light fixture?

[neil_04]

i have a 37 gallon i got a normal hood for it and i was wondering can you just change the bulb or do i need to get a whole new hood for better lighting?

 

[BigMike75]

What length bulb? I guess the bulb is what come with the hood? Are you just wanting your fish to look better?

 

[neil_04]

actually im thinking about coverting the 37 into sw, but im still not positive i havent looked into hoods or lightbulbs much so i wanted to get an idea here first

 

[BigMike75]

With SW there is a million possibilities. FW planted need better lighting also but if you are just wanting to get some better color form your fish you can probably get a better bulb

 

[neil_04]

cool ill go see what the lfs has in stock in the morning, thanks for the help

 

[JustOneMore20]

If you want more watts, you'll need a new fixture. That fixture will only hold bulbs of 1 wattage.

 

[WhiteDevil]

If you want more watts, you'll need a new fixture. That fixture will only hold bulbs of 1 wattage.

how does that work? I mean I have taken my strip light apart and easily can change it accomidate 6" of more light, bigger ballast even new ends if I wanted to switch it to a CFL housing.

I will post when I am done but I am making a 4 light CFL system for my 26g tank. Its alot cheaper then what these places want for some plastic, maybe some sheet metal, a few wires and a ballast.

 

[jsoong]

If you are not into DIY, then you will need to buy a new fixture to get more W's .... but you can certainly buy new ballasts/ reflectors, etc. or a retrofit kit to change the light in a canopy. It all depends on how handy you are.

 

[FishEggs]

you can't just simply change the bulb in a fixture unless you're putting the same type and watt back in. You can change the light spectrum of the bulb but it must be the same watt and type (t8, t5, t10, cfl etc..) if you are handy with rewiring fixtures you can pull the guts out of the fixture and put a different ballast and ends and bulbs to accommodate the lighting you need for your setup. Or you just have to purchase a whole new fixture.

 

[severum mama]

If you want to keep a SW tank, you'll need to decide if you'd like a fish only tank, or if you want a reef. Fish don't care about lighting so in a FO system it is all about your personal preference. In a reef tank, on the other hand, corals need high lighting to thrive... how much light you need will largely depend on what types of corals you want. I'd suggest doing a ton of research on what you want out of a SW tank and then deciding if it's right for you (I can tell you it is MUCH more expensive than FW for the most part). Once you get a better idea of what you like, it will be easier to get recommendations for the equipment you need.

 

[neil_04]

yes i agree im going to leave the 37 to fw which is good cause i already have some deco and stuff in it also it is cycling right now for about a week. im going to wait until i get my house then im gona reserch everything top to bottom and decide what fish i want and what coral i want so as to get my lighting and tank size correct.
on another note is there a better bulb than the factory flourescent that came in my hood. like something that makes the fish appear more brilliant or anything like that?

 

[WhiteDevil]

there are. are you having live plants in there?

get a 50/50 or a plant/aquarium bulb( cheap at big box stores, its sold in the housefixing section

 

[neil_04]

will it cause extra algae or heat up my water? i have no live plants i wanted to wait and see what i have when im done selecting my community, make sure i can have plants but its not a huge deal to me