48" shoplight cfl light

[a&j_tanks]

so i rode the bus to wal mart today and got a 48" shoplight kit

took all the ballast and wiring out and retro fitted my 26 watt 6500k cfl lights

so now i got 3 26 watt lights lighting up my 55 gal!

what other plants could i run?

im now running 1.5 wpg

*somethings yet to do*

*i am gonna spray paint it black

*buy these...*click here*

*get light timers

*PICS*

 

[Bk718]

with 1.5wpg i would stick with mosses, ferns, crypts. You can maybe pull off getting an amazon sword in there. But from personal experience the 1.5wpg is probably a bit lower with the bulbs..

Why not have 2 bulbs per side??? light will look a bit more balanced that way

 

[a&j_tanks]

i prob will somtime down the line but the reason o even got the middle bulb was for my blue cfl at night

 

[DAVIDFBT]

This is what I will do over my 55 except with 3 T12 40 watt bulbs. This will give me about 2.1 WPG.

 

[ebola]

I don't think you crunched the numbers right. The 3 watts per gallon rule is for T12s. You need to look at the output of the T12s in lumens, figure out how many lumens per gallon it comes down to, and then fill that number with the appropriate number of cfs. I used to 8 23 watt bulbs (I think) to get somewhere to the equivalent of 2.3 to 2.5 watts per gallon.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

its less of a rule more of a guide.....

i would add the 4th bulb to even it out more. i would also look in the diy section on moonlight and get one of those other lights for them.

 

[Riiz]

David you can over-drive those T8 shoplight fixtures and get about 112watt from a pair of bulbs. Plus the T8 6700k Daylight bulbs are $6.99 for a pack of two, all at Walmart.

http://www.gwapa.org/articles/ODNO/