flouresent shop lights?

luvluv

luvluv

Member
went to the pet shop in local town the other day and seen that they had put in a new light over their 55gal tanks (2) of them. i ask the owner about this and her reply was its not the type that counts its the wattage , which was (80) all together. she said they did this in here other store also and the fish have flurished. this light is nothing more thatn a lg shop light and very bright ? i didnt know what to saya to here except ( im gonna tell the board) she looked at me like i wwas crazy!!!!!) anyway she had lots of fish in these tanks . any comments?
luvluv
 
javajoe

javajoe

Member
Shes probablly right- the fish would be fine.
Now corals on the other hand... that is where you need VHO, MH or PC liting
 
luvluv

luvluv

Member
she has had the shop for at least 7 years that i know of . she also had coral in there too . but aall seemed well.
luvluv
 
ofalegend

ofalegend

Member
Let me know what you all decide :) I wanted to upgrade my lighting enough for Anemones. It would be a Godsend if I can fit 4 or 6 48" shop lights over the top. Anyone think that lighting would be sufficient for Anemones? Or do I need go to with a couple MH and a couple PCs?
~M
 
mr . salty

mr . salty

Active Member
MH or VHO would be best for anemones.And those regular flo's would definatly cause algae problems(at the least) unless they had good aquarium bulbs in them...I myself have these type of fixtures over my big tank,but they have GOOD BULBS in them...Plus I have MH hanging over it also...The main reason a fish store can get away with this is that rarly does anyting stay in those tanks for more than a week or two.I would seriously doubt if any coral could last more than that under those bulbs...
 
fender

fender

Active Member
I have two shop fixtures over my tank along with a 250w MH. The only issue I hav is the metal on the fixtures have some rust - this is mostly poor maintenance on my part and the fact they are about 3inches from the water. I would at the very least get a full spectrum (5500 k) bulb ($6 at HD) until you can afford something a little higher in K.
 
ofalegend

ofalegend

Member
Ok, how about 2 48" flourescent tubes along with 2 MH spaced evenly between them over a 48" tank in a custom built canopy? Can I get aquarium grade bulbs that would fit in the shop light fixtures? The lights should be about 6" from the top of hte tank, so about 7" from the water. The shop lights along the full length, with two MH in the center of each opening on the tank. THink this would work for anemones?
~M
 
bammbamm74

bammbamm74

Member
I bet that would work. You can fit the shop light bulbs in there, as long as the connection in the canopy is 2 prong. And you can get MH bulbs at Home Depot for $25 for 175w. Don't know if those are the right spectrum or not though.
 
R

rayjay

Guest
All my tanks use "shoplight" ballasts, with homemade connections to the lamps.
A year ago, I added an IceCap 660 to my main tank, replacing two tar ballasts, but there are still two tar ballasts running 4 more lamps.
I bought my Sebae anemone 8 yrs ago last month, and it survived under 4 40w NO's for the first approx yr and one half, and when moved into the 90g tank, I added two more 40w lamps and it stayed that way until about 2 years ago when I added the last 2 lamps to total 8 40w NO's. All lights are not on all the time, as timers allow lighting to ramp up and down throughout the day.
Replacing two tar ballasts with the IceCap 660, still powering 4 40w lamps, gives the effect of having 10 40w NO's as the 660 makes the NO's put out about 150%.
 
luvluv

luvluv

Member
dumb question for the day!!!!! what are these initials u r using /
1) mh
2)vho
3)no
i know this sounds dumb but i dont know wha they are !!!
luvluv
 
luvluv

luvluv

Member
thank you fishymissy. i know that sounds dumb that i didnt know them but now i do ,again ty
luvluv
 
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