DIY Lighting for 55G

[thefaint]

Just wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. I'm leaning towards a FOWLR setup with a few frags. I'm going to build a canopy, to save some money. Could anyone point me in the right direction as far as efficient lighting, and canopy designs? Right now I have two 15w flourescent tubes, and that is not going to cut it. Or tell me what your setups are even.

 

[reeftanknewbie]

Depends on the type of corals you want to keep. You can diy hood fairly easy. Try a search at google for diy hood. Also look around here there are some older posts with links to other peoples sites on here that have done diy hoods. Someone with a 55 gal that has done a hood help him out here. As for how much light again that depends on what you want to keep. Read about lighting on here and just look around you will find lots of info on here. Good luck and keep us up to date on your tank.

 

[starfishjackedme]

You could build a canopy and install two 48" flourescent strip lights from Home depot 40watts per bulb. What I did was to run an Icecap 660 ballast with four 48" VHO bulbs. It makes it look so much better.

 

[thefaint]

hey starfish, so you're running 4 bulbs total is that right? how much did your setup cost ? just lighting and ballasts?

 

[ags]

VHO setup - Icecap ballast $180, endcaps $15 per set (one set per lamp), mounting bracket $7 (one mouting bracket per set of endcaps), VHO lamps $35 per lamp. Or there are cheaper alternatives for VHO. I think hellolights.com has a plug n play 4 lamp 440 watt VHO setup for like $200. Not bad but some people have both the hellolights version and an icecap and swear by the icecap.
NO (normal output flourescents) setup - $150-$200 total. Home Depot is your best bet.
And whatever you pay to build the hood/canopy.
I am learning the hard way with the hood. Bought the hood a long time ago and decided to upgrade to the Icecap 660 ballast. Damn hood is too short to fit the endcaps and lamps. Lesson - don't rush into building this thing. Take your time and plan for future upgrades.

 

[jagermeister]

What about mounting a few light sockets in the hood and installing some Verilux full spectrum compact fluorescent bulbs? Each bulb claims to output 100 watts and has a Kelvin of 6500 and a CRI of 91. The light sockets are about $1 a piece at HD and you'd also need some wiring. The bulbs are about $20 apiece.

 

[broomer5]

Ags
You can get URI 110 watt bulbs in a 46.5" length if the 48" length is too long and giving you problems.
You only pick up 3/4" of space on each end using the shorter lamp length, but that may help to fit in your hood.
If it's an endcap problem - nevermind.
I dunno - just thought I'd mention it.
It already aware of this - sorry to bug ya

 

[ags]

Broomer,
I did not know they made those lenghts till yesterday after talking to LFS and then this morning got your post. Thanks for the help. I was beginning to think I wasted money on a hood. Ags

 

[shadow678]

You can also get special slim-line endcaps that will allow you to use regular 48" bulbs in canopies that you normally would not.

 

[ags]

Who makes the slim line end caps? I only have two choices of LFS in my area that sell that stuff and that would be huge. know of any online stores that sell them. Thanks.

 

[ags]

saltwaterfish.com does not have a picture and does not indicate whether the end caps are slim or not. I'm assuming not because they have the official icecap logo when you hit the link and the endcaps icecap sell are identical to the ones I bought locally.