Lighting for 135 gallon

[fxie]

I was thinking of ordering a pair of these 54W T5 lights from The Orchid Shop
http://www.theorchidshop.ca/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=100&category_id=17&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=26
and using them as my lighting solution for the tank. In the description it says they come with ballasts and mounting clips. Has anyone ever used these before? I was thinking of going to Home Depot and buying some aluminum, and then bending it to create a reflector in which to mount these lights in. Does this sound like a viable solution, or am I missing something?

Also, I was thinking of ordering a lighting kit from AHSupply, but their shipping costs for a 96W kit is stopping me from ordering haha.

 

[rwilliams254]

I thought that 10K was ideal. These are 6400k

 

[Nolapete]

I used 4 shop lights $9 each at Home Depot for 320 watts total and bought a 10 pack of 6700K Philips bulbs there for $28. I built a temporary light box for about $20 or so.

I used some plastic tie wraps to attach 2 shop lights to 10" wide boards with 2' overlap on each light in the center.

Works like a champ. The Philips bulbs are high color rendering, so there's no yellow tint at all. You can buy or build a better light box to put them in. I'm going to build a more permanent one later on.

 

[rwilliams254]

Can you post a picture of your set up Nolapete?

 

[Nolapete]

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113671&page=3

there ya go...it's a rough temporary canopy until I build the permanent one, but it works

 

[rwilliams254]

Thanks

 

[Mgamer20o0]

that would work. a lot of people us t5 set ups.