Need a little help indentifying our lighting set up

[s10lowrider]

We recently adopted a small tank from someone local who was moving. We're beginners when it comes to marine tanks and totally clueless about lighting. The guy we got the tank from has a kind of rigged up DIY compact flourescent (at least thats what we think) set up. The bulbs are very bright but we cant find any markings as to what they are. One bulb is a bright white we believe to be a 10000k daylight and the other is a blue color and we have no idea what it is. They are wired to a dual ballast (says CustomSeaLife.com on it but the site no longer exists) that says 120v 59 amp 71 watts/ 2 lamps. The reflector is also very cheesy and we want to fab up a better one but arent sure what to use. We dont really have the cash to pick up a new T5HO or MH set up but would like to improve on the current lighting for now until we get the funds for new lighting. The tank is around 15 years old and is somewhere around 20g and is 16 inches deep. Any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[gio28]

i can tell you that PCs are a thing of the past...in a way. i bought them as the first lighting for my tank and i soon realized that replacement bulbs are kinda expensive and they just dont do justice compared to T5HO and MH.
what you could do to them since you cant upgrade at the moment would be:
-clean them up
-polish/clean the reflector
-replace the bulbs (the blue one looks kinda funny lit up)
are you planning on a reef or just fish only?

 

[s10lowrider]

Thanks for the info. The pic is pretty bad the blue bulb actually lights up just fine the camera made it look horrible. We have a spare 10000k white bulb and the price tag was pretty expensive. We figured they were older (the ballast has a date from 1999 stamped on it). As far as the reflector goes the previous owner made one from what looks like aluminum roof flashing is there something we can pick up to fab up a better one? We're just doing fish so we dont need reef quality lighting just want to make the most of the current setup. However since we're on the subject what would a decent t5ho setup for a 20g cost and what does it consist of? Thanks again for the help.

 

[s10lowrider]

Also wanted to ask..... If we were to purchase 2 new bulbs what would be the best possible bulbs to purchase that our ballast could still handle? They look to be 12 inch bulbs. What type/wattage bulbs would be our best bet?

 

[gio28]

well first off i think the only better reflector would be to buy one made specially for the lights.
for the T5 lighting (fish only):
its really dependent on what color you want to see since there are no corals that need certain light.
personally i would go with one 10,000K bulb and one actinic bulb. that will give you a nice color IMO....and if you ever wanted to switch to a reef tank that would also be a good combination.
T5 setups can be bought fairly cheap...especially since you dont need reef lighting ($50 maybe)
if you wanted to do it yourself you would need:
-a ballast
-4 waterproof endcaps
-4 mounting brackets
-the bulbs
-reflectors for each bulb
-mounting clips to hold the bulbs
-power cord
i dont know what bulbs the ballast could handle but i think just any 2 bulbs would be fine.
im only about 6 months into this hobby so im sure someone else can help you more than me.