Crazy lighting idea what do you think?

[markiezzi]

Hello everyone,

So I was walking around home depot today and went into their lighting section. I was looking for some ideas to light my tanks in my fish room, something I can put under each shelf instead of having individual lights and something that will keep my electric bill low. They had 3 ft 2-bulb t5 fixtures which seemed like they would work if I bought new bulbs. Then I saw 6ft rope lights and thought hmmm maybe these will work. My tanks are pretty much just fish and fake plants. What do you guys think? Has anyone ever tried rope lights? I thought maybe I could place them under the shelves in a zig zag type pattern.

Here is a link to them if you want to check them out:
6 ft. Rope Light Kit-ML-2W-6'-120V-C at The Home Depot

The casing is clear not yellowish like the picture.

Thanks
Mark

 

[fort384]

I think it could work, but you will want to shield the bottoms of the shelves because these lights are not directional at all.

 

[markiezzi]

Good idea. I was thinking of a way to make some type of reflector..even going really cheap and using aluminum foil.

 

[fort384]

I think aluminum foil could be quite effective. Even a basic reflector would improve things quite a bit.

 

[markiezzi]

ok, well I bought the six foot rope light above and mounting clips. cost about $10. mounted the rope light on a shelf about 6" above the tank. plugged it in...and failure..hardly any light in the tank even made a reflector out of aluminum. If they were blue may make ok moonlights. back to the drawing board. may just get an led light from aquatraders for $40.

 

[jetajockey]

The best method I've found is to run 4ft t8 bulbs across the top of the tanks. If they are in a canopy type display rack you don't have to use reflectors unless you really wanted to.

 

[markiezzi]

The tanks are on shelves so I may look into getting 36" T5 fixtures to mount under each shelf. Oh well at least it was only an $10 loss. Maybe I will use the lights as a night light for the fish room so they are not in total darkness every night.