spotlights over aquariums (pic)

nvision

nvision

what the heck is a pl*co?
Dec 11, 2002
381
1
18
Sunnyvale, CA
jau.smugmug.com
anyone here uses spotlights to accent their tanks instead of conventional hood fixtures? i'm not very knowledgeable on household lighting but i wonder what would be involved in setting up either a mobile or permanent spotlight installation for the aquarium. something similar along this line would be the popular metal halides which hangs from the ceiling for planted tanks.

it's very fascinating to see the play of light which only accents a certain part of the interior space. i tried to emulate this metal halide setup, but at a much minimized level, by using 2 flashlights placed above the aquarium. the result was extremely dramatic and pleasing--i only wish i could keep my flashlights on like this 10hrs a day. here's a photo showing how it looked like,

9249305-M.jpg


it's a newly set up 29g jebo aquarium i recently got, planning to house a few tang cichlids. please excuse the foamy thing on top of the rock. no it's not fog... it's a nasty mold which has developed from a newly bought rock. i swear i've scrubed the heck out of it but oh well, time to clean it again!

happy fish keeping.
 
I think it looks great. Very mysterious, and even ominous looking. I'm not sure how those plants would do though. But with that kind of setup you could have a couple fake plants and it would look just as good. I like it.
 
Looks good for times when partial light could be used.....
Nice pic!

I'm wondering about track lighting and Halogen spot lights?
 
thanks guys.

so track lighting and halogens, do they require mounting into a wall? i've seen a lot of wall-mounted lights at Home Depot and they look really nice, but the installation process turns me off. i wonder if i can find anything similar in a floor stand, like those torch lights. not really easy to shop online, too, without gauging the actual scale of these things.
 
IMO I wouldnt hassle with track lighting, I would get one of these clip style lamps, and if I couldnt get it to clip and point the way I want, I would just suspend it from the ceiling. just my .02

Home Depot $9
008938760225_3.jpg
 
seaman, that's a very minimalistic approach with the clip-on lamps, i like it! hanging lighting from the top is very cool but i don't want to deal with routing the wires along the ceiling and walls. it's very compelling, but maybe when i finally get my own house i may finally do that. another possible option that just came to mind, is the decorative LED aqualight which lits inside the tank. i remember these come in all sort of disco colors, but i only want white, possibly blue too if it doens't look too freaky. tank's in my room, no nightmares please, heh.

p42810b.jpg
 
Clip-on variable output Halogen spotlights seem like a real interesting idea! I like the bendable arm on that clip-on.....
 
There are numerous halogen and LED "cabinet" lighting systems that would be ideal for this. Also, two cheap flashlights and a 3 volt transformer you could keep flashlight bulbs on it all day.
 
QCppg, good points. i'm not sure about electrical DIY though, i just don't trust myself--can faintly remember how to wire a battery to a light bulb. maybe i can get an engineering buddy to help rig something up. he loves stuff like these.

thanks for all the help everyone.
 
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