how to get high lighting

[Nathenrauch]

Anyone know the cheapest most cost effictive way to get high lighting on a 55 gallon if its DIY will you kindly send Me your plans?

 

[aqua_chem]

What's your budget for this operation?

 

[Nathenrauch]

Like 100 buck

 

[phin]

You have a couple ways to do this cheap, won't look pretty, but cheap.

Get a wood board (1x8x8) and cut to the length of your tank. 1 x 8 x 8 #2 & Better Kiln Dried Whitewood Board S4S-914835 at The Home Depot

Screw aluminum flashing to one side of the board as a reflector. You can add more flashing to make sides to your reflector. Amerimax Home Products 10 in. x 10 ft. Mill Finish Aluminum Roll Valley-68310 at The Home Depot

Get 6 light sockets, mount evenly spaced on one side of the board, drill holes for wires. Leviton Porcelain Keyless Lamp Holder-R50-09875-000 at The Home Depot

Wire lights together with 14/3 (16/3 would probably work as well) Cerrowire 25 ft. 14-3 NMB with Ground Coil Shrink Pack-147-1403AR at The Home Depot and wire into an existing light socket in your ceiling or to a wall switch.

Install 6 of these Feit Electric 42-Watt (200W) Daylight Twist CFL Light Bulb-ESL40TN/D at The Home Depot


hang the fixture over your tank. You can hang directly from studs in the ceiling or secure to wall studs like you would hang a shelf.

It will give you a total of 252 watts (4.5 wpg). Adjust the PAR value at the bottom of your tank by determining the height at which the fixture is hung above your tank. Use the second chart (vertically mounted).

 

[aqua_chem]

If you're getting high light, make plans for co2. Excel would probably be ok with the above setup.

I'm not sure that you'll be into high light with that setup either. Unless you're right next to the water with your shelf, it will still me pretty medium.

 

[phin]

AquaChem is right, since the depth of a 55 will keep the par value pretty low at the bottom of the tank. On the plus side, with the above setup you can modify it to your needs - add more sockets, screw in higher wattage bulbs, etc.

 

[aqua_chem]

I just realized that graph assumes you have pretty good reflectors. You'll need those as well, which will probably push you over $100.

 

[phin]

I put a roll of aluminum flashing in the instructions. $10 should be enough to fasion a good reflector.

 

[aqua_chem]

How would you do that for a vertically mounted bulb though? I'm not being incredulous, I'm just not experienced in working with that stuff.

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I use a 4 bulb bathroom vanity light on my 40g. I imagine 2 of them mounted side by side vertically would work on a 55g. This setup only cost $11 at Lowes. Plus you can forget about the headache of doing the wiring yourself.

 

[Nathenrauch]

I use a 4 bulb bathroom vanity light on my 40g. I imagine 2 of them mounted side by side vertically would work on a 55g. This setup only cost $11 at Lowes. Plus you can forget about the headache of doing the wiring yourself.

View attachment 163030

did you hang that from your ceiling?

 

[Cichlid Kid]

No, it's mounted on a piece of 1"×8" white pine board as aquachem described. My 40g stand is made of treated pine so it was easy enough to integrate the canopy into it.

 

[phin]

I use a 4 bulb bathroom vanity light on my 40g. I imagine 2 of them mounted side by side vertically would work on a 55g. This setup only cost $11 at Lowes. Plus you can forget about the headache of doing the wiring yourself.

View attachment 163030

Yeah, easier and cheaper than drilling and wiring yourself. May still have to fashion a reflector to get a good PAR.

Aqua_chem, I would fashion one large reflector, just like one would see under the hood of a T12VHO saltwater setup. One large 3-sided reflector with angled sides. Looking down one end of the fixture, if the $ was a light bulb it would be something like: \__$__/ (upside down)

 

[Cichlid Kid]

I agree, a reflector like that would help greatly. The one bad thing about cfl's is the amount of light that is lost on the sides.
The vanity fixture I chose has a chrome finish that helps. I also have a 5mil. white nylon fabric that drapes down the front and back.