Suggestions for upgrading hood/lights

[sducky]

I want to upgrade the cheap integrated hood/light combos that came with my aquariums.

My tanks are all small (20g is the biggest), and they're mostly non-standard shapes/sizes, so I'm not going find off-the shelf hoods for most of them. And I have inverts, so I need to replace them with something that doesn't have the openings for the HOB filters at the top. I'll probably just make templates and get glass or plexiglass cut. But what about the lights? I'd like to find something that looks cool enough that I don't have to hide it under a hood, but that's still good for plants and illuminates the tank nicely.

I know lights can get insanely pricey. But does anyone have any web links I should look at? Favorite product lines, or even photos that might give me some ideas about cool ways to set up the lighting?

 

[54seaweed]

you could make a top from light defuser that's what I use on all my tanks ,

few of my friends have planted tanks and have been using the wave point leds and having great growth activity , the light fixtures look like kind of like desk lamp pretty neat

 

[sducky]

Hey, thanks for the quick reply. What do you cut it with to get nice clean edges? I've had to cut that stuff before to go in odd-size grid ceilings, and I could never get the edges to cut cleanly.

Those Wave Points look nice. I'll have to check if any of the LFSs have them in any of their display tanks so I can see what the light looks like. (Actually, one of my nano tanks came with a pretty cool clip-on LED that puts out a lot of light. But it's a really harsh light that doesn't work well for my dwarf shrimp and killies. Hopefully a more high-end one will be better.)

 

[54seaweed]

I use wire cutters / dykes cuts a nice neat line

 

[54seaweed]

they come in several sizes 6in , 12in , 18in , 24in , you can find them on amazon and ebay
for the 12in I payed around 40 for them ,
this is what they look like

 

[KingKoopa512]

54seaweed how is that clip on light for growing plants saw one of those at my lfs an was tempted to buy it but was scares to. My nano tanks are planted

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[Mercusso]

I have a light like that. Same brand, but a nicer design (in my opinion). I'll post a pic of it later. It grows plants really well; mine is 6500k and has let me grow up to medium light plans no problem, and I've actually had to change my fert dosing schedule because of it. I honestly have no doubt that it could grow high light plants in a nano tank.

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[Mercusso]

Sorry the picture quality isn't the best. I like this one because it has a lower profile. It comes in different sizes besides the nine inch, I just don't remember which ones. It's been a really good light so far!

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