DIY lighting for a 50gal long........need some help

[Blue goldfish]

I have just recently aquired a 50gal long tank. But it didn't come with a hood. It only came with a lid that had a wire mesh type thing. Instead of buying a $72 hood from Big Al's or whatever can i use flourescent lamps???? I mean the type you use on desks. And about how many watts per gallon does it need to be??? I keep forgeting.....but i'd rather not spend that kind of money when i can use stuff i have around the house to light up the tank. Yes the tank will be planted. What do u think???? I may hafta use more than one lamp to light it up.

But i did use a 30watt flouresent lamp (2 15w tubes) to light up a 10gal open toped tank. The plants were sorta wimpy at first, but one of the three that was the farthest from the airstone and had the most light, went berserk. It had 5 new branches formed and just kept on growing. That's when i figured out how substrate and CO2 helped plant growth just as much as light.

Any opinions, advice, or comments are welcome.:D :) :D :)

[beviking]

1-2 watts/gallon for low light plants
2-3 w/g for high light requiring plants

Many ppl use flourescent shop light fixtures.

[tyler]

2.0 is usually where people say co2 is absolutely needed, as far as i've read

[beviking]

tyler is correct, 2+ requires CO2.

[DIYMatt]

In 2 wpg, CO2 is definitely benficial, but it is never necessary. I wouldn't worry about NEEEDING it unless you are over 3 wpg.

But first things first. What kind of tank is it? The only glass "tanks" I've seen with a wire mesh top are "critter" cages. Some of these were no meant to hold water. They have thinner glass and the seams aren't sealed as well as true aquariums. Especially since a 50g long is not a real common aquarium size, it wouldn't suprise me if it wasn't made for water. I would verify that your "tank" will withstand the weight and pressure of the water in it before I did anything. I would contact the manufacturer first, or you could post the tank dimensions and glass thicknesses and someone on this board will probably know if it will hold. 50g's of water is a BIG mess!

[Blue goldfish]

I have thought the same thing. That the tank may have been made for only a critter cage. The bottom of the tank isn't like a 10gals or whatever it's raise up about 1in so that it's the sides that are touching the stand not the bottom. The glass is less than 1/4 of an inch thick....It may be 1/3 of an inch thick. I think you may be right i don't really know cuz i've never messed with larger tanks before. 20gal is the biggest tank i've got so far. But i did fill it up with water and left it like that for over an hour (no more cuz it was getting late and it didn't need to sit over night cuz ice would have busted it) and it took over an hour to drain it all. I don't know. What do ya'll think.:confused: :confused: