upgrading lighting

[mox]

hi, im wanting to upgrade my lighting on the cheap. im a fan of diy, but im having trouble selecting a method.

im probably going to build a new canopy for my 55g, but don't know if i should put it in:

long regular fluorescent light tubes or
compact t8 style fluorescents or
scewbulb kind of compact fluorescent

or wether or not to go with fluorescent at all.

should i be concerned with watts or lumens or what?

i want to be able to support at least moderate light dependant plants.

thxInAdvance

[superjohnny]

www.ahsupply.com has some excellent DIY kits for PCF lighting. If you're making your own hood, this is what you should save your pennies for.

Let us know how it turns out :)

[punch]

I was just getting that link : ) the DIY for 2 55 watts run 64.00
That should set you up good with moderate lights. I myself
just got there 96 watts and am putting together my canopy. They ship real qick. I got my retrofit kit 2 days after ordering and I'm on the West Coast!

[fishlips]

I'd price out the alternatives. I'd say 4 40w would fit under a diy hood. Price out the ballast, the bulbs and bulb sockets. That would give you 2.9 wpg. I'm pretty sure they make ballasts to fire four bulbs.

You could get two shop lights and strip them down also. That would be the absolute cheapest. Take the reflectors off and screw them to your hood, ground the ballast to the reflector, then install bulb sockets and put in bulbs. Make sure the grounded reflector is with in a 1/2 inch to the bulbs and you have cheap instant lighting. Keep in mind you need to make a custom hood and buy plant bulbs.

Then go check out the prices for the compacts for a shocking comparison.

[fishlips]

Thats $120 bucks w/lights for compacts.