Ahhh the issues with non saltwater kits. Here are a few options.
1. Head to your LFS or contact Marineland and see if you can get a standard glass 29g hood. Probably not going to be to terribly expensive (compared to the costs of LR, ect.
) I contaced one because I shattered mine, and if memory serves, was going to cost about $40 - $50. I instead chose to go with option #2
2. Measure the inside of the aquarium where the hood lays and have a piece of plexy glass cut. My brother happened to have some 1/8" laying around so I used that. I actually just traced it out and trimmed where needed to make it fit. Then I just needed to cut out the required holes for filtration stuff. If your husband and you (or just the husband...which is the case with my wife
) are feeling like a DIY project, this would be it. Menards, Lowels, and Home Depot should have a sheet of plexy suitable fairly inexpensive...though I haven't gone looking lately, so don't hold me to that. Just make sure to attach a plastic (saltwater and metal dont care for each other
) handle of some sort to the top so you can get it off for feedings and maintenance stuff. Super glue works well for attaching handles to plexy glass....as well as one's fingers
.
3. Leave it as an open top and purchase a clip on Metal Halide lamp. A 150w lamp from JBJ (K-2 Viper) will run you about $200. The bennefits - You could put pretty much anything you want into the tank and not have to worry about light requirements, and the really cool shimmering effect from the lights in the water. The bad thing is that the cost of the lamp is the most expensive, and you have to keep an eye out for suicidal fish who wish to reenact the scene from "Free Willy" though in this case it's not to freedom
. You could put some mesh over the tank when you are not around to help keep your would be death wishing friends alive, just remember to remove it when the light comes on or you may have some fire issues, or perhaps some melted subsance that does not infact belong in your tank. Another quick note, corals tend to look drab under straight MH lighting, with out some kind of actinic lights, they just won't flouresce and be kind of boring. Though that is my opinion, it is one that many share. Depending on how your office feels, maybe you could hang the light from the ceiling and get a full MH with the actinics inside...here we are talking about much more money, and probably in this case (since it is an office tank) not really worth it.
4. Buy a retrofit kit. This would involve taking apart the hood, and trying to cram more lights into it (either PC or T5)...though I probably wouldn't recommend it to someone that is just starting and never done a retrofit before. It can be quite a pain, especially when dealing with a pre-manufactured hood. Lots of DIY stuff here, custom work, cutting, ect. The only neat thing would be having the original hood with the tank, if you care about that kind of stuff. Realistically, it might be more of a pain than it is worth.
If it were me, I would stick to option #1. It's going to be the easiest and you could still go with which ever lighting you wish. Though it's still some extra cost, it would probably save yourself (and your husband) many headaches and frustration. Good luck, hope things work out.
