On a budget, looking for lighting

[Punkrulz]

Hey guys,

I'm using the term "on a budget" loosely, anything that is rather cheap is good for me. I've recently come into owning a 29g tank (dimensions are 30"x12"). It does have a hood? However the light fixture had broken and thus we don't have one. I'm looking for lighting that will accomplish several feats:

1) Will provide very nice lighting to enhance the colors of the fish.
2) Will be able to sustain plant life.
3) Will not break my bank.

I'm not sure if it would be easier to use the existing hood, and find one of the lights that goes over the clear part like my existing tank? Or it I would be better off getting a new hood / light combination? Can you guys please give me some ideas on what I'm getting into here? I keep looking over my fish catalog, however I don't understand too much going on there. Again, looking at the hood: I'm not against replacing it all together to enhance the appearance of my tank...

Thanks!

 

[Orion]

Heh, I think nearly all of us in this hobby are on a tight budget.

If you've still got the light that went with that plastic hood you've got, then you can get a retro-fit setup. By going reto-fit, you can still shove the new lights in the old lighting shell, and still not end up having to buy a canopy or spend the money on materials to make a canopy your self. I actually took the light strip that went with my old 20 Long, which is the same footprint as a 29, and added a CF bulb in it a week or so ago for my 65 gallon tank. I've been meaning to put a thread up anyway cause I thought it turned out pretty nice. I didn't use the plastic hood as I'm using it on a much larger tank, I bought the glass top to go on top of the tank. Cost to me was nothing as I already had everything, but I would say that you could come off much cheaper than buying a pre made light strip.

Compact Florescent's and T-5's are what you want to look for, as these will give you the most bang for your buck. And neither are terribly expensive. I would say probably for a 29 you might want to go with T-5 HO, as they are more intense than CF and will have an easier time penetrating to the bottom of the tank with a quality reflector.

 

[Punkrulz]

Thanks for your response Orion! Unfortunately we do not have the light housing that came with the original hood, so that idea is lost. Thats partially what I was thinking... but it's a lost cause.

spend the money on materials to make a canopy your self

Hahaha... I am so not "handily-inclined"... that would be a failure and a half, and I don't need / want the added frustration. It took me 3 days to hang shelves in my apartment that would sit above my old fishtank when we move it... sooo frustrated over studs and anchors, let alone I don't want to build anything cause it'd be horrible! I still have to learn / figure out how to paint my stand (wood).

Could you perhaps link me to equipment that I would need, for the T-5 HO, all the materials to get it to sit on top of my tank, prices, etc?

 

[Orion]

Wow, I've not looked for any lights in a long while and the T-5 light units have came down quite a bit.

Here's a T-5 normal output light strip giving you a total of 36w for $45 and change.
Aqualight with Colormax & 6700K Fluorescent T-5 Lamps - 18W - 30 in. | T5 Lighting | Lighting Systems | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

Not a huge amount of light, but better than stock lighting for sure. I've paid much more for 'normal' aquarium strip lights that's it's made me sick.

Just need the glass top and your good to go. Really for anything other than the plastic hood you've already got you'll need to get the glass top. They normally aren't bad though.

Let me see what they've got on the HO lights. Over all thatfishplace looks to have very reasonable prices on the T-5 lights.

EDIT: This looks to be the cheapest HO light strip they carry: Nova Extreme HO Light Fixture - 2 x 24W - T5 - 10,000K - 30 in. | T5 Lighting | Lighting Systems | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

More money, but more bang too.

 

[Punkrulz]

Yeah I hear you... I may be able to make that investment in time. I won't need lighting for any part of the fishless cycling process will I? Because that gives me a month to save somewhat...

My question: If I get a glass hood, and also that HO lighting fixture, how would it mount on top of the glass? Would it sit on top, or would there be some sort of bracket? I thought I was seeing glass tops for like $30... I have a drfosters and smith catalog that I get frequently and I like shopping from there, thought I saw one... though if I can get cheaper.

Right now I have an Aquaclear filter, and a Visi-therm stealth heater planned out, which primarily is what was suggested in another topic.

 

[Orion]

I think a 29 is 30x12, if so Thatfishplace has them for $18.99. Foster and Smith ain't a bad place, but I've come to find out that they are over priced on a lot of stuff that you can get elsewhere on the web for a little bit cheaper. It pays to shop around. My thoughts are every dollar counts. But I still like getting the catalog from them Check around on some of our other sponsors too, they have seem to have pretty competitive pricing.

T-5's aren't supposed to put off a lot of heat, so you could probably be fine just setting it on top of the glass hood, but I wouldn't just for safety sake. You can get a set of mounting legs for under $10 from most places for many light fixtures ( and I can't seem to find any right now).

 

[Punkrulz]

A couple of questions:

1) How are you setting up your links to do the titles of the page that you're linking... ?

2) Will this be suitable as a glass canopy? It says perfect match for Perfecto Tanks, but will it work for what I need?

Glass Canopies | Glass Canopies | Aquarium Stands & Canopies | Aquarium - ThatPetPlace.com

3) Think you could continue to try and look for feet? I want to make sure it's done right if that's the route I go!

 

[Pure]

The feet look nice but aren't needed for that particular lamp. Raising the light off of the canopy is to reduce heat transfer to the tank. The amount of heat generated does depend on the lamp but, 2 24W T5s won't put off enough heat to be of any concern.

To give you an idea of how high you can go without needing the feet, I keep 2 65W CF lights sitting directly on top of my canopy on my 29 gal and don't notice much of a change in temperature for the tank.

Yes that canopy should work.

 

[Orion]

Thanks Pure. I really didn't know how much heat that thing would put off. I'm a worry wart anyway

 

[Punkrulz]

Awesome guys, now I just really need to save a lot of pennies just to get this. First I'll get the filter & heater, but it may be awhile until anything is setup; we have vacation coming up soon and money is tight enough.

 

[Punkrulz]

2x24 watt T5-HO lights is 48w, which is about 1.6wpg for me... is that suitable for plants, or is that shooting a bit too low?

 

[Orion]

The WPG 'rule' is shaky anyway, and really was only meant to apply to normal florescent bulbs. You can't really apply the same thinking with T-5's.

I think that with good reflectors, that will give you good enough lighting to grow a good selection of plants. Keep in mind though, that lighting is only one of several parts to a healthy planted tank.