yes im making the dive into the ocean
but first needed more light! heres how i did it
step one, get the supplies (large picture for reading product labels and such if you want)
(the piece of metal is an alluminum vent pipe 4" by 24")
take the twin cluster fixture socket and tie the wires to the tool replacement cord, make shure to tie them white to white and black to black, dont worry about the third grounding wire, it can hang, i tied it back so it wouldnt poke me.
screw in the light bulbs and you are done with the buisiness end of the light, plug it in if you like to see if you tied it good
make sure to buy the brightest 'daylight' bulbs, otherwise you will just grow algae!
next take the metal plate and cut it to the desired length (i cut it at 18 inches long) SAVE THE SCRAP METAL you will use it later
bend back the freshly cut edge and hammer it smooth to prevent cutting. This process will have taken out the warp in the metal, but were about to put that back in...
figure out how wide you want the metal to be (how much space it will take up, make shure to leave space for heaters, filters, and food openings) then cut some string at 3in longer than that length (the extra is for knots)
using whatever ( i used a hole puncher) poke holes in the metal and string it like so...
i didnt have to shorten the width of it any, but you might have to depending on how much space you need on the top (i didnt have to make space for a HOB filter)
then get out you extra metal, i used most of my extra metal to merge together two pieces of square glass to make a glass top, but most people will already have that, or some other way to make a base to put it on...
take the rest of the scrap metal and make a stand for the lights so they dont touch the glass or the metal lid
and presto! you have now made a 54 watt light and hood for $32 pretty good if i say so myself... and it looks very space age...
i have it shown on top of my caterpillar cage, as this is the first thing that i have done to go toward a 10gal nano, ill post updates as i complete more steps...
hope this helped!, now i just got to get off that sticker
but first needed more light! heres how i did it
step one, get the supplies (large picture for reading product labels and such if you want)
(the piece of metal is an alluminum vent pipe 4" by 24")
take the twin cluster fixture socket and tie the wires to the tool replacement cord, make shure to tie them white to white and black to black, dont worry about the third grounding wire, it can hang, i tied it back so it wouldnt poke me.
screw in the light bulbs and you are done with the buisiness end of the light, plug it in if you like to see if you tied it good
make sure to buy the brightest 'daylight' bulbs, otherwise you will just grow algae!
next take the metal plate and cut it to the desired length (i cut it at 18 inches long) SAVE THE SCRAP METAL you will use it later
bend back the freshly cut edge and hammer it smooth to prevent cutting. This process will have taken out the warp in the metal, but were about to put that back in...
figure out how wide you want the metal to be (how much space it will take up, make shure to leave space for heaters, filters, and food openings) then cut some string at 3in longer than that length (the extra is for knots)
using whatever ( i used a hole puncher) poke holes in the metal and string it like so...
i didnt have to shorten the width of it any, but you might have to depending on how much space you need on the top (i didnt have to make space for a HOB filter)
then get out you extra metal, i used most of my extra metal to merge together two pieces of square glass to make a glass top, but most people will already have that, or some other way to make a base to put it on...
take the rest of the scrap metal and make a stand for the lights so they dont touch the glass or the metal lid
and presto! you have now made a 54 watt light and hood for $32 pretty good if i say so myself... and it looks very space age...
i have it shown on top of my caterpillar cage, as this is the first thing that i have done to go toward a 10gal nano, ill post updates as i complete more steps...
hope this helped!, now i just got to get off that sticker
