# Improvements for 125 gal lighting hood!



## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

So I originally had this in the "Equipment" section but now I see I need some DIY work with this. I recently got a new 125 gal from a neighbor who moved away. I think this tank was previously a saltwater setup (definitely no plants!). Here's what the hood looks like now:


















The tank is 6 feet across, 18 inches deep. The two bulbs you see are 40 48" watt Aqua Rays freshwater/saltwater bulbs. Now... what do I have to do to get this up to 2 wpgs? So far I've had a suggestion for a Coralife 48" kit, but I'd like to minimize costs if possible. Is there any way to rig this up with some Phillip Aquarelle bulbs or something? Thanks!


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

you could go to home depot and pick up 3 dual bulb T8/T12 fixtures for i think $10 each, along with bulbs at 6$ a 2 pack, they have internal balasts, You can get them with or with out the plug. If you go without you can wire two into one plug and have two on one timer and one on a separate, or all one one.

Here is how i did it. My hood

If you staggered the lights you could be all set.

From what i'm told the WPG rule dosent apply over 30 gallons. So from what i understand (which may not be a lot) 2wpg is a lot. I have 4 x 32watts over a 55 gallon and It's considered higher light.


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## freydo (Jan 7, 2006)

you can look at this post regarding the wpg rule, which i think applies to tanks from 20 gallons to 75 gallons.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/.../34149-the-rules-of-lighting-for-planted.html

doing a rough calc on your tank size, and guessing on the height of your tank at 18 inches. you need roughly ~200 watts for low light, ~300 watts for medium, and ~400 watts for high light. but once you get over 90 gallons, things get iffy.

and once you figure out how many watts you need, i would also paint the interior of the canopy white to help with light reflectance. it's cheaper than spending money on light reflectors if you're looking at saving money.


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## furballi (Feb 2, 2007)

I'd go with at least six 4' T8 bulbs without a reflector. Home Depot sells a box of ten quality 6500K Phillips T8s for $20 (850 series). It is also possible to line the interior of the hood with heavy duty aluminum foil.

You'll also want to get several electronic starters for the T8s.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

96 Watt Bright Kits is probably the best bet you can make! These are high quality lighting kits, at a reasonable price.


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## Muirner (Jan 9, 2007)

Those AH Kits to get to 300 watts to be close to 2wpg, will cost 200+ no problem. Back to my Home Depot kick, i just had a thought, they sell the ballasts and ends. If your good at following directions just pick up a couple bigger balasts and you can run 2 (maybe more) bulbs per ballast. Cupple those with a few timers, and you have morning, day, and dusk.


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## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

How about this? I read around some more and found this thread:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...h-supply-reflectors.html?highlight=reflectors

The two reflectors--a single 96 watt piece and then a double 96 watt piece-- would cost me $60. Could I fit the lights in myself?

Furthermore, if I decided to stop being stingy and just buy a kit, what's the difference between three single 96 watt kits ($120) and a triple 96 watt kit ($160)? Space?


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## K20A2 (Aug 12, 2006)

Def. save your pennies and get the AH kit. Like myself, and probably most of the people on here you'll get into growing the plants, and will be glad you bought real good lights in the begining. 
I have an AH 55W kit along with a 65W coralife PC light on my tank at the moment, and let me just say that the AH reflectors really beat the coralife.


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## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

Here are my recent thoughts on what I might set up:

Current bulbs (80 watts) = Free. Nice  
Four 21" 55 watt bulbs (220 watts) = $56.80
4 x 55 watt Bright Kit™ = $124.99

= Total "300" watts (no reflectors on the current lights, so I doubt it would really be 300), $188ish + shipping. 

It's still pretty expensive, and I was hoping to buy a pressurized CO2 system too. Keep throwing out ideas guys, though I might just have to eat my wallet and deal with my CO2-lessness.


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

Awesome to get such a large tank!  I always dream about such a tank, and when I think of lighting it, I usually come down to two options (yes, my dreams are vivid ):

Option 1: Considering geometry for a moment, the hood is 6 feet long. Two or four AHsupply 96 watt kits would fit perfectly. If you can afford it, it's a very easy solution, all the little parts and fittings are already consolidated for you, which is kind of nice. But the bulbs cost ~30-35 bucks a piece, so replacing them every year is not exactly cheap.

Option 2: Considering price over the long run, you could also do just fine with several 4foot T-8 bulbs, which cost in the neighborhood of ~6 bucks a piece (I think). I would overdrive them to boost light intensity from 40 Watts per bulb up to ~60-70 Watts/bulb (effective). Check out Cheap lighting - ODNO - The Planted Tank Forum. The benefit here is that the bulbs are very cheap and easy to find, meaning you will be more likely to replace them when they need to be replaced. Of course you'd have to stagger them so that the 4-foot bulbs give somewhat uniform light over the tank. Or you could put smaller lights in there to fill gaps, but that might be a bit cumbersome. There are also 3-foot bulbs you could use, but since they're not nearly as common a size, they cost substantially more, and might negate much of the value of the T-8 design.

For the sake of argument, to compare apples to apples, let's say you want ~200 watts over the tank, replacing the bulbs once a year:
Option 1: Two AHsupply 96W kits + two bulbs = ~$180 initially plus $66/year
Option 2: Three dual-bulb shoplights + three T-8 bulbs + white paint + wirenuts + etc. = ~$100 initially (very rough) plus $15-25/year
Just a few more ideas, since you wanted ideas. I'm not sure the saltwater bulbs (actinics?) would be of much use to a planted tank, in terms of plant growth...


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## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

littleguy, I think we should get married or something. You understand the poor fishkeeper's problems.  

This sounds very promising, especially because I asked around and might be able to get some reflectors from a maintenance shop really cheap. Do you have this setup already, out of curiosity? Do you find that you need a fan for this?

I have to read through this ODNO thread carefully. Thanks--now the little sleep I get is going to have floating lightbulbs in it!


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## littleguy (Jan 6, 2005)

LOL  

No I haven't ever done an ODNO system. But it's definitely an option I will consider if I'm ever lucky enough to have a huge tank. So I'm speaking only from "theory".

Right now I have one AHsupply 96 watt kit over my 40 gallon breeder (3 feet long). I love it. Not having to hassle with building a reflector, tracking down all sorts of little parts, etc. becomes very appealing when you actually sit down to build the thing.

Since you have a 6 foot tank, your options are more wide open...


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## Rex Grigg (Jan 22, 2004)

I would go with AH Supply 55 watt kits for the greater bulb variety and more options on staggering the lighting.


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## bpimm (Jun 12, 2006)

You might look at Naturallighting.com's T6 HO bulbs. They come in a 3' 5500K 91CRI. I have these driven by an Advanced T8 4 tube ballast driving each tube with two outputs. I don't remember the measured wattage, (My brother did a bunch of measurements and I will find out). These things are bright and it would give you the 6" length you need. These bulbs have the best color rendition in the tank that I have seen, The reds and blues are awesome and not to much green. Don't let the 5500K fool you, these things have great color. They make the Phillips 6500K T8's look flat and green by comparison, I have both in the same room to compare.

For reflectors 6" plastic pipe cut in half and painted white or with mirrored mylar glued to it works very good.

6 bulbs @ 15 $90.00 Naturallighting.com - Natural Full Spectrum Lighting[title]
3 Ballast @ 18 $54.00 Home Deopt
Plus misc.

Brian


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## evesorange (Nov 17, 2006)

Thanks for all the advice so far guys! You're all really helping me out!

Here's the update: my dad managed to get two 4-foot reflectors from work. They look EXACTLY like the Miro 4 sol on AH supply: the same valley profiles rather than a flat top, perfectly spaced for each light. Nice!










Now I just need to figure out what kind of ballasts to use. I want to make sure that they're more or less "waterproof," or in other words don't take damage from contact to moisture or condensation. I think the Fulham Workhorse ballasts might work; correct me if I'm wrong guys!

Also I still need to get the actual bulbs--I'm thinking of using those GE Plant & Aquarium kind that you can pick up at Home Depot, but then I could only use 4 bulbs in the space I have... Hm, any suggestions?

Here's another question: how do reflectors exactly effect light output? Do they double the wattage or simply make the wattage you have more effective? I saw a diagram at the AH Supply store that stated "162%" for a Miro reflector light output, so I wanted to know. If they did double the light output, I could get away with 160 watts (four 48" 40 bulbs), which would fit nicely into my hood!


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