Lights??????????

[virgonurse]

We have a 55 gallon, but I am lost on the lights, as what to get. Talked with two fish stores and neither had our type and really no help. Got catalogs, but don't know what to order? We have is T-18 and no plants. We really want a separate light for night. Do the moonbeam lights work (immersible vs. clip-on) well? Any help is appreciated.

 

[mfdrookie516]

are you sure theyre not t-8? if memory serves me correctly, t-18 is an automotive bulb...

 

[virgonurse]

Sorry, typo. They are t-8. To be specific, they are (1) GE Aquarium Life-F15T8 and (2) Perfect-a-lite-F15T8. They were with the tank when we got it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

ok, that makes ALOT more sense So youre wanting to replace those lights and get some for night time as well? I have phillips daylight bulbs in all of mine.. theyre just a few dollars down at lowes or home depot, really bright, and really light up an aquarium... What you could do, if you dont mind only having one side lit at a time, is get an actinic light for one side for night time, and have a daylight bulb on the other for day time... That would be the cheapest solution, as an actinic for my 55 was $12 and i think the daylight bulbs are about $4... You could also go with those stick on led lights... they are really cheap, ive seen them on ebay... Thats what alot of sw guys do in their aquariums... just throwing out some suggestions

 

[fort384]

If you want to keep both bulbs for daylight use, on my fixture I stuck a strip of blue led lights that I orded online. I think it was about $20 for 20" of led strip and a transformer (LEDs are DC power). The strip is only a couple mm thick, and it came with stick on backing. Just stuck it to the bottom of the light fixture and set it up opposite the other lights on a timer, viola! Moon lighting.

EDIT: Something like this:
http://www.ledlight.com/flexible-led-light-24-inches-12-volt-dc,aspx.aspx

But if you look around you can find it cheaper... just an example.

And here is a crappy pic of what it looks like on my tank: