# [Wet Thumb Forum]-DIY lighting help



## irie_eyes (Jul 12, 2003)

I just got my tank. It's a tall 20 gallon.
Was looking at lights and hood/light combos are about $40.
There are flurocent48" shop lights at the hardware store for $9.
I didn't want it to be over the sides, so I wanted one that was about 24" but those were kinda hard to find.

Anyways, at Home Depot they have this plastic chromed egg carton screen used for recessed light fixtures.
I wanted to get it to use as a tank cover and place my light on. I didn't want a lot of light spillage because its a bit of a distraction. It also might be the same price as a piece of clear plastic.
I just want the light to go into the tank and not create glare, which is why I was now considering a hood with light.

Anyone try this chromed egg carton thing?
It's either I get a regular hood with light, or spend less than $40.
If anything, I might just the the 48" fixture and deal with the light beacuse I'll probaly get a longer tank later.


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## irie_eyes (Jul 12, 2003)

I just got my tank. It's a tall 20 gallon.
Was looking at lights and hood/light combos are about $40.
There are flurocent48" shop lights at the hardware store for $9.
I didn't want it to be over the sides, so I wanted one that was about 24" but those were kinda hard to find.

Anyways, at Home Depot they have this plastic chromed egg carton screen used for recessed light fixtures.
I wanted to get it to use as a tank cover and place my light on. I didn't want a lot of light spillage because its a bit of a distraction. It also might be the same price as a piece of clear plastic.
I just want the light to go into the tank and not create glare, which is why I was now considering a hood with light.

Anyone try this chromed egg carton thing?
It's either I get a regular hood with light, or spend less than $40.
If anything, I might just the the 48" fixture and deal with the light beacuse I'll probaly get a longer tank later.


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Any standard hood for a 20 tall is not going to provide enough light to grow plants. Even a dual tube fixture is only going to give you around 36 watts. And on a tall tank that's not a lot. Robert sells an awesome 65 watt PC light that would work great on your tank.

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## jaws2 (Aug 1, 2003)

what would you say if i could give you 150 watts on a 20 tall? for 20 bucks? right 20 bucks well here is a link for 150 watts 20 bucks http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=09e5b29ef54e69467c1f685eb3cc0d1e&threadid=5969


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## irie_eyes (Jul 12, 2003)

I was looking into those.
I have one of those energy-saver twisted tube for my room.
So wattage is based on incandecent lights?
There are really nice (and expensive) hoods that use the same type but are longer. They have the center mounting block with the two pins on each side.
Is there a way to DIY those or is it a lot more complicated than that (ballasts and stuff)?
I have read that if you have a LOT of light, the spectrum thing can be irrelevant.
The plant I primarily want to grow is an anubias nana on driftwood, which is halfway up the tank. I have read they don't need a lot of light, and too much can harm them. I will put some fast-growing ones just to keep algae in check through.

So is lighting a huge issue for me? The cheaper the better?


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Jaws2,

What would you say if I said that those lights only provide 38 watts? When we talk watts we are talking fluorescent watts.

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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

irie_eyes,

I have a 20 gallon tank that I cover with egg crate -- in fact, all of my tanks that are covered at all are covered with lighting egg crate. I use the white plastic variety instead of the chrome, but I'm not sure it makes a difference, except that the "chrome" coat might peel off, while the white won't.

The tank is lit by a standard flouresent ceiling fixture. I took the plastic cover off the light fixture so the lights lie directly on top of the egg crate. The sides of the lights are covered with some wood slats painted white to keep too much light from spilling into the room. The fixture carries two 24", 20 watt T12 bulbs, so provides the tank with 2 watts per gallon lighting. I prefer using GE chroma 50s for lighting.

The tank also has minimal filtration (a powerhead with a cartridge filter) and DIY CO2, using a 1-gallon yeast batch.

The light intensity is low compared to most more modern setups, but the tank grows plants very well. Last fall I pulled probably about 20 Barclaya longifolia and at least 10 Cryptocoryne cordata out of that tank and sold them at auction at the AGA convention. Right now the tank is growing the best Crypt cordata you will probably ever see and it will probably produce another five or six Barclaya for the auction. The plants flower regularly. It has a stand of dwarf lobelia that doubles in size every few months -- I sent a handfull of plants to Jay Luto a couple weeks ago and the empty space that left is already filled in. Before I filled the foreground with dwarf lobelia it had a nice lawn of lileaopsis.

In addition to growing some plants very well, the tank is dependable, easy to maintain and (when it isn't too overgrown) pretty nice to look at.

While the tank is very successful with some plants, there are a lot of plants that it just won't grow.

So have no doubt that a setup like you described can work. Whether or not it is what you want depends on your goals.


Roger Miller


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## irie_eyes (Jul 12, 2003)

Thanks. 
I will probably go with the DIY energy-saver bulb setup. Home depot has a twin 24" setup but it didn't have the price. 
I also wanted the lights to sit on top of the egg crate. I was messing the chrome one and if the light source comes in at an angle, light reflects off the sides of the egg crate and downwards, so I believe it will capture a lot of light from a center positioned light source and project it downward, which was kind of my goal.
I have access to some FoamCor so I will probably make a hood/deflector for it.


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## JamesHoftiezer (Feb 2, 2003)

Anubias can go with lower light in the 2wpg range but will grow better if given more light.

Keep in mind, as rex mentioned, that you area after flourescent watts per gallon. I have the twist savers on a couple of my vivariums but the lights do not compare to my power compacts. After spendinding $18 for bulbs(30wFL) then $16 for fixtures, an AHSupply kit would run $60 but be well worth the money. Please keep in mind that twist lights have the ballast inthe base of the bulb and require proper ventilation or they will burn out prematurely. Keep in mind that it is hard to find bulbs inthe proper color. If you want I have some sources for 6400K bulbs.

You could also look at multiple 20w 24" lights. You can fit as many as 4 of them on your tank.

The quality of a bulb will make a difference. If you plan on multiple bulbs, you can get daylight bulbs at common sources, it just takes some looking. Lots of low color bulbs(2200-3000K) will not look or work half as good for plants as 4400-6700k bulbs.

*James Hoftiezer
Hoftiezer.Net - Journals and Libraries
Tank Journal - Aquascape ( Latest / Archive )
Tank Journal - Parts and Construction ( Latest / Archive )*


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## irie_eyes (Jul 12, 2003)

I did more research and thinking and ventalation would be a problem.
Also, the lighting concerns me now.
I looked the compacts and there are two different color tubes, one I guess daylight and another blue.
I would like to get a good setup to prevent spending more money.
I found some DIY kits, but they were kinda pricey, up to the point where I might as well get the pre-made hoods.
The Formosa looks really nice though.

I might just go with the home twin tube 24", and pick up the tubes from the pet store.
I could use it for something else later and get better lights.


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Hey, jaws2, I just wanna say that today I went to Wal-Mart as well as Lowes to check out those supplies you mentioned. I think I did manage to find all of the components, however, with a little uncertainty. For the light bulb, did you mean to get the CF one that has 19 Watt output? And this is actually stronger than the conventional bulbs with higher wattages? So therefore, if I get two of the CF bulbs I should be on the right track, right? Thanks!


Paul


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Again, more question concerning this CF bulb jaws2 had mentioned. Rex, I am just wondering if what he said about the light wattage of CF bulbs was really true. And whether I could really use those instead of conventional fluorescent bulbs, considering my tanks are only long enough for 18'' and 24''(these are for 20-gal and 29-gal tanks, respectively). 18'' bulb only gives off 15watt.(FYI, these are one Life-Glo and one Power-Glo) So I use two of that, which gives total of 30watt. In any case, is that enough light for the plants to grow nicely?(as in photo-worthy) I really want my plants to grow nice and dense; I do have DIY CO2 injection. Should I simply spend more money and get the pricey CF lighting made specially for Aquarium(such as Formosa)or can I really try doing what Jawas2 said he did? Please excuse my somewhat confusing and messy questions, and any attempt to answer any of them is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!


Paul


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

Well since jaws2 has only made one public post on this thread the items that jaws2 mentioned must have been in a PM to you. I have not seen the comments on wattage of CF bulbs.

I can tell you that many people who desire high light tanks use CF bulbs. But they are NOT using the spiral bulbs. They are using straight tubes. The reason is that the spiral bulbs only manage to put at most 30% of their stated output into the tank. The design of the bulb leads to a lot of re-strike and that is all wasted light. Couple that with the fact that you will basically have little or no reflector with these bulbs and you start to see the problem.

30 watts over either a 20 gallon or a 29 gallon tank is just not enough lights. On a 20 gallon you might be able to get java fern, and Anubias to grow slowly. But it sounds to me like you want a larger variety of plants than that. So the simple answer is you are going to need more light. A lot more light that the solution that jaws2 has given you. I don't personally know jaws2 and have never really had any discussions with jaws2. I do know that when his/her fallacy was pointed out by myself they either failed to respond or chose not to respond. This is childish behavior and/or the sign that they think that I'm an idiot. Well maybe I am and idiot and think I know much more about this hobby than I do. But I'm sure at least one or two people here would disagree with that. It could be that I have no life and just sit here and blather on and on about many things I have no idea about and that's why I one of the most prolific posters on this forum. It could be that I'm a moderator because Robert felt sorry for the village idiot and wants me to feel much more important than I truly am. Or it could be that I actually know what I'm talking about. You make that choice.

If you want the plants in your 29 gallon to grow nice and dense then you really need to get into the 90 watt range on your lighting. And that means 90 watts with good reflectors. Even if you went with a 55 watt PC light with a good reflector you would still have problems. If it were my tank and I had the money I would go with 110 watts of PC lights and use the GE 9325k bulbs. For the 20 gallon tank I would run it as a lower light tank and use say one 55 watt PC fixture on it with the same bulb. Or if you want more light then two 55 watt fixtures.

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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Thank you for the detailed analysis on the lightings, Rex! I really appreciate it! To tell you the truth, no, I have never had any conversations with jaws2. Hence I was and is still somewhat perplexed by what he claimed to have achieved. Yeah, you're right about using higher wattages. I guess it all eventually boils down to one thing: money. I mean, let's face it, for the most part, it IS true the more you pay the more you get. In a way, it's kindda cruel truth, haha. But I will take on your advice as I know you are definitely NOT some village idiot as you so proclamined how others might see you that way, haha! If anything, you guys are the ones who made this forum such an awesome and information power-packed place! I certainly have learned alot from you and other knowledgeble moderators! Now, if only I can start saving money for those lights By the way, can you tell me a little more about PC lightings? And in your opinion, would something like the lights made by Formosa be a good investment? Moreover, the GE 9325k bulb you mentioned; is that available at any hardware store, such as Homedepot or Lowes? Once again, thank you for reading all my questions and answering them







My sincere gratitude!

Paul


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

If I were going to buy a commercial light I would get the lights that Robert sells here at AB. The 9325k bulbs can't be found at the BORG. In fact I have yet to see the BORG carry any PC bulbs above 13 watts. You would need to order them from a on-line fish store. They are the same bulbs that All-Glass use in their PC light strips.

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## walpurgis999 (Feb 6, 2003)

I wouldnt use shoplights, you should look into ODNO (overdriving normal output) flourescents. Shoplights, although cheap, burn out and underdrive lights--but they do work, just not as good as making or buying a good lighting system. EGG CRATE is designed to diffuse and disperse light--you do not want this on your tanks. I asked a guy at Home Depot what they do, and he said they soften the light and deflect it in order to make it less strong--again not what u want. You can buy glass tops for your tank, or go to a glass place and have four pieces made for 12 bucks.

Im an English teacher in school, not in this forum. Hence, I spell, you spell, we all spell bad.


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## Paul Higashikawa (Mar 18, 2004)

Thanks, Rex, and also walpurgiss999 on your infos about lightings. I guess the main reason I wanted to learn more about these things is because I really wish my plants would grow more abundantly and densely, like the ones you all have. Time and patience are two great factors, no doubt. I will try to take some picture of my tanks and let you guys and anyone else to evaluate whether the plants can do better or not, as far as lighting and any other factors are concerned. In the mean time, I am just about tire as heck from my weekly water change today







Thanks, y'all!(yeah, I'm from Texas, haha)

Tank spec:
18-gal tall:15WX2 Lifeglow, single Anubias, 
Java moss spread over the wood, 
2 Hemigrammus caudovittatus, 
2 Platydoras costatus, 1 Metynnis 
hypsauchen, 1 Panagolus maccus
20-gal reg:15WX2 Lifeglow, dwarf Anubias, Java 
moss, Amazon sword, Lilaeopsis, Java 
fern, Hornworts
4 Botia striata, 4 Poecilia 
reticulata, 4 Melanotaenia spp, 1 
swordtail, 1 Scissortail rasbora
10-gal reg:15WX1 Powerglow, Hornwort and Java 
moss
1 Etroplus maculatus, 2 Ancistrus sp
29-gal reg:30WX1 Marineland, 2 Crypt sp., Java 
moss, Lilaeopsis, Java fern
13 Hemigrammus erythrozonus, 
5 Pleco spp, 1 Banjo

Again, I promise I will take post pictures so you all can give me any feedbacks.

Paul


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## walpurgis999 (Feb 6, 2003)

I would seriously consider ODNOing your lights. On a small tank u could load the top with few lights that are driving highter then they should be. Good luck, and Qs ask.

Im an English teacher in school, not in this forum. Hence, I spell, you spell, we all spell bad.


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