? about DIY lighting w/ shop lights

you could do a larger version of what i did for my 10gal in this thread

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=81995

Here's what I have on my two 29 gallon tanks:



4 foot shop light with 2X 40 watt plant bulbs in it.

Lights on a timer, come on at 8:30 in the morning , off at noon, back on from 4:30 to midnight.

Since that pic was taken got the shoplight in front of the original light fixtures (20 watt bulbs in them). Also a lot more plants (Water wysteria coming out my ears on the right hand tank-need to prune this weekend, and Vals in the left hand tank)

Use Florish and Florish Excell in both tanks.

Plants growing like weeds! Do have a bit of BBA in the left hand tank...

If your somewhat handy you can upgrade a shoplight with a new ballast and 'over drive' the bulbs giving you extra power into the same bulbs. This is called ODNO (over driven normal output). This can fairly easily be done on a standard double tube shoplight fixture. I did this and wrote up a brief article on it on my website... here is the link:
http://tristan.homelinux.net/fish/tank/retrofit/index.htm

I am also trying out some T6 bulbs to see if they are any more effecient/better than the cheap Phillips bulbs I am using, since generally the smaller diameter the bulb is the more effecient it is.

I don't overdrive the bulbs, but this is what I do to a shoplight: (this is for a basement fish room)

I try to get old crappy ones for free. I don't care if they work, just so they're not too rusty. Freecycle is a possible place to get them, but if you see any out on trash day that works too.

I get a 2-bulb T-8 electronic ballast from a home store. I've been paying about $20 a piece for them. I screw the ballast to the top of the fixture, usually drilling a couple holes to run the wires inside the shoplight, and wire it up to match the diagram printed on the ballast.

In cases where I want a 4-bulb light, I get a 4-bulb t-8 ballast, and use a couple strips of wood to attach the two shoplights side-by-side. A 4-bulb shoplight is pretty close to the price of a 2-bulb one!

At the very least, this probably saves a lot of money on electricity over the old crappy magnetic ballast, and the t8 gives more light than an old t12 bulb. I would guess that the bulb life might be longer, too.

Lobo's idea of using a vent pipe for a reflector is a good idea. Getting a length of white aluminum gutter would also work- I will have to try that for compact bulbs if I can find double sockets. You probably don't need a socket with a switch on it (if you can find one without), because you're probably going to use a timer.

I picked up a 48" fixture from Home Depot or Lowe's that uses T8 bulbs for $8.99. It sits on the glass top of my 75 fine. I'm not worried about it going in the tank as it spans the center brace as well as each end and it's on top of the glass anyway..... maybe I should be worried? I installed ground fault outlets where my tanks are. Instant on with the timer I'm using too. Seems to be working fine. Cheesy but fine anyway. I figured I'd eventually get a really nice light setup when I figure out what I want. I hate to order one or even get one from the shop as they never have any on display.

I figure that with the cost of electricity, those cheap "ballasts" (sometimes just a couple capacitors!) will soon cost you far more than you save initially. If you're not the one paying the electrical bill, that might not be an issue. In which case, I wonder how arc lighting would work for an aquarium? :read: