DIY Lighting

Mykayel

Mykayel

AC Members
May 30, 2005
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I have orded a DIY 2x55 compact florresent lighting kit from ahsupply.com. I'm going to be making my own hood but I was wondering, how high up in the hood should I put my lights? Also I assume that you need to cover them to protect them from the water, how is this normally done? I have seen a few glass covers and I was thinking about doing that, but all the ones I've seen are hinged, which I don't think would work too well underneith a hood and lights. Any suggestions?
 
There will be spacers included with the light kit. You will have options as to how much space you want to allow, but I found that I only needed 3.75" in height for my boxes on my 55gal. This allowed enough space for using the included spacers and left some room for the reflector inside the box, so that it didn't touch the glass.
Yes, use glass over the tank to protect the fixtures from moisture. Depending on where you want to place the lighting (how far forward of back) you can cut a piece of glass to fit the indentations in the plastic frame of the top of the tank. Then cut each of the glass pieces to allow access for feeding/cleaning while not having to disturb the light kits. You don't need a hinge. Just a two piece set up will do fine.
I do stained glass work so cutting the glass was no problem for me, but if you don't have a glass cutter, most hardware stores will cut the glass for you.
 
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