Build your own compact light

[tarashane]

does anybody know how to or has built there own compact lighting. Its looks pretty easy and i was wondering if anybody did it. what does it all include. the sockets,ballast,wires,fan,hood?? it would be alot cheaper. any ideas????

 

[shanev]

Whats it going on?
I built my own VHO setup and it was very easy.

 

[tarashane]

it will be going on a 47 gallon eclipse reef tank. how much did it cost u alot cheaper??? what did u use? where did u get the parts? tahnks for the info

 

[shanev]

What are the dimensions of the tank? Aslo are you using an eclipse hood that you want the lights to fit in or are you going to make a custom hood?

 

[tarashane]

its 30x13 what i was thinking was taking the back of the hood of the eclipse where it flip up and taking that of and building the new hood with the lights to fit in that space. have it come up about 4inches or so and that area is 29x7andhalf inches. so where did u get the parts from??

 

[marvida]

I've built a couple of PC setups from scratch. If you do some shopping there are some retro kits that cost just about the same as doing it yourself. Depends on what you like to do.

 

[shanev]

Are you stuck on keeping the eclipse hood? If so your option are very limited, I dont have experience with it. I know some others do. DO a search for hello lights , they have great prices on DIY light kits,

 

[tarashane]

well if i dont keep it what do i do build a new hood how would that work..

 

[lochi]

I had an eclipse setup on my 29gal. I managed to stick two 55w PC bulbs in the underside of the hood. The bulbs I bought came with mounting brackets. I took out 1 of the original eclipse bulbs and screwed the brackets into the plastice that was behind the original bulb. The second light I mounted on the piece of hood that opens to expose the filter. NOt a great setup. The next problem was there was no place to mount a cooling fan. Consequently the were some days at the beginning of the summer that I pegged out my thermometer in the tank. The plastic in the hood was also a little flexy. Where I mounted the second bulb started to bow. I ended up scrapping the whole thing and building a hood from scratch. If you retrofit or DIY it you can always move the lighting to a new canopy when you have time or cash.