mylittlebutton
Member
i have a 55 gal. reef and it has the original hood on it that has a 40w bulb i know i need more light. what is the least expensive way to go about getting better lighting? please help!
55 gal lighting
- Thread starter mylittlebutton
- Start date
surfnturf
Member
The most economical way is to go with Power Compact fluorescents. I would get a DIY kit and build my own hood. Look at www.ahsupply.com for some ideas. A lot depends on what you want to keep in the tank, esp with corals or clams.
jagermeister
Member
I have a 55 gal. tank that is pretty much a FOWLR. I looked at the wood hoods and ***** and Petsmart and figured that one of them would be pretty easy to build. I was right.
For lighting I bought a shop light from HD for about $8, stripped out the wires and clamps and mounted them in my hood. That holds 2 - 40 watt bulbs. In the leftover room in the hood I then mounted several ordinary light fixture sockets. In each of those I put a Verlilux full spectrum 100 watt compact fluorescent bulb. The specs on those is 6500 K and 89 CRI. Those bulbs come with their own ballast but are kinda expensive at $20 a piece. I now have a total of 280 watts with plenty of room to add more of the Verilux lights. I might add two more for a total of 480 watts.
The total cost of the hood with fixtures was about $40. The lights were the expensive things.
Hope this helps.
For lighting I bought a shop light from HD for about $8, stripped out the wires and clamps and mounted them in my hood. That holds 2 - 40 watt bulbs. In the leftover room in the hood I then mounted several ordinary light fixture sockets. In each of those I put a Verlilux full spectrum 100 watt compact fluorescent bulb. The specs on those is 6500 K and 89 CRI. Those bulbs come with their own ballast but are kinda expensive at $20 a piece. I now have a total of 280 watts with plenty of room to add more of the Verilux lights. I might add two more for a total of 480 watts.
The total cost of the hood with fixtures was about $40. The lights were the expensive things.
Hope this helps.
shadow678
Member
The best setup I have found for a 55 is to go with an IceCap 660 and 4X48" URI, 2 actinic and 2 AquaSuns. This will give you enough light to keep just about anything you could want, and it is very eficient and not hot enough to raise your water temp more than a couple of degrees. HTH
jagermeister
Member
I've seen them at a couple of hardware stores around the Denver area. But the cheapest place I've found them has been at Bed, Bath and Beyond, believe or not.
They contain their own ballast and do screw into a regular light socket. Check out www.verilux.net.
They contain their own ballast and do screw into a regular light socket. Check out www.verilux.net.
dburr
Active Member
Nothing special, I bought 96 watt PC ballists and sockets from a buddy of mine and wired them in a old NO light fixture.
Ripped out the old and in with the new. I did want to go thru the hassle of making a conopy for a refug in my basement, so I used what I had. And it was cheap too. But I guess I could have bought a new one for a couple hundred dollars more....
Ripped out the old and in with the new. I did want to go thru the hassle of making a conopy for a refug in my basement, so I used what I had. And it was cheap too. But I guess I could have bought a new one for a couple hundred dollars more....