# Lighting for 75G tank



## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Hi there. I recently set up an used 75G tank I bought. It came with two sets of lights. They are the normal lights when you buy it as whole in a LSF. How many watts are those? They seem not to have too much wattage. I really do not like the look of the lights in the tank.

The tank will be housing inverts and low light plants. What do you suggest I do? If your suggestion is buying new lights, I will appreciate if you provide a link of your recommended fixture.

Thanks,
Pedro


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

Pedro, 

I would just use 4 T8 bulbs in regular old shoplight fixtures. That should be plenty of light for low light plants and inverts.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

One of the light fixtures just has one T8 bulb. The other one has two smaller ones...

Pedro


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

If it were me I would follow the same route that Aaron mentioned. You should be able to sell the fixtures that came with the tank for $10-$15 each then go to Lowe's or Home Depot or any other store and find their cheapest 2 bulb shoplight with an electronic ballast. Around here, the fixtures are $8 each  Home Depot has some 6500K or 6700K phillips lighting that works really well and run about $8 for a two pack. So, for $32 you could have 128w on the tank. As long as you don't mind the appearance of shoplight it is a great way to light a tank. You could always build a DIY canopy for the lights also 

I'm currently using three 2 bulb fixtures from Lowe's with the Phillips T-8 lights from Home Depot over a 75g and getting lots of pearling and good plant growth. That setup gives me 192w of lighting which is more than enough for the tank and only cost me about $24 since I had some spare 6700K lights around


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Dop you have apicture of how it looks?

Thanks


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Not at the moment, but I will take one this evening and post it for you.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Thanks!


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Here is a pic of the lights sitting on top of the tank. It is in a storage area in my basement









This one shows the tank in all of it's glory  It's a grow out tank that has been neglected for the past 5-6 weeks since my daughter was born. If you look closely you can see the pearling (white streaks in the pic). The tops of the Rotala sp. 'Vietnam' (the only part not covered in diatom algae) are covered in O2 bubbles. If you look too closely, you can see all of the diatom algae on the back glass  Hmmm, I think this pic is too small to see all the detail. You can go here to see the pic in more detail: http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/5465/dsc0178changed6fn.jpg


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

do you have a piece of glass in top of the tank? I would have to look for this one...


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

I do not have anything on top of the tank yet and I wouldn't recommend anyone to put a shoplight over their tank without glass to support it! One bump and the fixture could go into the tank! That said, this tank is in an out of the way spot and I only put my hands into the tank once a week or so to trim the plants. The next time I place an online order, I will include a glass top for the tank!

I would look into the shiplights as a very inexpensive and workable solution for most plants. As you can see, the plants pearl nicely so one can assuem they are getting enough light. I may try it with jut two fixtures on the tank in the near future and see if the plants will pearl with 128 watts. 

As long as the tank isn't in a public placein your house or intended to be seen by guests, shoplights work just fine


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

I do not see how the shoplights will fit with a glass top in there. I would think that the bulbs will hit the glass and your would not want that. Does it get a lot of moisture on the bulbs?


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Call me silly, but why does it matter if the bulbs rest on the glass tops? It is much safer to rest them on the glass than over open water. The fixtures have been over the tank for at least three months and I have yet to find any moisture or condensation on the bulbs or fixture. However, it is very dry here this time of year. I loose upwards of 5 gallons of water per week in my covered 75g tank. I have now idea how much I loose to evaporation in this tank. You may have a different humidity situation where you live.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

I was just thinking about the weight of the shop light and the bulbs sandwich between the glass and shop lights.

Cheers,
Pedro


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Ahh, I see. The weight of the shoplights with electronic ballasts is pretty light. The shoplights with magnetic ballasts are considerable heavier. The fixture on these lights is made of very thin steel, maybe aluminum, and the ballasts are very small. Nothing near the size of the replacement electronic ballasts you can purchase at Lowe's or Home Depot. Maybe a 1/4 to 1/3 the replacement ballast size. I doubt the fixture weighs more than 4-5 pounds. I can't figure the calculation but 5lbs spread out over two 48" bulbs can amount to very much pressure per square inch. I would only worry about the weight if you were to drop it on the glass top. Then I would imagine the bulbs would break and maybe the glass top too


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

You can always make little legs out of some wood to fit on the ends of the shoplights. That's what I had done with mine to lift them off of the top just a little bit. I only had 4 bulbs over my tank, but mine were all ODNO.


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Okay...so I have to figure out a way to build something that will hold the bulbs like Aaron mentions.

THanks,
Pedro


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## milalic (Aug 26, 2005)

Do you think that this would work if i can remove the bottom cover?

http://www.homedepot.com
Item#BWX 2 40 120

Thanks


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

That item would work but it has a magnetic ballast (read heavy and inefficient) along with 40w tubes. Not to mention the price is very high. The cover will also diffuse the light which is something we don't want.

I checked out Home Depot's site and they don't have the $8 two bulb fixture listed online. The store in my area has a whole pallet of them on the floor but not on their website.


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