Tank Lighting

[petitemonk]

I have decided that my regular light fixture that I have bought isn't sufficent any more. expecialy now that I want to do Live plants. So I took a trip to my LFS and took a look a better lighting sets. But I took a look at them and I figured that I could build one of them cheaper. But I was wondering if anyone here has built their own Lighting kit for thier tank, I was wondering if there are any tips that can be givin to me : ) Thx guys

 

[grimlock3000]

Probably be helpful if you posted your tank size, how much light you want, and how much you want to spend.

 

[petitemonk]

umm. I have a 3' 1 1/2" x 1'2" is the top.... I wanna build a hood for the top... But I dont know much about lighting. Money isnt really a problem, I would spend 200 bucks if it was worth it...its just some of the light kits in the LFS dont feel like they are worth 350 bucks. thats more then my whole setup lol.

 

[hashbaz]

ahsupply.com sells a lot of the stuff you will need when making your own hood. I've never bought from them, but they are highly recomended. You also might ask on the planted tank board.

 

[TankGirl]

I'll second the ahsupply.com vote - you can just call them and they will tell you exactly what you need to get, and you won't have to spend a whole lot of money.

I'll go ahead and move this over to the planted forum, if you don't mind, and you'll get a few more suggestions.

 

[petitemonk]

Sweet. thx You 2 : )

 

[lamthuyduong]

Buy the Bright Kit from AHSupply. They are the best and their price can't be beat.

 

[malkore]

Building a canopy and installing lights is really easy. Aside from a week of high school shop class, I never had any training in electrical wiring. But, the www.ahsupply.com kits come with pretty easy to follow instructions.

I kinda need to know the other dimension of your tank: 42" x 18" x ??" so I can figure your total capacity...but mostly so I know how deep the tank is, as deeper tanks need more light than normal depth, or shallow tanks.
Right now though, I think you'd wanna look at the 96watt kits. 96 watt bulb is about 34" long so you'd have the best coverage. The other option is 55w bulbs, but those are 22" long, so you couldn't put them end to end...rahter you'd have to stagger them a little bit.

Are you after a really high light, high maintenance tank, with pressurized CO2? If you can just explain your goal in a little more detail than just wanting plants, we can help you buy the right lights, and any other gear.