Cheap Low Light Setup For Rack

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Oscarr19

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Alright, so I'm setting up a shrimp rack and I'm looking for options regarding a cheap low light setup. I was thinking about eBay led strips but I believe they're only 0.10 watts each. I only want to grow mosses though and maybe ferns. Any thoughts on the leds or suggestions?


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Inexpensive Lighting

Alright, so I'm setting up a shrimp rack and I'm looking for options regarding a cheap low light setup. I was thinking about eBay led strips but I believe they're only 0.10 watts each. I only want to grow mosses though and maybe ferns. Any thoughts on the leds or suggestions?


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Hello Osc...

I set up a 55 gallon tank that was given to me and used shop lighting to light it. A 2 bulb, 48 inch shop light with GE T12 6500K bulbs was $20.00 at the local hardware store. I use shop light fixtures whenever I can get them. The bulbs last over a year. The low light aquatic plants love this kind of light.

B
 
You can't really compare watts of LEDs to other lights because they were made to save energy with the same output in the first place. I would go for what Bradbury said or those LEDs. Both are cheap but LEDs last longer. I used the large LED bulbs from Lowes and they worked well too.
 
I second the LED light bulbs. I bought three to try out and they are working really well. I got mine at dx.com because they had the best price. Shipping takes around three weeks to my area but it is worth the wait because the price is so low. I just ordered more because they give such a good result. They also have parts to build your own LEDs or strips of LEDs that just need a power supply added. I am going to try to build some for a jar tank I set up.

A very cheap solution is a lamp or metal clamp light and Spiral CFL bulbs. You can set a light up for around $10 per light. The bulbs come in several wattage range so you can go low to high light with them.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. I really like the leds, I might shoot for those. I just don't want to spend money and have moss not thrive or grow.


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I second the LED light bulbs. I bought three to try out and they are working really well. I got mine at dx.com because they had the best price. Shipping takes around three weeks to my area but it is worth the wait because the price is so low. I just ordered more because they give such a good result. They also have parts to build your own LEDs or strips of LEDs that just need a power supply added. I am going to try to build some for a jar tank I set up.



A very cheap solution is a lamp or metal clamp light and Spiral CFL bulbs. You can set a light up for around $10 per light. The bulbs come in several wattage range so you can go low to high light with them.


Also, which ones did you order?


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Get some 10w led floodlights. I put lots of them over my 10g rack.

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Those run about 30$ a lamp right? What kind of coverage do you get?


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I put 1 over each 10g. Seems to be decent enough to maintain low light stuff. They were $7 each on eBay. I think they've gone up to 9 or 10 since.

I also have some gu10s on some other tanks but it seems like the led floods end up cheaper overall.

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I probably should've read the product description instead of just the price lol

I might actually goes with those. Can you link them up to each other?


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You'll have to wire a plug onto them, but yes I wired mine in parallel.

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Cool, thanks for this idea! I'll have to plan out how many tanks I'll have setup on the rack and decide which method would be better.


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I also use 2 bulb shop lights from home depot, t8's. They are easy to get and affordable, but I'm phasing all of mine out for LEDs.


I've only got one tank running on t8's and I'd like to get leds on top of it soon. I'd rather avoid the hassle of swapping bulbs. Plus, I think the leds look a lot better.


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