Lighting help please

[Angel.Zero]

I am almost finished my 45gal acrylic tank and now comes the issue of lighting, there are no live plants so it's just for me to see the fish, basically something that won't hurt anything sitting on top of the acrylic sheet and inexpensive since I blew my budget on the tank the "roof" or hood if you perfer is basically 2 pieces of acrylic hinged together with one of them glued to the tank. I want the light to sit on the glued part, it's 3' long and 6" wide. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[BlazerFRS]

You could check out home depot or lowes- they usually have some shop lights for relatively cheap. maybe $35 for a single bulb flourecent deal.

depending on how hot it gets you may want to build something to raise it up, or add a cooling fan to prevent damage to the acrylic.

 

[Guest]

Yes I agree. WalMart even has shop lights for less. I think I got mine for $9 for a 2 light 4 foot fixture. That was a few years ago though.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

You can get a single strip for 35$.. not really worth the time to build one IMO. if you were going for planted, then yes, it's worth it.

 

[Angel.Zero]

thanks, I'll have to check out wal-mart for something.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Check Ebay too. Might find a good deal there as well. That's where I get my lighting.

 

[jsoong]

Try a GE "bright stick" - a 32" 33W flourescent/Ballast all in one combo in a nice compact & light package. They go for $15 here. I'd mount the light a few inches above your top (esp non-removable acrylic - a pain to replace when the top sag from the heat!

I use the Bright Stick for my 10 & just attach it to a shelf overhead with velco tape. You can prob rig up something just as easily.

 

[Angel.Zero]

I was thinking of making a wood "lid" maby 4-6" tall and mounting the light in the lid. would this work?? maby add a comp fan to cool it down?

 

[BlazerFRS]

The wood idae should work fine- Cooling fan probably won't be needed with a single bulb... NO flourecents don't tend to run to hot IME