# Cheap Lighting for 55g



## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

Hello, 
I just picked up some new fixtures and lighting for my 55g. It consisted of a 48" fixture with two 40 watt T12 grow bulbs. One bulb is a sylvania gro-lux and the other is a verilux. Both are meant for growing plants and the veriflux is 6280k. Im a noob to aquascaping, but this set up lights up the tank very well. I was thinking of getting a second 48" fixture with two veriflux bulbs as they are much brighter, to have a total of 160 watts. I also picked up some Shultz Aquatic Soil. So, since im a noob to aquascaping, my questions are, why are people paying so much for lights when these seem great. And, these fixtures dont really have any reflectors, so how much light is being lost, and are there any easy DIY reflectors. 
Thanks, 
John

PS-these are the bulbs

http://www.orchidlight.com/fluorescent.html


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Those 40 watt T12 bulb shop lights aren't very efficient at getting light to the plants. If you used two of the 2 bulb fixture, 160 watts total, I think you would have enough light, but you would be wasting electricity to get it. Two 54 watt T5 bulbs, with their individual reflectors would provide a lot more light, in my opinion, and that is why people use those newer fixtures.


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

hoppycalif said:


> Those 40 watt T12 bulb shop lights aren't very efficient at getting light to the plants. If you used two of the 2 bulb fixture, 160 watts total, I think you would have enough light, but you would be wasting electricity to get it. Two 54 watt T5 bulbs, with their individual reflectors would provide a lot more light, in my opinion, and that is why people use those newer fixtures.


what makes T5's so effective? is it a different gas used, or is it just the reflector? could i just put reflectors on t12's and be as effective? thanks


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

T12 bulbs are so big any reflector is going to be a less effective one than those used on T5 bulbs. The fat bulbs will block a lot of the light from the back of the bulb no matter what reflector you use. I think the T5 bulbs are also inherently more efficient, but I leave it to those who use them to answer that part.


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

hoppycalif said:


> T12 bulbs are so big any reflector is going to be a less effective one than those used on T5 bulbs. The fat bulbs will block a lot of the light from the back of the bulb no matter what reflector you use. I think the T5 bulbs are also inherently more efficient, but I leave it to those who use them to answer that part.


cool, that makes sense. so they are basically the same thing, just T5's are thinner and have better reflectors.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

wonword said:


> cool, that makes sense. so they are basically the same thing, just T5's are thinner and have better reflectors.


A Yugo and a Ferrari are basically the same thing, too, only the Ferrari is bigger and has leather seats.


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## thefishmanlives (Feb 15, 2008)

I would upgrade to a nice but not crazy t5ho setup. I personally have a PC setup which would work well for you too. With either 4 bulb t5 or PC setup with good reflectors youll be able to grow any plant, but Pressurized co2 and ample fertilization will be a must.


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

thefishmanlives said:


> I would upgrade to a nice but not crazy t5ho setup. I personally have a PC setup which would work well for you too. With either 4 bulb t5 or PC setup with good reflectors youll be able to grow any plant, but Pressurized co2 and ample fertilization will be a must.


is there any good 4 bulb t5's for under $100?


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## customdrumfinishes (Apr 1, 2008)

i agree the t12 plant lights suck. they work but not the best for the money. if you cant do the t5's like i cant. maybe you can use a spiral florescent. i about to redo a 55g hood with these 23watt spiral florescents. i have them on my 8g hex and 29g and work great for cheap. 

you can go to lowes, get a strip light fixture, like in alot of bathrooms youll see several lights in a row, they have 3,4,5 or 6 bulb spots. screw this to the side of your hood and screw in 6 23watt spiral florescents, there 6500k. and you have a fast cheapo lighting fixture, i use metal flashing as a reflector scred to the top of my hood over the lights so you get alittle more outta them than no reflector. this wont work on a regular plastic fixture, must be a wood or diy hood to mount to.


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

customdrumfinishes said:


> i agree the t12 plant lights suck. they work but not the best for the money. if you cant do the t5's like i cant. maybe you can use a spiral florescent. i about to redo a 55g hood with these 23watt spiral florescents. i have them on my 8g hex and 29g and work great for cheap.
> 
> you can go to lowes, get a strip light fixture, like in alot of bathrooms youll see several lights in a row, they have 3,4,5 or 6 bulb spots. screw this to the side of your hood and screw in 6 23watt spiral florescents, there 6500k. and you have a fast cheapo lighting fixture, i use metal flashing as a reflector scred to the top of my hood over the lights so you get alittle more outta them than no reflector. this wont work on a regular plastic fixture, must be a wood or diy hood to mount to.


thanks for the suggestion, i might try that on another tank! on this tank, im trying to have a hanging type fixture with an open top.


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## icom (Feb 23, 2008)

shop lights work pretty well for the money..just need to use the Daylight bulbs in them.

You can also strip a standard fixture and use double sockets and 26w CFL's to get 312w in a 48" hood if you want.I have a standard 48" hood I'm going to strip out and put in the screw-in CFL's..
218w worth for a 55g..it is a little cheaper to use shop lights though;160w of shop light with Daylight bulbs for less than $40,fixtures are less than $10,2 pack of the bulbs are $6

heres a pic of shop lights over a 55g (not mine,not sure where it came from)


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## wonword (Apr 10, 2008)

icom said:


> shop lights work pretty well for the money..just need to use the Daylight bulbs in them.
> 
> You can also strip a standard fixture and use double sockets and 26w CFL's to get 312w in a 48" hood if you want.I have a standard 48" hood I'm going to strip out and put in the screw-in CFL's..
> 218w worth for a 55g..it is a little cheaper to use shop lights though;160w of shop light with Daylight bulbs for less than $40,fixtures are less than $10,2 pack of the bulbs are $6
> ...


thanks for the info! mine with one shop light looks pretty bright, maybe a little less then that, with two i t will probably look crazy bright! the verilux are literally 3x brighter then a sylvania tru-glo. i should take a picture to compare, but i dont know how to take a picture of the light itself haha


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## trag (Jan 9, 2008)

Ballast for two T5HO lights for $30:
http://www.ballastwise.com/item.asp?PID=28&FID=15&level=1

G5 Miniature Bi-Pin sockets for less than $1 each (were $2 - $3 last time I checked): 
http://www.1000bulbs.com/T5Miniature-Bi-Pin/

54 watt T5HO bulbs for less than $6 each (admittedly, 5000K instead of 6500K):
http://www.prolighting.com/f54654wt5bil.html

With these components you can make a nice 108 watt T5HO fixture for less than $50 except you still won't have a good reflector. Nice reflectors bought at regular aquarium supply places can easily run you $30 per bulb. So you might be just as well off to get something like this:
http://www.naturallighting.com/web/shop.php?crn=892&rn=3728&action=show_detail

Note that the above $116 kit does not include the light bulbs but it does have much nicer sockets than what I spec'ed out.

T5 is more efficient than T12 for the reasons stated in earlier postings (a quality reflector is key) and also because modern electronic ballasts used to drive T5HO lighting operate at much higher frequencies and in a much more efficient manner than the old magnetic ballasts typically used to drive T12 lights. The higher operating frequency also contributes greatly to the higher efficiency.

According to the manufacturer's specs. the T5 bulbs also have a longer usable lifetime than the older technology T12 bulbs, but there's a fair bit of controversy about that.

Two T5HO bulbs consuming 108 watts will output about as much light as 3.5 40 watt T12 bulbs, assuming equivalent reflection. With the improved reflectors possible with thinner T5 bulbs the improvement in actual light delivered to the tank can be even better than that.

Note that there is also plain old T5 lights which use 28 watts in the 48" (46.5") size and deliver about 60% as much light. They are actually somewhat more energy efficient, but not nearly so intense per unit area. Because the area above the aquarium is limited, T5HO is usually the better choice, because it squeezes more light intensity into the same space at tthe cost of a bit more electricity than would otherwise be needed.


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## Logan's Daddy (May 3, 2008)

I notice a lot of talk about the inefficiency of t-12 size bulbs with a magnetic ballast and how much better the t-5 and t-5 ho are, But obviously the price difference is severe. 

There is a third option with much better performance than a t-12 for around the same price - the t-8 size with an electronic ballast. You can pick up a 4' t-8 shoplight with an electronic ballast at Home Depot for about $12, they also have "phillips daylight deluxe" bulbs (32w @ 6500k) there in a 2 pack for around $8.

This fixture will put out more lumens than an equivelant 40w t-12 fixture with less wattage and a smaller tube size for less restrike.

IMHO it is a steal at around $20.


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## icom (Feb 23, 2008)

Logan's Daddy said:


> I notice a lot of talk about the inefficiency of t-12 size bulbs with a magnetic ballast and how much better the t-5 and t-5 ho are, But obviously the price difference is severe.
> 
> There is a third option with much better performance than a t-12 for around the same price - the t-8 size with an electronic ballast. You can pick up a 4' t-8 shoplight with an electronic ballast at Home Depot for about $12, they also have "phillips daylight deluxe" bulbs (32w @ 6500k) there in a 2 pack for around $8.
> 
> ...


good point..I may have to go see if the Home Depot here has a couple of the T-8 fixtures


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## ummyeah (Apr 8, 2008)

Wal-Mart has $7 shoplights with electronic ballasts. I have one.


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