55 Gal Strip Light

Four foot t-8 bulbs should be 32 watt bulbs. All together that would be 96 watts. If you are inclined to go the DIY route you can probably make a hood with lights for less than that strip light. That being said I would say that I think that that would be a good light for plants in a 55g tank. Home depot has a good selection of affordable bulbs including some t-8 bulbs. I use t-12 in my set-up, but I believe I saw a plant and aquarium t-8 along with daylight type bulbs there. If I had that set-up I'd probably mix one plant and aquarium bulb along with a 5500k and a 6500k bulb from there.

All that being said if you are handy at all with wood and such you can make a wooden DIY hood. My DIY hood with 80 watts of light cost me about $95 including bulbs. I still have space to add another 40 watts in the hood that I can hook up to the same power or a separite timer.

Well I’m looking into lighting a planted tank and have been looking at the stuff at Home Depot so I know what about there prices are. The T-12 plant/aquarium lights are $9.95 for a 48”. The ballast to run 2 48” t-12 bulbs is $32.50 (electronic ballast).

I know what is under this will not be what you need to build but might help you out…

I’m looking at using 3 ballast and 6 tubes on my hood, on my 75 gall tank. The thing that I keep looking at is my hood is 19” wide and 14” deep on the inside. A t-12 tube would need 1.5 to 2” for each light. I would still have to get a good reflector and was looking at the Coralife Aqua Mirror at 48” long would be $32.99 each. I would be using 2 of them and have 3 lights in each mirror. I’m just trying to think how well those 3 lights would hinge on that mirror so I can get in to the top. I would use 2 timers; one would have the 1 ballast and would be on 12 hours a day, the second timer would have 2 ballasts and would be on 10 hours a day. This would give dusk till dawn thing going on.

With the time I would put into this and it not working I could just buy one.
6 tubes at 9.95 each… 59.70
3 ballast at 32.50 each… 97.50
2 mirrors at 32.99 each… 65.98
If I add the cost that way I’m looking at getting a pre made light. The good thing about doing it this way is you would be able to mount the ballast under the tank to help keep the water cooler. But then your thinking about 6 wires per a ballast, you would need some kind of a disconnect (GM stereo plug, 14 wires in a 95/2000) just thinking of the trouble of running 6 wires for a ballast. If you do this us 18/16 gage, I have done it before.

I’m looking at $223.18 or so to do a DYI with 240 watt.

Got_Nailed,

If you don't know already, the philips plant and aquarium bulbs glow a pretty pink color. That's why I only use one of them. With a second bulb of a more normal shade you can't really tell the difference in the tank. On the wall behind the hood is still pink though. The pink bulb is in the back on my canopy.

I really think for what Gotcha38 is doing the store bought 3 bulb t-8 fixture will probably work just fine for most plant life. Using the philips bulbs I'd probably put the 5500k one in the front and the 6500k one in the back with the pink plant and aquarium bulb in the middle. Set up like that I doubt anyone will even know there is a pink bulb in there.

Now, while the light he is looking at may not look as cool as a DIY canopy. It is gauranteed to work, runs fairly cool (electronic t-8 type balast), and will put him close to the 2 watts per gallon he is looking for.

The way I read his post he was thinking on the DYI or the store bought. I was just tossing in this info to make sure if he was doing the DYI he would think it through all the way.

I guess I should of reread it before I posted. :-/

If I remember right there was a post somewhere in the DIY area about someone who took a couple of 4 foot light fixtures attached to a board and hung the thing from his ceiling. He then used fabric (felt I think) around the board to form a hood effect around the tank. If I remember right he spent about $40 not including bulbs for 160 watts of flourescent. It's not something I would do personally in my current home, but it was interesting.

The standard on a t-8 bulb (1" diameter) is 32 watts. The standard on a t-12 bulb (1.5" diameter) is 40 watts. This assumes a 4 foot bulb.

I just built a DIY light hood for my 115, using three of home depots double strips, Basically similar to got-nailed's description. I didn't install mirrors as I used the made up strip lights, I am running 4 P&A bulbs behind two deluxe daylight. Can't see the pink with the DD bulbs in front. I may try to get 5P&A bulbs in and see what it looks like. I have two on one timer that are on for 10.5 hours, and the other four are on for 9.5 hours. I really like the set-up as it is but may try to mirror or reflect more of the wasted light towards the tank. Tatal cost ( I didn't break it down) of wood, hinges handles, stain varnish lights, and cords was around $140.00, bulbs were about another $50.00, so less than $200.00 for a wooden 240 watt (electronic not magnetic) hood. I'll have anothe $20-$25 in my moonlight which I'm building today.