What kind of hood or top should I be using?

Hello there,

I've been lurking for awhile and I finally have a question. Hopefully someone can help.

I decided to toss in some plants a couple weeks ago, bought them at petsmart :lipssealedsmilie:. I found out, from you guys/gals, that I will definitely need some better lighting. I recently bought a hood for the tank and it came with a single strip 24" T8 ballast carrying a 17w bulb (inside a 35" cover). I happened to have another 15w T8 sitting around and I ended up putting it behind the tank at the bottom so I currently have around 1.06w per gallon.

I have been trying to find a more powerful bulb but the best I can find is a 20w 24" T8. I need to get rid of the bulb sitting behind the tank, since it directs light towards the front and its kind of blinding while you're trying to enjoy the view.

Now that you have some basic idea...

1. What kind of hoods/tops does everyone use?
2. How do you fit all of your wattage up there? I'm going for 3 wpg.
3. What would a good lighting schedule be? The timer is on 12/12.

I'm starting to feel the hood I bought was a waste and that I should of went with a glass/acrylic top to allow a better opening to push light through.

I have read a lot about what kind of bulbs, wpg, K ratings, etc everyone is using, but not so much about hardware or what all of this sits on.

If you could share your thoughts on how you setup your tanks for lighting (equipment wise) it would be much appreciated. Thank you.

(30 gallon glass / approx. 36x18x12)

DAVIDFBT said:

WHat I did was build my own canopy, bought some ligth sockets and Compact Fluorescent Lights and wired it all up myself. I brought my 30 gallon tank to 3 WPG for under $30. Use this thread as a guidline to build your own lights if you're handy with tools.

I would leave the lights at 10 hours on and 14 hours off at most.

Click to expand...

This will work perfectly, thanks a ton! :thm:

Timer has been reset to 10/14, thanks! I have been looking at DIY co2 but it looks really messy, might go with a commercial one. I did see one using a co2 cartridge used in paint ball guns that didn't look to bad though. I was looking at ferts too, I found pfertz.com, seems decent.

I'm going to start planning the DIY light project and will probably get ferts and co2 to go with it on launch day