DIY Planted Aquarium Lighting (Cheap)

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So I fell into the Dollar Gallon days at Petco, and walked home w/ a 40 Gallon Breeder to go with my 36G and 65G. Sadly, I did not have any lighting, and the SO would not go for me buying a 3rd Current Sat Plus Pro in 3 months

So, I had to come up with a quick solution to my lighting issue, I knew I wanted to have plants in this tank too

~$50 worth of parts from Lowes (I am sure you could get these cheaper else where)
Lamp holders = $7 * 4 = $28
2 23w CFL Daylight bulbs = $10 * 2 = $20
PVC 1/2 Tubing 4ft = $2
PVC Fittings = $2.24


So here is my solution 4 23w CFL Daylight 6700k Bulbs 92watts of fake sunshine! With this I could technically do 8 23w CFL Bulbs (obviously to much light). There will still be some improvements done to this, wiring the lights together so i only use 1 plug to power it up, painting the frame black.

So what do you think, opinions, improvements?

 

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Batch 1

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Batch 2

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[Fresh2o]

Interesting. How are you bonding the dome lamps to the PVC pipes? I have the same clamp on lights and I thought they worked great in my plant holding tank but the wife did not really dig the "industrial" look.
You may want to paint the PVC and outer surfaces of the lamp domes black; it may be less conspicuous than white/chrome colored.
At the end of the PVC pipes instead of using T connectors could you use 90 degree elbows instead with the inside elbow resting on the tank rim? For some reason my eyes are drawn to the ends of the setup; they look like handles for some reason.
All in all, neat design.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[zer0signal]

Interesting. How are you bonding the dome lamps to the PVC pipes? I have the same clamp on lights and I thought they worked great in my plant holding tank but the wife did not really dig the "industrial" look.
You may want to paint the PVC and outer surfaces of the lamp domes black; it may be less conspicuous than white/chrome colored.
At the end of the PVC pipes instead of using T connectors could you use 90 degree elbows instead with the inside elbow resting on the tank rim? For some reason my eyes are drawn to the ends of the setup; they look like handles for some reason.
All in all, neat design.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

I just used 1/2in Pan Head Metal Screws, from the inside of the lamp shade. The frame will be painted flat black, I just have to wait a little bit for the weather to change around here (still a little chilly). I was just going to use 90 elbows, but I used T connectors for 2 reasons: 1) for handles, to easily remove the fixture during maintenance 2) to get the frame a little more rigidity. If it was just held together via the lamp screws, I feel you might get a walking movement from the frame (back rail could move further down from the bottom rail, and vice versa).

Thanks for the input!