ohhhh the frustrations!!! of lighting pls help!!!

[LMOUTHBASS]

Ok just got this retro fit kit from AH-supply.com - it's not gonna happen though - it's way to freakin complicated and i don't want to get electrocuted - so i'm sending it back
i have a 55g tank made by topfin - the tank has a brace in the middle and holds two seperate hoods -
all i want is to find a strip lighting fixture fully assembled that i can just put on my current hood -
problem is the highest wattage strip light i can find is at foster and smith.com by smart lite that is 65W - well 65W on each hood is a total of 130w total breaking down to 2w per gallon -
all info i can find suggest that 2w per gallon is the bare minimum but that i shoul use as close to 5w as possible -
i can't find a fixture that holds anything higher -
any suggestions pls!!!???

[jeffro426]

What exactly are you trying to do...or grow?? Ive got 2 wpg on my 55 with CO2 and pretty much everything in there grows like weeds. 5 watts(nearly 300 watts total!!!) would not only be hard to obtain on a 55(at least with flourescent), it would be massive overkill!!

[Captain Hook]

Largemouth if you have 2 watts per gallon of power compact lighting that will be tons! I have 2 watts of regular fluorescents and it is enough for many plants. Power compacts are even brighter so you would be fine with that. As for wiring I am no help to you :shake:

[LMOUTHBASS]

oh ?! good cause it looks like my only economical option is 2wpg
i was reading stuff online and most people seemed to think you had to have as close to 5wpg as possible - i mainly keep crypts cause right now i prob have like .50 wpg if that! hahaha -
some of the articles were saying that with filtration on a tank you need higher wpg - what do you think of the power compact smart lite? it's 65 w for a 24" strip light - i woul run two of these on my tank because i have two hoods - that will give me 2.36 wpg
or my other option is -
to somehow get rid of the center brace in the middle of my tank and find a more powerful 48" strip light - because they don't make too many with such high wattage for a 24"
if i go this route i will have to get a glass canopy top
what woul you do?
the smartlite is 60 bucks online

[jeffro426]

The 2.36 watts per gallon would be PLENTY!! But if you want cheaper you can do what i did...i went out and bough a 48" shop light that hold 3 t-12 bulbs that just fits the width of my tank and fits inside my canopy perfectly. The 120 watts gives me approx 2.2 wpg and ive been able to grow mostly anything i put in my tank. The fixture was cheap(like 10 bucks) and the bulbs are WAY cheaper than CFs(only like 5 bucks each for daylight deluxes 6500K). I didnt remove my center brace and i noticed no bad effects of it...doesnt cast a shadow or anything.

[LMOUTHBASS]

options options options lol! iwas wondering about doing something like that - so keeping in the centerbrace causes no problems? i think i woul like to remove it if i can but maybe i coul them just get a 48" fixture to go straight across it?
or try the shop light thing

[jeffro426]

No, putting lighting over the centerbrace has never caused me any troubles...however, i would not remove it. Its there for a reason, to help support the weight of the water in the tank from bowing the front and rear glass.

[LMOUTHBASS]

so the brace actually serves purpose other than just having seperate hoods? - what about 55g's without the centerbrace?
i guess i can just go right over it but the slots in which you put the lighting fixtures on top of the hood are lower than the brace - this might cause a problem?

[lee914]

I did the same as Jeffro and bought a 48" double srtip shop light at Lowes for $8, bulbs are $5 a piece, way cheaper than the lfs, like $120 cheaper. You wont see any shadows because of a brace either. Best of all the light housing was actually attractive, a nice shiney white curved housing, almost looked it was made for it. You can paint it after all.

[jeffro426]

Originally posted by LMOUTHBASS
so the brace actually serves purpose other than just having seperate hoods? - what about 55g's without the centerbrace?
i guess i can just go right over it but the slots in which you put the lighting fixtures on top of the hood are lower than the brace - this might cause a problem?
It has a lot to do with the thickness of the glass...most 55s which have the thinner glass(cant remember the measurement but looks to be around a 1/4 inch maybe a little more) have center braces. Most of the ones you see that dont have 3/8 or much thicker glass that can support the weight of the water. Center braces dont come into play as much on a 48 inch tank as they do on say a 100 gallon long which could be 60 or more inches long.