1X55 watt kit and 1X13 watt kit

[Andy16]

would 1X55 watt kit and 1X13 watt kit from ahsupply.com work in a diy hood? I want the 13 watt light for the nightlite. Is there any hood plan that would work for this for a standard 20 gallon tanks?

It has to be under $35 because i dont want to buy the enclosure that ahsupply makes becusae i think i could make it like $10-$15 cheaper diy.

[mogurnda]

13 watts seems like a lot for a night light. That's what I use for dawn/dusk, and it lights up the tank pretty well. What about one of the blue LEDs like 80gJoe put in his?

Sorry, I haven't got much to say about the canopy. Doesn't AHsupply have a DIY canopy plan on the site or one of its links?

[Andy16]

They might have one. I didnt mean like a light that stays on all night. I meant an actinic light that goes on after the the normal lights go off. Then the actinics go off later to make it dark. I will check ahsupplys site again to see if they have a plan.

EDIT: I checked teh site again and they only had a plan for 1X36 watt kit and 1X55 watt kit. Not 1X55 watt with 1X13 watt.

[superjohnny]

And why would they bother writing plans and diagrams for hoods for every combination of their products? To me that seems like a whole lot of work for very little return.

Installing a 13w light into a large hood will be trivial compared to the main light. Literally, all you have to do is connect the ballast and screw it in.

Andy, if you are planning on putting 70w of light above a 20g fish tank you're in for a world of hurt. If you dose all those fertilizers (from another thread) and have all that light either the plants will use the nutrients or algae will. I have a feeling as soon as you put this all together it'll be the latter.

To find the right bulb figure out how big the tank is. The 55w light is 22" long. The 36w light is 18" long. How long is your tank? If you want a moon effect use a blue LED like mogurnda suggested.

[mogurnda]

I guess my idea was to take their DIY plan for a 24" hood and put the 2 lights in it. Just screw them in one in front of the other.

The impression I had was that they wouldn't run simultaneously, although you might try that when you have the nutrient situation perfected.

[Andy16]

I dont mean run it all night long. I mean like ill run it after teh main light goes out. Then it will be on for like a half hour then turn off so no lights are on. Then in hte moring it will be on for another half hour and turn off when the main light goes on. I didnt clarify what i meant before very well.

[superjohnny]

Hey Andy, I was reading a thread over at aquabotanic.com where a guy was saying a 13w PCF acinic light was way too much light for his 90g tank. He said he took it out. Another guy said it made his 75g look great (opinions will vary ;)).

I think you could wire in a strip of LED's... maybe alternate red & blue? They put out quite a bit of light for their size... more than you may realize.

So how's the tank coming? Have you started ordering parts yet?

[caffeine]

Yes, LEDs are the answer. You would be suprised how bright a high output blue LED is. They can be very blinding. I have a blue LED in my computer case, not even nearly one of the brightest you can get, and with all the lights out it makes the wall it's facing blue.

Wiring them up really isn't that hard or that expensive, google for LED wiring instructions and things of that nature. You can get everything you need from Radioshack.

[Andy16]

i guess it all comes down to cost. Leds would probably be easier to install since they will take up less room. Thanks for the help guys;)



So how's the tank coming? Have you started ordering parts yet?


Still saving up. Cant wait though. I would say i have approx. $35. I have like 10 more to go for the 55 watt kit, and then what ever my dawn and dusk lights will cost.