Work shop lights

[lyquidphyre]

I need to buy lights for the 75gal I plan on setting up soon. (i feel like im always saying that.. "setting up soon"). Someone mentioned using workshop lights you can get at home depot or where ever. I would really like a 48 in twin flourecent light for my tank.. but seeing how they are $100 I need to go a different route.

I know this is 10in short of 48 but what do you think? Is it safe once I get a glass top?

http://www.lowes.com/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=27277-290-HSL300

or is that over kill?

 

[TankGirl]

Are you growing plants? If so, you will need fluorescent. If not, those halogens are going to get hot, but otherwise I don't know what impact they will have.

If you are growing plants, you can get a shop light at Lowe's, usually for under $10, that consists of two 40-watt bulbs. I used a pair of these for my 55 for a long time and grew plants beautifully, until I got tired of them covering the entire top of my tank.

 

[lyquidphyre]

I was worried about the heat

Im not growing plants, but lights under $10 sounds nice.. and will work if one day I want to grow lights

 

[William]

Those Halogens are nice, but it dosn't seem like it gives the right intensity for plant growth.


I could be wrong, tho. :-\



None the less, it is a beautiful light! You'd probably pay a hundred or more for something like that at a LFS.

 

[shawmutt]

I would really like a 48 in twin flourecent light for my tank.. but seeing how they are $100 I need to go a different route.

The ones I bought (for a different purpose) were really cheap. I got these (click). There's even cheaper ones as well. If you wanted to, you could strip the lights for the parts, and build a simple enclosure for the lights. The only thing that would cost you a lot is the bulbs, but if you shop smart you could get them for 15 bucks or so each (The bulbs in home depot really aren't designed for a fishtank. The whole setup--4- 40W bulbs--should cost you a little over $100. With two bulbs it would be a little over $50. (I'm not sure if you didn't want to spend $100 on just a fixture or if you didn't want to spend $100 period). If it's any consolation, I just spent over $100 on lighting for my 30 gallon planted tank.

 

[Essayons89]

I picked up 48" twin tube shoplights from Home Depot last year for some of my tank tanks. I think they ran only about $15 each. I use 2-40W bulbs in them.

Bryan

 

[grimlock3000]

" I would really like a 48 in twin flourecent light for my tank.. but seeing how they are $100 I need to go a different route."

Do not get ripped off buying dual strip lights at a pet store. I paid $50 for an All-Glass 24 inch twin tube fixture and it is crap. I have used the thing for about 3 months and already the ballast makes a wretched noise the entire time it is on, even when I replaced the bulbs. I got a PC light to replace it, now that died and I am back to the twin tube until the replacement PC gets here.

Home Depot sells 48 inch twin tube fixtures for $7, and you can buy a 2 pack of 6500K Phillips "Daylight Deluxe" bulbs for less than $10. That is under $20 for 80 watts of nice 6500K light. Here is my friends setup:

That is a $7 fixture and the bulbs were $8 each at a pet store because the Cichlids look better under a 9300K bulb than a 6500K one.