Eletrical Guru's.....Your Help Please!

[Jason01]

Electrical Guru's.....Your Help Please!

Yep....I need help. I am in the planning stages of a new shrimp tank. I want this to be cheap, but I need more than 20 watts of light for a 20 long tank. I am going to build my own stand, and would like to build my own hood.

Now, the question....
I have several flourescent fixtures that I got for free . The problem is that they are twin 4' tubes(2 48" bulbs). I think that they use T-12(the big bulbs). Now, could I cut apart the fixture and use it to run 2 24" T-12s(overdriven, obviously)? Or, Should I get another set of endcaps, and splice the wires from the ballast to run 4 24"? The wattage for 4 24" bulbs would be the same as 2 48", so that should work, right? I really don't want to burn my house down, and I have done electrical work before, but I have never tried to do anything like this.....Please help me!!!

 

[beviking]

Well, I can't gaurantee you won't burn the house down, but I did something similar (use a 2 48" ballast to run 2 24" bulbs, not burn the house down!). Mine are housed in a metal fixture. On a similar note, I use a 4 48" ballast to run 2 48" bulbs that are screwed directly to my diy wood canopy. Just make sure the ballast is grounded. Since you're doing it yourself, use a plug (and wiring) that has a ground wire and be sure to connect it to the ballast ground or the screw that secures the ballast (so it is at least contacting the ballast housing). You could go with 4 24" bulbs too if you'd like.
Good luck.

 

[slipknottin]

It should work, but is entirely ballast dependent. If your worried about potential fire or other damage, get yourself a GFCI plug, it should trip if anything gets unstable enough to cause serious problems.

 

[Murdock]

I have a 55 gal tank with a 4x 40w T8 Bulb I'm using a Advances REL-4p32-sc electronic ballast. It's been up and running for 2 months now with out any issues. I'm planning on doing this with the rest of my tanks. It's amazing how dark all the rest of my tanks are compared to my 55.