lighting for 55 gal tank

[nursie]

I have the All glass 2 hood version of covers for my 55 gal tank. can these be retrofitted to take 2 bulbs? They are plastic, would it be too hot with 2 bulbs? Or are there single bulbs with high enough wattage that I can get for these to get enough light for low light plants. I don't have a wood canopy for my tank, so don't want whatever I come up with to look unsightly, the tank is in my family room.

 

[Harlock]

If I recall correctly a 55 gallno tank is 48 inches long? If so, then you have two 24" light strips. Check out AH Supply for retrofit kits that put out lots of nice, PC light with good quality reflectors. The kits come with pop in vents to help reduce the heat. Here's a link to the size you could use. If you do a search on AH Supply here in the forums you are likely to see some pretty good reviews and word of mouth advertising. Lots of people like their service and quality. HTH

 

[nursie]

Thanks Harlock! I'll check it out.

DH and I are sitting here discussing lighting. If I have read posts correctly, it looks like you can go to home Depot and pick up regular fluorecents and use them....right?

 

[Harlock]

Thanks Harlock! I'll check it out.

DH and I are sitting here discussing lighting. If I have read posts correctly, it looks like you can go to home Depot and pick up regular fluorecents and use them....right?

You can use lights from Home Depot, yes. They are normal output light usually and require ballasts and end caps rated for a certain wattage to run that certain wattage of light. So for instance, a 20 watt ballast will not run a 40 watt bulb. I really prefer PC (power compact) lighting myself. With NO (mornal output) lights you can only expect the bulbs to put out the rated lighting for 6 months, necessitating their replacement every half a year. PC lights last longer and produce... well, a better "quality" of light, meaning less PC light is equal to more normal output light. For me, the benefits of PC lighting outweigh NO lights.

 

[lousybreed]

You can use lights from Home Depot, yes. They are normal output light usually and require ballasts and end caps rated for a certain wattage to run that certain wattage of light. So for instance, a 20 watt ballast will not run a 40 watt bulb. I really prefer PC (power compact) lighting myself. With NO (mornal output) lights you can only expect the bulbs to put out the rated lighting for 6 months, necessitating their replacement every half a year. PC lights last longer and produce... well, a better "quality" of light, meaning less PC light is equal to more normal output light. For me, the benefits of PC lighting outweigh NO lights.

i would have to disagree with you on this one. new T-8 bulbs with their electonic ballasts last much longer than 6 months. Also you can overdrive T-8's that will put PC's to shame, its called overdriven-normal output (ODNO). If you 4x overdrive 4 32W T-8 lights you can produce as much light as a 250W metal halide. And replacing all the bulbs costs $12; 2 6500K phillips lights cost $6. you should go to http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=175
and read about it. It is like poor mans VHO bulbs....I just did it and it is painfull to look at my 2 bulb strip light, and i am only 2x overdriving my bulbs.
If you have a magnetic ballast you are correct, they beat up bulbs and they will last only 6 months at best. And I am not saying that PC's suck because they are great, but replacing the bulbs are way more expensive than the ODNO setup that i am using.