FishProfiles.com Message Forums

All 18" bulbs for that fixture will be the same watts so to get 2wpg you'll have to spend some money. Either get a glass canopy and a bigger light or retrofit the small fixtures to hold compact fluorescents. If you switch to a glass canopy you can buy 48" shoplights for quite cheap and at least make 1.5wpg. When I bought my 55g the store wanted $50 for each of those 18" light fixtures and hood. For that I could definitely buy a glass cover and enough shoplights to reach 3wpg.

I would have to agree. Reef tanks cost much more than freshwater and with the higher tech lighting needed you pretty much have know choice, lots of money. If I had the money I would have a reef tank, I think there worth it.

I don't have a problem with spending the money for good equipment but $100 for some lights is alittle extreme.

if you think $100 bucks is alot, dont even think about looking at reef lighting! :%)

i know, its not freshwater, but still...

Nick
"Impossumable- unable to play dead"

Don't know if this thread is still active or not? I bought 2 48" shop lights from homedepot and they work great. I got the lights with the small reflector and made a temprarey canopy. Just make sure the lights are high enough above the glass and have plenty of ventilation, the lights will get warm.

Try google searches too...forgot about that there are lots of DIY lighting projects out there...you'll likely find some directions especially for such a standard size.

have fun with it, and keep us posted .

^_^[hr width='40%']"Love's the Funeral Of Hearts, and an ode for cruelty,
When angels cry blood, on flowers of evil in bloom
and a plea for mercy,
where Love is a gun separating me from you" ~[/font]

howdy thanks for the links they look good i know i sound cheap i just hate feeding the machine so of the prices i,ve seen is way outta line i got a garage bigger than a lotta peoples houses and a whole lotta tools i got a friend thats a carpenter and i got a couple thats electricans i,ll do the 55 first and if it turns out i,ll do the rest i,t will be a good winter project

Heya des,
Getting a glass top is best as it'll allow more of your hard work to show thru to the plants .
I only had to worry about getting semi-decent light over nothing larger than a 30 gallon ...but doing that straigh DIY from local stock is hard....I used a dual bulb fixture from home depot, unfortunatly while they do sell 3' fixtures they dont sell the bulbs!. The 2' fixtures work well over a 20 gallon, not so good over a 30 long.

Check out [link=AH Supply]http://www.ahsupply.com/" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] and [link=Hello lights]http://www.hellolights.com" style="COLOR: #EB4288[/link] for more aquatic related DIY fixtures.

^_^[hr width='40%']"Love's the Funeral Of Hearts, and an ode for cruelty,
When angels cry blood, on flowers of evil in bloom
and a plea for mercy,
where Love is a gun separating me from you" ~[/font]

Frank,

Sorry I didn't respond earlier (busy setting up a 125) but you don't need another cup of coffee .

[link=Here]http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=29553&category_id=1875&pcid1=1843" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] is the right link to 2x65W (I hope).

DIY is not for everybody as various tools are required to build something nice (for example when made out of wood). These tools can easily exceed the cost of a finished hood. Not to mention the time spend on building it and having a wife who thinks you are spending way too uch time on your fish as it is .

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

So, if you like DIY proyects, then get an aluminum canopy, those that have one side mirror finished. Its light in terms of weight, and thin enough to drill it with an screwdriver.

Get that canopy for 48" tubes, get two or three ballast and buy three Aqua-Glo tubes (T8 kind, those are thinner than traditional T12 tubes < ticker specie)

Get electronic ballasts, those come with built in connectors, ready just to plug the tubes ends on them. Just put a 127v plug and you're set.

Put the ballasts over the hood and thats it. The only thing you might have to do is to cover the tank with glass, to prevent evaporation.

hey if this is a no brainer i claim stupidty but i can,t for the life of me figure out how i,m suppose two get 2 wpg on my 55 it came with two hoods the tank has a center brace in the middle the hoods hold a single 18" bulb both are no wattage avaible on these i went to wal-mart and bought some ge aquarays theses are 15 watts and 9325 k but i think these are causing some of my algea problems but the light is alot better than the natural imo the natural makes the water loolike crap any way i need some help]:|]:|:#(

I would have to agree with deschazkody. I don't have a problem with spending the money for good equipment but $100 for some lights is alittle extreme. I am quite handy at DIY stuff, (which for me is part of the fun). I am going to the hardware store tomarrow and look into flourescent light fixtures. I will let you know what I find out.

Hi,
Unless I need another cup of coffee, that 2nd link went
to a hood that housed 4, 65 watt, compact flourscents
that yield a total of 260 watts/55 = 4.7 wpg, not "a little
over 2 wpg."

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

yep i,m a cheapo i did find a link weit a lot of build your own stuff backgrounds,canopys,ect,ect some really good stuff so i,m oppting to diy i dont mind spending the cash but there taking this lighting a little over the top any thinks

deschazkody,

I don&#8217;t know exactly what your problem is. Do you try to find a cheap solution? Or is your tank of an odd size (I assume it&#8217;s a 48&#8221?

Finding light fixtures that give you your desired WPG is not all that hard, if you are willing to spend the money.

Take these 2 for example:

[link=2x55W]http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=24085;category_id=1875;pcid1=1843;pcid2=" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] would give you exactly 2wpg.

[link=2x65W]http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=24037;category_id=1875;pcid1=1843;pcid2=" style="COLOR: #ff6633[/link] would give you a little over 2 wpg.

Is that not what you are looking for?

Or, as Fallout mentioned, if you are handy with electric stuff (I am not) then you could build your own solution.

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You can pick up some All-Glass Aquarium [link=Versa-Tops]http://all-glass.com/products/hoods/versatop.shtml" style="COLOR: #FFFF00[/link] and either [link=build your own lights]http://ahsupply.com/" style="COLOR: #FFFF00[/link] using your existing light shells or if you're handy with some wood, your own canopy and stuff all the light you want ontop of the tank

if you find a solution please let me know and i,ll dop the same

I have basicaly the same dilema. The lights that come with the tank are 15 watt bulbs(Like all the other 18" lights). I have heard that any where from 7-10k is optimal. I am looking into getting a 48" twin flourecent light fixture from my local hardware store and see if I can't make that work. I am going to build a custom top anyway so looks are not that important. Besides, all of the light fixtures that are 48" at the LFS cost as much as the tank. I am not to light savy anyway so I am still researching. Hope you find the solution to your dilema.