Constructing Flourescent lights

[Steve Ballee']

I have no experiance with actual assembly of lighting systems, but have noticed while at Home Depot, picking up cheap fixtures, that they sell all of the individual parts to assemble a fixture. I'm curious about just how hard it would be to get a couple of the end pieces (where the bulb rests) the ballast, and just size things as appropriate in a diy hood?? when I have been assembling the fixtures I have, they sure dont look like there is much to them, and sure would seem to be a cheaper method of building a hood then even buying the twin strip shop lights.. just looking for feedback.

 

[christopher1260]

you can get an already assembled twin tube shop light for $7. the diy hoods are pretty easy to do with some lumber and a little bit of carpentry skill. good luck

 

[somefinnfishy]

I dont like the pre assembled lights they use a cheap balist that are likely to hum eventualy.
The balist kit and end caps are the way to go IMHO

 

[Dabbler II]

This is what i have done. I got the kit for the lights at my LFS ($65.00 CDN x2) I got the plans from the net for the rest of the cabnet. It took me 3 hours to build it and 3 days to finish it (varnishing and painting) I hope this pic works

 

[FishmasteR2002]

Thanks for starting this thread Steve. I also wanted to eventually build my own hoods. Dabbler that is a really nice hood. Great worksmanship from what I can see.

 

[Steve Ballee']

yep, that sums it up nicely

and is exactly what I was thinking )) thanks Dabbler )

 

[Unome]

Okay, is there any problem with running these lights that you put together yourself in a moist environment?

Any special ballast you can get from Home Depot, Lowes, etc. that will work better than others?

I have glass over tanks but want to make sure. Would love to do a similar setup on all of our tanks.

 

[Dabbler II]

The setup that I installed, I bought the fixtures from the LFS and they are made for this type of enviroment. They are called GLO-MAT 2 ELECTRONIC BALLAST KIT. I put 2 of these in my hood. You can get them in different wattages and one and 2 bulb configuration. You can find them at Big Al's.

http://www.bigalsonline.com

 

[superjohnny]

This sounds like a good idea. I have been doing research on lighting for my soon-to-be plant tank and would like any info I can get my grubby paws on.

Thanks!