Hoods and lighting

[VirgoWolf]

OK, just out of curiosity, I have a light strip that has a 36" long fluor. tube in the middle and 2 normal sockets on either end. The fluor. bulb is only 30w, but if I were to use this hood and put one of these in each side socket, would that be enough for my planed planted 75g? Comes out to the equivalant of 130w all combined. Not 2w per gallon, so I am assuming not. Which stinks because I already have everything besides the 2 small bulbs. Humm, but it seems if I replace my 30w with one of these at 95w, that should work out, correct? Would it be cheaper than buying the entire hood unit?

If I went that route, I was thinking one of these would be the only way to go, but for my tank it says I need a center brace, which my aquarium doesn't have. What can I do about this?


Also, what do you all think of these? I am having trouble finding anything to fit a 30g that will be sufficent enough to have it planted, so maybe a normal fluor. hood with one of these?

Thanks, if you made it all the way through this post, I'm sorry LOL.

 

[jefftaylor]

try this out and see what you can find there is a lot of nice stuuf and it is very cheap*thumbsup2

http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/parent_category.xml?category_id=1843;pcid1=

 

[Orion]

If your 75 is four ft long, you can use shop lights. $10 each, and easy to setup and don't need much DIY skills to use them. Mines not planted, but I have one just setting on the top of it for now.

The VHO light bulb won't work in your current lights. VHO needs a special ballast that's different than normal flourecent bulbs. For the price and trouble,T-5's would probably be better in the long run.

I can speak somewhat from experence on lights. If you really want a planted tank, your better off to spend the money for a complete setup that will take care of all your needs. I've messed around and DIY'ed to death and it's a lot of trouble, and probably a lot more money than if I just spent the money on a good setup from the start.

 

[dogdoc]

I think your math is a little flawed Virgo. Those CF bulbs you have listed are only 10 watts each. So even with two, and the 30 watt, you will only have 50watts total.

I too am looking at lighting options for a 75 gal planted. Right now, my frontrunners are a JBJ 260w CF system from aquariumplants.com, or a 4x54 watt HO T-5 system like Avalon is running. Big price difference between the two, but either should fit the bill.

 

[VirgoWolf]

Oops, sorry about that, it said it shines as bright as a 50W incandescent , I just saw the 50w and assumed, I better read it closer next time.

Thanks for the advice, I'll keep looking, it'll be a while before I can afford to get the 75 started anyway, gives me some time. Any other suggestions that won't cost an arm and a leg? I really want to get these tanks up and going, but money is really tight.

Anyone know anything about the submersable bulbs?

What is the wattage on the shop lights?

 

[Orion]

I doubt that the underwater bulbs are going to be able to do much for plant growth. It's a bit un-natural for the plants to be getting light from under the water anyway rather than directly above.

I belive the 4' shop lights are 40w each. The $10 shoplight hold's two bulbs, and the bulbs are normaly around $6-10 for a two pack depending on where I get them in my area. It's a popular size, so they come in just about every color temp and you can find them even at wallmart.

IMHO, being cheap, the shoplights are probably going to be the best thing. Another thing I like about the shop lights is that if one ever goes bad, your not going to have to wait to have any parts shipped to you because it's just as cheap to replace a light than to repair it. And you can get everything localy.

So if you had three shop lights over tank with 2 40w bulbs in each that would give you around 3.2 wpg. But on large tanks you can get away with less lighting and still get great results. So you could try just two units and see how that does and then add a thrid if it looks like you need it. Two lights plus bulbs would be less than $50.

Yeah the Screw-in CF lights can be misleading. Always go by the energy used, not what is put off.

 

[VirgoWolf]

Hummm, OK I must be thinking of something totally different, when I think shop lights, I think of the lights my dad has in his garage hanging over his work bence... I could NEVER fit more than one of those on any tank.

Seems like either way it would take up alot of space, what kind of hood could I use?

 

[Orion]

Nope, those are exactly what I'm talking about.

Last year when I setup my 75 gallon tank I started with two shoplights on it. Not enough plants, so two ended up not being nessicary so now I only use one. Here is a few pics of how it was with two. You can get a better idea of what I'm talking about.

I assume that your 75 is the standard size (48x18x20).

 

[VirgoWolf]

I see, now my only questions are:

1) You said there 40w each, I'd need at least 4.... that just doesn't seem reasonable. Am I missing something?

2) I noticed you don't have a hood, but I will have critters that like to excape, what can I do about a hood?

Yes, my tank is standard size, I forget the exact hight and width, but definitly pretty darn close if not exactly the same.

 

[Orion]

1) You see that I had two shop lights hanging each with two bulbs. Worked fine for the time I had both up. Each bulb is 40w, so that's 80w per light unit. Does that make more sence?

2)I still don't have a hood over the tank but I do have the glass tops that go on the top of the tank. They come with a plastic piece that goes on the back of the glass that you cut out to allow the equipment in the tank while still keeping good containment in the tank. I wish I had a picture of that to show you but I don't. I actualy feel that if done properly, the glass tops offer better protection than a standard hood because they are easier to cut and to work with. But some fish are just so stuborn that no matter what you do short of wraping the entire top of plastic and duct tape they will still find a way to escape and end up crunchy.

Here is a link to the glass tops.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=3781&N=2004+113765
They seem a little pricey to me on these, but you may beable to get a better deal on it locally. The one you will need is for a 48x18 tank.

-HTH

 

[VirgoWolf]

I see, I was thinking there was only 1 bulb in each fixture (need to inspect my dad's, I think he only paid like $10 a fixture on sale!)

Yeah, I wanted a glass hood (The one you linked is the same as the one I linked in post #1 ) but I was wondering how the equipment would fit, I get it now... Maybe my dad can make me a hood. Hummmm...

 

[Orion]

Yeah the shop lights are cheap and one of the reasons why so many people use them on larger tanks. I belive the local Lowes has them for $8 regular price.

One thing to keep in mind if your going to build an actualy hood or canopy for the tank is that the lights are just a little bit longer than the tank. So the canopy will have to be large enough to fit the lights in as well. Normaly I build a top and just use the top of the tank as a guide, but if I were to do this on my 75 gallon it would be to short to fit the lights in.

With minimal woodworking skills you can make a canopy pretty easy and sorta cheap. There are tons of threads on this site and all over the web of different ways to make them.

 

[VirgoWolf]

Yeah, I think Dad has a new project LOL. If he is willing to take it on.

 

[Bruckm]

try this place for glass tops. I've ordered that and other things there and have yet to pay a shipping fee.

http://j.tonn.tripod.com/aquariumsextraordinaire.html