# DIY CF 29 Gal Lighting



## urville (Sep 20, 2004)

So heres the idea. Trying to light my 29 gallon has been a hard experience. And the concensus seems to be that this is just a cruel fact. Since using two 20 watt 6500k CF lights over my 10 gallon has worked extremely well even with no real reflector I have devised the following.

Here you see some weatherproof light sockets I found. they are sealed rubber and they are rated for 250 volts and 660 watts. I got these at home depot.









I will wire these in a parrallel circuit using lamp or extention cord wire. Here is the proposed diagram.









the above diagram should be to scale in that, and stay with me here the hood is 30 inches long, the pic is 30 pixels times 4. it's 12 wide or 12 pixels wide times 4, and the bulbs are 5inches in the pic they are 5 pixels times 4.

I will use aluminum flashing to make reflectors for each bulb. Each bulb will be 20 watts, although i could mix some 23 watt daylights, some 20 watt daylights and some 17watt ottlites all in different Kelvins. depends. at the 20 watt number it should give me about 4.13 wpg over this 29 gallon. If i find throughout the design I need more bulbs they are easy to add. and the same is true if say i decided to use only one middle bulb.

I could make the two middle lights one circuit and run them for say two hours before and after the other fout at the sides. i would run those four for 6 hours to create dawn, day, and dusk. although i'm not sure how beneficial doing so would be.

I dont see any reason this wont work great. I assume it will be all about reflector shape and quality. this doesnt seem that hard to me.

i'll use holders much like those in stylish replacement ceiling lights to create the space needed between the DIY hood and the lights themselves. They tend to be metal brackets that slightly suspend but hold the fixtures pretty steady. I might look about for a better method.

I've been shopping a DIY hood for this. One with good airflow. fans would be easy to add if needed at the left and right sides. and if i want theres plenty of room for moonlights.

I think the design allows me to control spread and total wattage easily. i dont have to mess with ballast wiring, and theres alot of overall control.
thoughts and comments are appreciated.
Ian


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## Naja002 (Nov 15, 2005)

Personally I don't see why it wouldn't work. As long as you use sufficient gauge wire, it shouldn't be a problem.

What type of DIY Hood are you looking to make??? Wood? There are plenty of designs around that should fit your needs--even with a mod here or there.

Instead of making individual reflectors--You could just line the inside of the hood with the flashing, foil or paint it white.

Your Idea has helped me for a hood of my own: Same general concept, except for compact fluorescents--the screw-in kind.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Urville,

If you intent to use the spiral compact fluorescents that have a regular socket please remember that due to the spiral design they waste a lot of the light. I made a DIY hood with 4 of those for my 18 gal. tall tank and I estimate that these bulbs produce no more than 40% of the wattage on the label.

Plus they run very, very hot.

--Nikolay


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## anonapersona (Mar 11, 2004)

*restrike and lifespan*

We have seen this experiment before, I think perhaps at PlantedTank.net. It works OK, but the bulbs die pretty soon. By the time you add up all the costs, it doesn't really save anything if it burns out too soon.

$65 for a 30" 55 watt strip at http://www.petsupplyliquidator.com/


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