# [Wet Thumb Forum]-Mounting Shop Light Fixtures?



## Wunderkind (Dec 14, 2004)

I read in an article that for budget tank setups, you can use 48" shop light fixtures for 160 watts total light.

1. Will this work

2. What would be a good DIY canopy design to mount this? I'm guessing I would need to mount some sort of Fan as well.

And, this is for a 55 gallon tank.

Thanks for all the help.


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## Wunderkind (Dec 14, 2004)

I read in an article that for budget tank setups, you can use 48" shop light fixtures for 160 watts total light.

1. Will this work

2. What would be a good DIY canopy design to mount this? I'm guessing I would need to mount some sort of Fan as well.

And, this is for a 55 gallon tank.

Thanks for all the help.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Wunderkind:
> I read in an article that for budget tank setups, you can use 48" shop light fixtures for 160 watts total light
> ...


Sure. But your mileage will vary. Check the shop light carefully. Some are built to use 48" 34 watt T12 lamps, instead of 40 watt lamps.



> quote:
> 
> 2. What would be a good DIY canopy design to mount this? I'm guessing I would need to mount some sort of Fan as well.


There are discussions and some designs on the krib ( http://www.thekrib.com ) Good passive ventilation is probably all it really needs.

The least expensive shop lights may not do you much good, as their light output (especially with 34 watt lamps) is poor. Moreover, inexpensive flourescent lights don't provide for very good viewing conditions. If you look at the modifications necessary to use better lamps and the ballasts to run them then shop lights get more expensive. It may be worth it.

Roger Miller


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## Margolis (Sep 22, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Roger Miller:
> Check the shop light carefully. Some are built to use 48" 34 watt T12 lamps, instead of 40 watt lamps.
> ...


48" t12's are 40W, the 48" 32W bulbs are t8. Personally I would take the 32W t8's over the t12's since they are more efficient and actually put out more light than the 40W t12's









what you do have to watch out for are the 48" t12's that are only 20W


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## dissident (Sep 6, 2005)

I did exactly what you are asking on my 55gal (48"). Worked great. 
Be sure the depth of the shoplight will work. I had to cut the side reflectors that stuck 3"-4" off the side of each light. 
I ams till using the setup today in a DIY hood i made for it 2-3 yrs back. I would not reccomend it for tanks much larger then 55gal. However with my 55gal I was pleased with the results and it was a lot cheeper then PC or VHO over it.


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

> quote:
> 
> Originally posted by Margolis:
> 48" t12's are 40W, the 48" 32W bulbs are t8. Personally I would take the 32W t8's over the t12's since they are more efficient and actually put out more light than the 40W t12's


There are 34 watt T12s made specifically for (and often sold with) shop lights. 32 watt T8's are definitely better than any of the 48" T12s, but I've never seen a shoplight that was built to use 32 watt T8s. To use 32watt lamps you would have to equip the shoplight with electronic ballasts. *Really* cheap shoplights don't contain enough room in them to hold the replacement ballast.

There are a lot of 32 watt T8s on the market, but when last I checked there were rather few 32 watt T8s sold in the aquarium trade. Unless that has changed then the lamps would have to come from a commercial supplier.

Roger Miller


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## Margolis (Sep 22, 2004)

I have 32W t8 shoplights that I got I got at sears. They cost me $15 each, a little more than a cheap $10 shoplight, but well worth it in my opinion. Also, all of the local fish stores sell t8 bulbs in all kinds of varieties, as do the mail order places. In fact, I see more t8's in the local fish stores than t-12's. When was the last time you checked, 20 years ago














(just joshin if you didn't get that from the emoticons)


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## Roger Miller (Jun 19, 2004)

Margolis,

I'm glad to hear that t8 shoplights are available. It's about time.

T8's have been sold in the aquarium market for years. Few of them have been 32 watt, high-efficiency lamps that require an electronic ballast. If those lamps are common on the aquarium market now then it is a change for the better.

And you're right, I don't follow the aquarium lighting market very closely. The general commercial market provides a wider selection of lamps, often of better quality and also at 1/2 to 1/4 the price of aquarium-market specialty lamps. To make things worse, some of those aquarium-market specialty lamps are just repackaged versions of relatively common commercial lights. How much do you want to pay for a cool white?


Roger Miller


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## Fedorov (Apr 16, 2003)

I have used the shop lites( two 40 watt @ 48" ) on my 55 for about 2 years . I have recently built a hood and have no problems with them . 
Dissident is correct , you will have to cut the reflectors if using more then one . I had cut just the one side on both,the side that is between each other .


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## McKee (Feb 7, 2003)

I did a DIY canopy with shop lighting a while back, opted to go with a more expensive large 4 bulb reflector. The difference in how much light it delivered compared to the 2 sets of cheap 2-light fixtures I had before was quite noteworthy.

I bought the 4-light fixture and then built the canopy around it instead of trying to retrofit a canopy. That allowed me to find a good fixture instead of trying to find a decent fixture to fit an existing canopy.

My only regret was selling that tank and canopy.


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## cheesehazard (Mar 2, 2004)

I have this setup on my 55 gallon tank, somewhat at least. I bought 2 fixtures at home depot for 21 dollars. They hold 2 48 inch t12 bulbs. I have them right next to each other mounted on my tank lid. They put out a lot of light. I added two smaller 20 inch tubes that came with my tank over the back of the tank so I can see what im doing when im working in my tank, but it is also a little extra light. About 2 or 3 months after having the fixtures the ballast in each one went out. I ended up buying 2 ballast that are for a 4 light fixture did the overdriven mod to them. It gives off a ton more light. I have enough light to grow any kind of plant. Its well over 200 watts of light. I will take some pictures of my setup as soon as I get a little free time, work is killing me because of xmas. Also for a better reflector you can strip the paint off the reflectos and spray paint them with some mirror spray paint. I plan on spraying the entire inside of my hood with that spray paint along with the reflectors. You could also use metal halide lights you find at home depot. I was going to use them originally. I was going to get 3 or 4 metal halide flood lights but I figured the 48 inch tubes would be better.


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## cheesehazard (Mar 2, 2004)

Who needs sleep? I can live off a 2 liter of mountian dew. So any way heres some pictures. They arent that great but here they are anyways:








This is my hood. Its plain but it works.








This is a digidoc I have hooked up to some fans to cool off my fixtures and to keep my tank somewhat cooler.









This is my timer and a outlet i have on the back of my hood. 








This is my two big fixtures. 
I have two 12 inch blue cold cathode lights I use for moon lighting also. They are mounted to the inside of the hood. They work a lot better than leds. I had 6 sets of 4 ultra bright leds in first and i didnt like that but i switched to the 12 inch cold cathodes and it lights it up a lot more. Also 4 of my six fans i have have 4 leds in them. They are 60 mm pc fans. They are actually good enough to use for moon lighting.

Older pic but its a better one of my entire tank setup.


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