Home Depot Flourescent Lighting... for aquarium...?

K

kyazh

AC Members
Feb 28, 2006
129
0
0
39
Glendale, Ca
I am planning on building a Hood/Canopy for my 29 gall. My current flourescent light sucks, it's a single 24" 15 watt or somthing like that! I was wondering on buying one of these, they're cheap as hell IMO.
How would these work for a fish tank? would they be ok?

Single 20watt T-12

Double 20watt T-12

The single is 10$ , the double is 25$, should I just get 2 singles, that way if its too bright, I can have 2 switches and turn one off, or should I get just 1 single? or the double?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I am planning on having some plants in the tank aswell. Also how do these regular flourescent lamps differ from the ones they sell at fish stores??


Thanks!
 
2 bulbs won't look a whole lot brighter, but your plants will notice if you have live plants. It should work ok, (the pictures didn't come up the link just went to the lighting section, but I think I know what you are talking about, just plain simple strips.) I would put a glass top over the aquarium to keep moisture off the lights.
 
When I click on your links, I get ceiling fans. No matter. A lot of people use shop lights for their tanks as a less expensive lighting alternative. What is your idea of “some plants”? Think of what you want in terms of kinds of plants, too. Even a double 20 watt fixture will give you less than 2 watts per gallon, that will only be sufficient for lower light plants. The bulbs you use in it will be important, see if you can get daylight bulbs – but other than that the only difference between them and the fish store ones is the lower price.

If you can find a double T8 fixture (skinnier bulbs than T12’s) that would even be better. Over my 29 gallon I have a double fixture - 2x30watt T12’s (only because I couldn’t find a 3 foot T8 double fixture) and I still consider mine lower light for plants.
 
i use a 48" shop light on my 30" long tank. the overhang i use for my "land" plants. was $8 at home depot, and i get about 2.5 wpg. my plants are doing great with the two T12 full spectrum bulbs and the tank looks great too. eventually i'm going to paint the fixture black, along with the back of the tank.

tanktop-2.jpg
 
Aha I see, great, thanks alot. Sorry for the crappy links, I guess the home depot website uses flash. But yes they are the strips. How many watts per gallon is needed for a fairly planted aquarium? Im not sure what kind of plants, just in general?
 
Just about every T-12 strip can use T-8 bulbs from what I have seen. Most people will probaly say about 2.5 watts per gallon. It depends though. Its hard to get good lighting for a 29 gallon tank from what I have found. I have a double light strip with two 20 watt GE plant/aquarium bulbs. My plants appear to be doing ok, most of my plants are low light but I have a few that aren't "low light" and they seem ok.
 
joephys said:
Just about every T-12 strip can use T-8 bulbs from what I have seen.
Click to expand...

The pin size is the same, and they will fit but they use different ballasts. The T12 will overdrive the T8 bulbs from what I have read.
 
I just got back from home depot, didnt buy anything, But I saw all the stuff they had. Those t-12 bulbs are huge, didnt know the difference between t12 and t8 untill now. Well, I also saw that yes you can put T-8's in a T 12 housing, which is good. When I build my canopy, I'm planning on getting 2 of the single 24" fixtures. They plant and aquatic bulb they had was a t 12, ran for about 8 bucks, I dont know if they were out of the T8 or didnt have any. But this is guna be a fun project. Thanks for the help
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom