Dwarf anubias...

I was thinking of maybe just getting my own lights and putting them in and a piece of glass or plexiglass for water protection

I'm not sure here, but aren't lights less effective when they have to shine through glass or plexi? Somethingabout loss of intensity/spectrum change?

I got a retrofit kit from hellolights.com and built my own hood. There is nothing between the lights and the water except air. However, those kind of kits are designed this way (special endcaps for the bulbs, ballast is located away from the hood), so I'm not concerened with water damaging them.

My thinking here is that if you decided to get hardware store lights, just be very careful regarding the super high humidity they will be in, if you enclose them in a hood or canopy.

My 45 gallon has a regular shop light over it (hangs from ceiling by chains), but it is an open top tank, so the humidity can readitly dissipate. Going 2 years how like that, no problems. Well, no problems with the lights, but I have lost a couple fish that jumped.

[mitche8359]

what size is your tank? how long are your bulbs? how many bulbs do you have?

My tank is a 55 g with two perfecto hoods. The bulbs are only 18" so thats two bulbs. I found out over the weekend that the bulbs are 15 watts. So that's 30 watts of light for a 55 gallong tank which is not good. I'm thinking of getting two new fixtures from a site that I think Logan posted. The fixtures offer 110 watts of light which would be plenty for the plants that I have bought and intend to buy. I haven't seen much of an alternative at this point.