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| RainbowBoy Small Fry Posts: 4 Kudos: 3 Votes: 0 Registered: 16-Nov-2008 | I have a 55 gallon aquarium with stock lighting. I would like some more light for my aquarium. In case you need to know, the aquarium houses Electric Yellow Cichlids. I would possibly like to keep live plants (we'll see!). But I would just like stronger lighting, but I don't want to blind my fish. What I would like to do is go to my local home improvement store (Lowes possibly) and make my own lighting. I just don't know how strong of bulbs (or what kind of bulbs) to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! |
 Posted 24-Nov-2008 07:36 |     |
FRANK       Moderator Posts: 5108 Kudos: 5263 Votes: 1690 Registered: 28-Dec-2002    |  Edited by FRANKThe easiest way to do what you are asking about is to purchase one of the two bulb "shop lights." These are generally made of thin steel and are painted with a glossy white enamel. That was how I lit my 55G tank. The thing is that the water vapor off the tank will condense on the me the wire connections. To avoid that, I had a piece of glass cut to cover all but the last inch and a half of the tank, along the entire back of the tank, and set the light on top of that. (Put the glass between the light and the water.) Two 40 watt bulbs will give you around 1.5 watts per gallon. In the 55, because of its depth, I'd consider using any bulb sold in the hardware store that has the word "Sun," or "Sunlight" in it. In a LFS, consider a bulb in the 8,000K to 10,000K range. Don't go over 10,000K or it will begin to "washout" the colors of your fish. That is plenty of light to enjoy looking at your fish, and at the same time, grow "low light" plants such as Anubis and Crypts. Frank  -->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<-- |
| Posted 24-Nov-2008 11:32 |  |
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