Lighting question

[blankenship]

Hi,

I have a 10 gallon vertical tank. The canopy it came with only holds a 8W light and it would be hard to add a new light to the exhisting canopy. I want to grow plants so I obviously need more light. I was thinking of building my own canopy out of a piece of 13" x 13" wood and cutting a hole out of the center, and then placing this light, click here, over the hole. Then when I need to feed the fish I can take the light off and add the food through the hole. Something like this:

Before I order the light, I wanted to know if this setup would work so I can have live plants??

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[Indigo]

Thats a pretty snazzy idea! I'm gonna upgrade my lighting in the future and the canopy I have won't let me put in a higher wattage bulb *grrr* If it works well, let me know.

 

[ChicoRaton]

I would make something to hold it in place, like get some plain, basic corner molding and cut 1/4" thick L-shaped pieces and glue them down so the the light doesn't slide around. Otherwise, it should work. I'd also suggest getting that same molding and putting it all around the edges of that piece of plywood to keep it from sliding around. It'll look better that way totherwise, yeah, should work, but do note that on a tall 10g tank, 1.8 wpg is low light. You'll be able to keep crypts, anubias, and javas, but don't count on them growing like mad.

HTH

 

[Aquarius0015]

Would it be possible to have two of those Coralife fixtures? 3.6 wpg is pretty decent.

Here's another idea, who knows if it would even work, I'm just brainstorming here. First get one of those... crud, I don't know what they're called. They are aluminum-colored metal reflectors, kind of funnel-shaped, and and usually hung or suspended to work as a sort of spotlight.

They look very industrial, we've got them in our wood shop at home. Inside there is an incandescent socket, but you could use a screw-in fluorescent bulb. I think ours have 60 watt incandescent bulbs in them, but if you could find a similarly powered CF bulb, the output would be insane.

To make it look nice you could paint the outside of the reflector with heat-resistant paint (color choices probably limited here). All together I think it could be done quite cheapy.

But then again, my DIY ideas tend to end up disastrously, so take with a grain of salt....

 

[nvision]

some creative ideas here. the only thing i would have against a wooden canopy would be the warping as wood is exposed to moisture from condensation. it may still be possible if it's varnished and cured properly. good luck! love to see how it turned out.

 

[blankenship]

All these responses have been great, thanks!! I've be fine tuning the design a little bit. Warping is a concern so I was thinking of getting a piece of plexi glass or acrylic. What do you think? Can I get it cheap? The whole reason why I'm doing this myself is to keep the price down. The light with shipping will cost me $30 and the wood I prob could get real cheap. The price is also why I think I'm only going to get one light. I think with 18W I can get some java ferns and be alright.

Aquarious, do you have a pic or link to the lights you were talking about?

Also, and I know this is turning into a DIY topic (sorry), what can I use to glue plexi glass to plexi glass or acrylic to acrylic?

Thanks again for all your help

 

[Aquarius0015]

I'll work on finding you a pic, but it's kinda hard to find one without knowing what it's called!

By the way, acrylic will warp (and quickly, too). I use it as a tank cover myself, I just thought I'd let you know... Glass won't warp, but I wouldn't recommend it if you have butterfingers like me!

 

[ChicoRaton]

They make acrylic solvent. it melts the acrylic and welds it together as it dries.

I say get a MH pendant and hang it from your ceiling and get a pressurized ph controlled co2 system.

 

[Aquarius0015]

Ah! This is the closest thing I can come up with (on eBay of all the places in the world, geeze o' pete):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1267&item=3844199931&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

The ones we have already have an incandescent socket in them, but I imagine you could easily find a pre-made socket set-up and insert it into the reflector (the cord would run out of the top, btw). We've got ours hanging from the ceiling by a rope with the power cord wrapped around the rope, but maybe you could rest it directly over the hole since it would be a PC and not too hot.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

 

[blankenship]

I see. I think I'm going to stick with the lamp I orignally picked out. Although it won't produce as much light, it will look nicer.

Two more questions:

1) How thick was your acrylic that warped....you think if I get it thick enough it won't?

2) If I put a mirrio on the under side of the canopy would it increase light into the tank?

Thanks again!!