Arizona. The way the light was mounted only made half of the tank get really really high nice light, and I couldn't find another way of lighting the other side. :confused:

But now that I'm back 'home' I can have my oh-so-industrious bf try to rig something up, he has tons of lights left over from his reptile cages. I just need to find a way to make them un-hot.

Oh, and for the bulb I was using a 75 Watt flood light.
 

G

grazhopr

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#14
Jan 19, 2004
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Hi,

On the MH subject: Metal Halides are commonly used in Salt water reef tanks and are mainly a "rich" source of food (light) for corals. Normally, for the hobby you´ll find them in color temperature ratings between 6500 K and 20000 K. For what I´ve read, FW planted tanks commonly require less than the minimum available Kelvin rating MHs are available.
For Reef tanks, a 50 gal tank or smaller can be lit with VHO (very high output) or PC (power compacts), for coral keeping (VHOs and PCs I´m familiar with are more of a white-blue tint and many reefers use them to suplement yellow-green tinted 6500 K MH bulbs as well). MHs that I´ve seen are available in minimum +/- 150-175 watt retrofits (retrofits will inlcude bulb + ballast + reflector in most cases) up to 400 watts and Kelvin ratings of 6500, 10000, 12000 and 20000 degrees (most common). Sun light color temperature is estimated to be around 5500 K (+/-). Above that, light is supposed to be bluer and below that is more yellow/red (which is the preferred by plants and algae). VHOs are commonly 96 watts and above (usually depending on the length of the tube) and power compacts come in similar wattage, but they take much less space than VHOs (for equivalent wattage), but are limited in wattage availability. MHs are very hot lights (you may know this if you´ve ever touched accidentally a 100W light bulb :D ) and usually will require vented hoods (with computer type fans) to disipate/extract heat and keep evaporation at a minimum rate. Like for FW tanks, there´s a rule of thumb for reef tanks, and I´ll take corals with high light demand (or shallow reef dwellers) as an example, you´d need more than 8-10 watts / gal. That´s when MHs comes into play for most reef keepers. I think the choices to light a FW tank are simpler and much cheaper.
A 175 watt MH retrofit can cost from $ 200-250.
For what I know, I think normal output fluorescent lights (20W, 50W etc) may be more than enough to light 1 to 50 gal planted tanks (I can´t speak for bigger volumes, though :confused: ).

Just my opinion.... *celebrate
 

Last edited:
bigfoot150

bigfoot150

Superstar Fish
#15
Dec 17, 2003
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#15
That flood light you have probably won't work well for plants. However, I have seen at Lowes, Home Depot, and even Walmart plant/grow lights that look like flood lights. Not sure of they color temp or their out put or even if they work well. Just a suggestion though.

Also, those reptile bulbs are probably heat lamps and they probably won't work well for plants since they put out more IR than anything. You can probably find grow bulbs that will fit those fixtures too.
 

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