Cheapest lighting?

[Mindcrime121]

Ok, my double T8 fixture crashed on me and is only lighting on one bulb, so it looks like I need to replace the fixture OR come up with an alternative lighting method. I've been using the fixture that came with the tank, as well as a twin lamp fixture that was part of the top to my old eclipse system, both of which use 15W 18" T8 tubes to get 45W over my 20g tank. (It's not pretty, but it's effective at least.) I don't know how long I've been running at 30W but everything has been growing, so I might just stay as is for a little while since I don't really have the $$ right now to make a major purchase for the tank.

First off, I'm looking for suggestions on stores or online sites that sell 24" twin lamp fixtures CHEAP.

Second option, I'm toying with the idea of building a wooden canopy and installing 2 twin screw in fixtures and running 4 CFL bulbs, but I'm thinking that may be too much light, so maybe just one twin fixture? Or would one single do the job? I don't know how to guage the output from those cork screw shaped bulbs, especially with no reflector or anything, but I'm planning to use the ones that are equivelant to 60W incandescent bulbs. Advice please?

[petluvr]

When the bulbs say equivalent you don't go by the equivalency you go by the actual wattage for cheap your best bet would be shoplights. I bought the one that i have over my 29 at walmart twin bulbs with bulbs it cost a total of like $20.00. Its not the prettiest but hey it works.

[Mindcrime121]

Do they make shop lights that short? If this was a 4' tank, I'd be all over the shop light department at the nearest hardware store, ya, but I thought they only made those in 48" lengths, MAYBE in 36".

[Fordtrannyman]

Ok, my double T8 fixture crashed on me and is only lighting on one bulb, so it looks like I need to replace the fixture OR come up with an alternative lighting method. I've been using the fixture that came with the tank, as well as a twin lamp fixture that was part of the top to my old eclipse system, both of which use 15W 18" T8 tubes to get 45W over my 20g tank. (It's not pretty, but it's effective at least.) I don't know how long I've been running at 30W but everything has been growing, so I might just stay as is for a little while since I don't really have the $$ right now to make a major purchase for the tank.

First off, I'm looking for suggestions on stores or online sites that sell 24" twin lamp fixtures CHEAP.

Second option, I'm toying with the idea of building a wooden canopy and installing 2 twin screw in fixtures and running 4 CFL bulbs, but I'm thinking that may be too much light, so maybe just one twin fixture? Or would one single do the job? I don't know how to guage the output from those cork screw shaped bulbs, especially with no reflector or anything, but I'm planning to use the ones that are equivelant to 60W incandescent bulbs. Advice please?

If these are like the AGA strip lights you are in luck. You can Convert them to Spiral CF's for about $20 including bulbs. I use 2-wire porcelain light socket w/ "L" bracket from Home Depot. They run about $0.89 compared to the $5 plastic ones. They fit well in the AGA housing using the existing stand-offs and screws from the OE unit. A 4 pack of 14w bulbs $7, 2X27w = $7, a cheap can of gloss white spray paint = $2, some wire nuts and a little wire = $3. The existing cord from the OE unit can be re-used. You can cannibalize wire from there too.

[mwil]

Sounds like you may just have a bad ballast. Why not fix what you have?

[Mindcrime121]

Sounds like you may just have a bad ballast. Why not fix what you have?

Honestly? Because it looks like CRAP and it's a pain in the butt pulling the double fixture off the open trap door front of the tank top to do anything in there, LOL!

And Ford, I don't know what you mean by AGA strip lights...? If I go with the CFL plan I would like to built a wooden canopy rather than use the light housing that came with the tank.

My issue with CFL bulbs, is the last one I bought I looked all over the packaging and could not find anything saying how many watts it is, ONLY what it was comparible to in regard to incandescent bulbs. My other concern with them, are they all the same color spectrum, and are they over 5500 k?

[Fordtrannyman]

The cheapest way to go is the CFL. The strip light in the rear is an AGA = All Glass Aquarium. Two 27watt spirals fit nicely in there. Painting the inside with gloss white helps a bunch too. Most packaging states their actual wattage. I think a 27watt is equiv. to 100watts incandescent. Here is a pic of a 30" housing.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj54/fordtrannyman/Pics%20for%20Posts/CIMG2481.jpg

If you are ambitious enough to build a canopy, consider an AHsupply kit.

Here's a pic of a DIY Canopy and AH kit.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj54/fordtrannyman/DIYCanopyW_Light.jpg

[Star_Rider]

you may also want to look at your local hardware store. I found a 24" fluorescent light dbl bulb for around $25.
if you are building a hood this may be an alternative.(now t-8)

[Mindcrime121]

Kewl beans. Thanks for the advice. For my 20g it sounds like a pair of 27W spirals would do the job, giving me a little more light than the 45W I was running before, and I can put that in a canopy a lot cheaper than anything else. The twin lamp 24" TB fixtures I've found on line so far have all run about $40 to $50 bucks. I can to the twin CFL project for about $10 I think.

I did up a DIY canopy once before on a 29 gallon tank with PC similar to what you show in that pic Ford, and loved it, but I think if I can avoid paying the price for that sort of setup at this point, I'll go with spiral CFLs. I'll look for the ones that are equivelant to 100W if I can't find the true wattage on the package.

[Fordtrannyman]

Remember to get Daylight bulbs too! They have a 6400K rating.

[Cory Keeper]

As one who has done CFLs, I really wouldn't suggest it. It seems to grow algae like mad, though It might have been time to replace them, I don't know. They still didn't grow plants very well vs their power consumption.

[Mindcrime121]

Thanks for the reminder on making sure I get daylight bulbs. I'll look for that on the packaging, Ford.

As for power consumption, that's the least of my concerns actually. I just can't afford to go out and drop $40-$50 on a dual lamp fixture, much less $150 on a PC setup. If I can get around 2.5 Wpg with daylight CFLs for around $10, then it's worth trying out and seeing if it works. If it fails, I'll slap my 2 working 15W bulbs back over the tank until I can afford to do something different I guess. Thanks for the heads up though, Cory.

[xpirtdesign]

a double bulb t8 or t12 (t8 more energy efficient, t12 slightly more powerful) shop lights from home depot or lowes. should be around 10 bucks. they come with the ballasts but without the reflector (which you probably dont need anyways since ur using the hood. if you want more power out of these bulbs, do a search on odno and you can increase the lighting by far.

[Mindcrime121]

Well, I canibalized a standing lamp and hung one of the reflectors over the 5g tank I'm starting and I like the way the tank looks with a 26W daylight CFL over it. Gonna be a week or two before I can get things together and built a canopy, so I'm going to put some clippings in the 5g and see how they do in the mean time. If the do well, I'll likely go with 4 of the 26W daylight CFL over the 20g in the new canopy with tin foil or possibly mirrors for reflection. I know that's way more wattage than is needed for my tank, but after what I've read I thought it might compensate for the restrike problem. If the spiral bulbs don't cause too much trouble as other threads suggest and I'm over lit, I can simply turn off 1 or 2 of them.

If the 5g don't do worth beans, then I may reconsider and check hardware stores for 24" strip fixtures and if affordable put 3 or possibly 4 T8 strips in there, all on seperate switches. For cost reasons, I'm obviously hoping the CFL bulb does well over the 5g tank! LOL!

[Cory Keeper]

If it makes you feel better, I have a single 15w CFL over a 5g hex, it grows plants, just not super fast. Only problem is algae is a real pain, just another reason I want to go LED for that tank as well.

[Mindcrime121]

Is the 5g hex heavily planted or just moderately? Is the CFL over it a daylight or cool white? How many hours per day do you run it? Maybe some of those answers might help me avoid the same dilema. I'm still learning and got a LONG way to go before I can say I really know what I'm doing with a planted tank, LOL!

[Cory Keeper]

CFLs are super good at growing algae, make no mistake about that. Tank is lightly planted, lightly stocked. Run it roughly 8-10 hrs a day, sometimes not even on for days.

Yes its a daylight.

Might I add I feel this light is lacluster at best. But so far everything is growing.

[Mindcrime121]

So what is it about CFL that makes it so much more prone to grow algae? My wife got one of those little 2.5 gal Walmart tanks for her betta and I swapped the incandescent bulb that comes with it out for a 10W CF, the kind that extends and then just doubles back into the ballast with no corkscrewing, and it's pretty sweet. No more algae than any other tank I've ever had and only a couple stems of water sprite, an anubias nana, a java fern and some java moss in there with a small piece of mopani. The color looks nice and clean to me too. The tank stays at about 82 degrees whereas the original bulb would have kept it at 90+ by my estimate. I HATE those little tubes that come in those kiddie tanks!

The 26W is about 9 inches above my 5g as a pendulum style light and the entire area has a nice clean (very slightly blue tinted) look to it. I made the mystake of running a cool white over another 2g by the back glass doors and figured it was the natural sunlight that caused all the algae. No sunlight on this tank, so I'll know it's the CFL for SURE if it happens in here. I put a few stems of rotala and a couple types of java fern in the 5g for now, just to see how the rotalla grows under this light for the next week or so. Honestly, I wish I had the money to just go get a nice PC light to put over my 20, but money being tight right now I gott do this as cheap as possible. If it functions poorly, I'll just go back to 30W of T8 until I can afford to do it better.

[Fordtrannyman]

CFL's do not cause algae. Lack of proper nutrients causes algae.

Tinfoil and/or mirrors will cause more re-strike. That is why I suggested gloss white paint=easier+more beneficial. 2X26W CFL's inside an AGA housing is plenty for a 20Galllon tank.

Good Luck! I hope you find what works best for you.:)

[Mindcrime121]

These AGA housings, are you talking about metal ones, plastic, or both? Mine is plastic and I don't want to melt it or catch it on fire.

[Mindcrime121]

Bump: Still hoping to find out if this works for plastic AGA housings or just aluminum ones.

[Fordtrannyman]

Bump: Still hoping to find out if this works for plastic AGA housings or just aluminum ones.

Plastic!



http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj54/fordtrannyman/Pics%20for%20Posts/CIMG2481.jpg

[Mindcrime121]

Sweet, thanks! Hard to tell from the pic. :) Soon as I can get the stuff I'll see if I can gut mine and put it back together with a twin CFL fixture inside it. I'm just half afraid I'll crack the housing working on it.