# Shop Lights?



## Terra Incognita (Jun 12, 2007)

So, I was at Walmart today, getting some pizza rolls since I'm too lazy to eat "real" food, and I noticed some shop lights for sale for $9.98 minus the bulbs. I almost bought it, but I figure I'd research it first.

Assuming I got the right bulbs, how is the distribution on these shop lights? I can't imagine they'd be too focused, since they're intended to light a whole shop. They were setup for T8 Bulbs. Since I'm setting up my first "real" planted tank fairly soon, and lighting seems to be the most expensive route, I'm curious if this would work. Does anyone have any experience with using shop lights, and in lamens terms, what would be good T8 bulbs to use and why? This will be lighting a 55g tank, hopefully.


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## mrkookm (Oct 25, 2006)

I do not have any experience with shop lights but I do use regular 32watt 48" 6500K T8's ($5~$7 each) found at HD ran in a overdriven setup and they work just fine IME. I'm thinking if this shop light has descent reflectors and put out enough watts based on its tube capacity 'more details needed here' it should work fine for a low/medium light setup.

Give us some more details on it's dimensions, total watts and I'm sure someone will chime in.


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## bencozzy (Jun 2, 2006)

they work, light is fairly focused compared to what you would think. i have two shop lights in use now a t-8 and a t-12 fixture. both grow plants well.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

When you have a 4 foot long tank you have lots of options for cheap lights. Shop light fixtures can work great - the biggest problem I had was the magnetic ballast noise and the reluctance of the lights to start up in colder weather. You can buy 4 foot T8 bulbs in such a variety it becomes fun just to pick out a "good" combination - I used 8 T12 bulbs on a 120 gallon tank several years ago.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

they work good for the price. I think Home Depot is cheaper by a buck.. and they have a good selection of bulbs. Phillips 6500K daylight delux or the ones I prefer Phillips Natural Sunshine this one has a higher CRI. A side benefit of using them is if you need light anywhere temporarily just grab one. one of mine is in my Dad's van as a trouble light as I work on the engine.


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## ErikL (Aug 8, 2007)

You could probably fit two of those fixtures over your tank and get over 2wpg. I had 4x40W T12s over my 50 gallon tank for a short while and had some good plant growth. I switched to T5 HOs because my tank is 36" and the shoplights are 48". Shop lights will grow plants if you get the right bulbs.


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Has anyone thought about rigging some better reflectors onto lights like these?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

K20A2 said:


> Has anyone thought about rigging some better reflectors onto lights like these?


Yes, I tried that with 24" long T8 bulbs. I made a wood reflector form, that graphically seemed that it would capture most of the lost light from the back of the bulbs. I covered it with aluminized mylar to get high reflectivity. It worked, but I spent a bit more than the cost of AH Supply light kits with bulbs, by the time I had it all made and installed, and it certainly didn't work as well as the AH Supply kits. After a few months I scrapped the DIY set up for AH Supply kits. It is the many small insignificant hardware items that eventually drive the cost of such a project up above that of AH Supply.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

I covered the inside with mirror mylar and it helped some. White is not bad by itself. if you are talking about replacing the reflector completely, just build or buy a better fixture. the purpose in using the shop lights is that they are cheap. There is probably more to gain by buying two fixtures and using both ballast's in one to overdrive the tubes, I have a 24" running 1 48" ballast and a 36" running two 48" ballast's. they seem to hold up good.


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