Wattage

Marala

Marala

Where's Nemo?
May 2, 2005
149
0
16
College Station, TX
Well, i went to That Fish Place today to pick up some fish and supplies, and I thought I would ask for some help finding a high wattage light bulb for my 40g tank. I want to have a beautiful tank filled with plants, but I only have .5 watts per gallon at the moment, and there isn't much that survives under those conditions. The Customer service guy showed me a 4 bulb 120w light that I could purchase. The only problem was that it cost $117!!! I am barely making it as it is, and I don't have that kind of money. I currently add fertilizers and will add CO2 eventually, but I know it isn't enough. Is there any way I can add lights to my tank with out spending a fortune? It needs to look nice because this tank is in my living room. Thanks!
 
You can try and make a DIY top with lots of flourecent bulbs.
 
That doesn't sound as if it would look nice.
 
Well that might depend a little on your "handyman" skills. There are some really nice articles out there how to build a DIY light strip.

What you do is replace your existing hood (if you have one) with a glass top - they are fairly cheap. And then set the DIY lights on top.

What you build is essentially a wooden box - paint it/ stain it and depending on design size fit 2-3-4 bulbs and ballast inside. Besides the time it takes for stain/ paint to dry you could easily build one in 2 hours.

If you use an economy ballast, 3 daylight bulbs from the home improvement store plus the wood such a project can be done for ~$50-60 for your tank size.
Still not "really cheap" but i also had to find out that with starting to be interested in planted tank setup always comes a "nice" pricetag no matter how much DIY or shortcuts you try to take.

EDIT: I'll try to find the article on the "easy strip light".

Ok here is one quick example. Not that bad looking do you think ?
 
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No, that doesn't look bad at all. You said I could get the bulbs at a home improvement store, what type do I get, and what should the wattage be? The one they showed the bulb was supposed to be 36w, or 55w. Would I just make it larger and add more bulbs?
 
Well the example page was from AHsupply - they sell CF kits - which are basically flourescent bulbs "doubled" up and thats why shorter bulbs have such a high wattage and you can get (for example) 55W out of a 21.5 inch bulb.
When i mentioned the Home depot i was thinking using regular flourescent bulbs (T12 or preferably T8s). In those cases the wattage is determined by the length of the bulb - so a 36 inch bulb as an example would have 30W.

Question is - what are your tanks dimensions because that might limit the choices when it comes to regular flourescent bulbs in order to fit them into the DIY hood.
 
I don't know the exact dimensions, but the bulb I currently use is 24".
 
I went DIY rather than pay a lot of money for some plastic. I think I have less than $50 in my top and stand, but I had most of the materials laying around already. I used two 24" industrial strip lights from the local home improvement store, about $8 each, wired with an extension cord. If you are tight for cash, just get the light strips and set them above the glass top. Make them pretty later. I went flip top to make feeding and maintenance easier then having to remove the entire top.

canopy.JPG

top.JPG

stand.JPG
 
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