Just A Question About A Light

Hello all,

I've recently acquired a 30 gallon tall from a rummage sale. I had this idea to give a planted tank a go. For right now, I'm just buying replacement gear to update the tank a little bit. Well, after some consideration I decided I don't want to do CO2 on this tank. So i figured I might be limited to how much light I could run before Co2 is necessary. I think i may have found the lights I want to try and here's the question.


http/www.bigalsonline.com/BigAlsUS/ctl36...blestriplight24



will this light setup be okay for a lower maintenance planted tank? would it provide too much/not enough light?


I'm still reading a lot on planted tanks and the pinned facts so it's going to be quite some time before I have this tank up and running. Probably after the holidays. Any advice or suggestions are appreciated,

Thanks in advance,



BobRoss

On your tank if you don't want to run CO2 then try and steer clear of T5 as it cannot be used with the WPG rule.

Try to go for T8 and 2 tubes. I assume with you saying 30USG tall that you mean an 80cm tank. If so then try and get 2 T8s @ 24" which will be 36W. This will enable you to stay at a low enough wattage to avoid needing CO2.

The other thing is with low light try and avoid a slim luminaire setup. Better to get 2 seperate starters so you can position the tubes further apart otherwise you will have a dark front and back of tank. This will also allow you to put them on seperate timers and have one for a noon burst in the middle of the photoperiod or just have one on for an hour at the beginning and end of the photoperiod for dusk/dawn. Try to stay at 8 hours total for the photoperiod to avoid any problems due to non CO2.

You can either build a simple wooden hood or use some metal strips to hang the tubes and reflectors from.

The unit you link to is probs 50W T5 which you may think is under 2WPG and fine for none CO2, however T5 is equivalent to 2 x WPG rule, maybe more and therefore pushes you into the CO2 needed bracket.

The tank in my sig is an 80cm tall. The pic on the left is 0.6WPG of T8. the pic on the right is 1.4WPG T5. You can see the difference quite easily and this tank DOES have pressurised on it.

AC

Thanks for that SuperColey1


I might have to build a canopy with lights for this tank then. You see, the tank in your sig doesn't look like mine. Correct me if I'm wrong. but yours looks like the standard 30 gallon tank that we have over here. This one that I'm talking about is 24 inches long, 24 inches high, and 12 inches deep.

here, take a look at my 30g tall-




and here's a link to the other lights I was thinking about using.

http/www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...822&catid=3

I was a little confused about these lights. In the description, it says to use over a glass top. Well, I don't have a glass top. I have the basic single fluorescent lamp hood that came with the tank. That's why I initially wanted to go with these lights because they look like they would work with the hood that I have right now. I was thinking about getting these because of the dual t-8's, but was unsure if they would work with my hood. Tell me what you think about the lights in the fosters & smith link...


My 30g is the same as a 20gallon tank but taller. So, that means that the hood that fits my 20g also fits on this tank. So if I decided to build a canopy, would I need it to be a glass top? or no top? I haven't really considered building a canopy up until you mentioned it, so that's something I will have to do some thinking on.

One problem is that I have three cats, that do whatever they want, whenever they want. I want to be able to have a light setup on this tank that can't be messed with by them. That's another reason why I wanted to use those lights in the fosters link. Believe it or not, my 20 gallon once had a glass top. BUT my cats kept jumping down onto to it from the counter and eventually their weight cracked the top, so I went for the standard hood for that tank.


I have lots of time to think this one over. There isn't a rush to go buy lights since I can't set this tank up until after holiday anyways. The only thing I've bought so far was a 20 lb bag of eco-complete.

I had this idea that I could have an angelfish and maybe some type of tetra or cherry barbs as a dither fish. I'm still trying to figure out what filter I want to get, so any recommendations for what to do would be nice.

Oh, sorry for my posts being kind of mixed up. My head has been full of cold medicine lately so it's been hard for me to type all this and stay on the subject.


Thanks again,

BobRoss

The reason that units says that you require glass over the aquarium mens the type of tank that has glass as well as a canopy.

That is because it is not actually an aquarium light and doesn't have water tight end caps. I would steer clear of these just in case!!! even if you did have a glass screen.

With your tank being higher then I would look at this sort of unit. Then buy some reflectors to suit the tubes. Bolt the reflectors and the tube clips (that will come with the starter) to your existing hood and then clip in the tubes.

[URL="http/cgi.ebay.com/Hagen-GLOMAT-2-Control...p3286.m20.l1116"]http/cgi.ebay.com/Hagen-GLOMAT-2-Control...p3286.m20.l1116[/URL]

[URL="http/cgi.ebay.com/Hagen-GLOMAT-1-Control...p3286.m20.l1116"]http/cgi.ebay.com/Hagen-GLOMAT-1-Control...p3286.m20.l1116[/URL]

If you look at the first one it is a double unit and these only have 1 switch so they cannot be controlled seperately. The second one is a single one. You may have to get the next size down as these will be slightly longer than your 24" when you put the tube onthe end caps will probs be 25". The next size down is 18"/15W and you could then go for a double starter and a single starter.

Both units you show have both lights side by side whereas it is much better to be able to put 2 tubes spaced at 1third and 2 thirds from front to back if you know what I mean. Then if you have 3 tubes then 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 etc. That means you can spread the light and not have dark spots.

It is very easy to make your own hood. (When £1 = $2 Mine cost me £13 for 6 pieces precut pine, £5 yacht varnish, £4 Dye, £2.50 hinges, £1 screws so that was £25.50/$51. That would now of course be $38 (The PC fans were a later addition and only cost £3 each plus an old 12V transformer plug:


AC

Hey!

Thanks for that explanation. Things are getting clearer after that informative read man.

I'm definitely going to track some plans on building a canopy. I've seen plenty of diy on them all over the net so that shouldn't be a problem. Now after purchasing the reflectors, tubes and ballast kit, are you suggesting that I could use my current 'regular plastic' hood as the donor for these new parts? It seemed thorough and step-by-step Or did I misunderstand that? Otherwise, that sounds like a great idea to construct a hood for them. The main problem I've had with canopies is, no offense, but they sometimes appear to be 'too tall' like there is too much height on them. Although, I guess I'm basing that off of pictures from the net, too.

Are the 18w ballast kits common as far as availability? I guess what I'm asking is would you recommend I try locating these on an aquatic website or ebay? I like the idea of diy on this but I don't want the cost of those kits to set me back too much. ( like a couple hundred bucks or £100)

I see your point in spreading out the light and now see the advantage of building a hood. The main problem with all of this new info is that I have to go and see it instead of just reading it, know what I mean? The shop that I usually go to is limited on what they have on hand for lighting. So for something like this, they would surely have to order it in. Well, I can't tell you enough thanks again and I'm gonna go let this info soak in.


Good night,


BobRoss

My hood is about 15cm tall whereas the plastic one it replaced was about 10cm. Looks a lot better though.

I would use your hood as it is so that you can get it up and running and then you can build your hood without rushing it. The advantage of the wood canopy is that you won't have to bolt through it like you will a thin plastic/metal canopy so the fixings are not visible from the outside.

According to the hagen site those 2 units I linked to are to take 14W,15W & 20W which is a bit cheeky of Hagen as this means a 20W user will only be getting 14W of power into their tubes. lol. Doesn't affect you. For the price they are I would buy them ASAP as T8 ballasts are becoming harder to find in the US as people seem to be obsessed with PCT5. The tubes will always be available though.

I will search ebay for (much quicker when you know what you are looking for. lol) some suitable reflectors and later on do a quick plan of my hood. really was very simple to make and measure:








AC

Proving quite hard to find proper T8 reflectors in the states. ~Maybe you would have better luck as mine obvs defaults to searching the UK first.

Otherwise they are only £6 each over here and I could get and post them for you.

AC

This is how easy my hood was (My tank dimensions outside are 800mm x 350mm) You should just replace these dimensions with your own tanks:

First is the frame:


The important thing when measuring for the wood is that you want a 5mm gap around the edge all the way round. You also must remember the width of the wood figures (mine is 20mm thick) into the equation on the sides/top (not the front and back.)

B = Sides. Measurement is 350mm (tank depth) + 2 x 5mm (Gap) + 2 x 20mm (depth of the front and rear panels) =
410mm (length) x 150mm (height)

A = Front. Measurement is 800mm (tank length) + 2 x 5mm (Gap) =
810mm (length) x 150mm (height)

C = Back. Measurement is the same as the front in length (810mm) but not as high otherwise you can see it through the water!!! Mine is 810mm (length) x 120mm (height)

You only need to have less height on the rear panel because the side glass has a mirror effect and you can't see the wood through it.

Then you need the top which is split into a fixed rear and a flap front at 2/3 distance from the back:


The rear section is 2/3 of the frame and the flap is 1/3. You can make your flap smaller if you want which would let you spread your lights better but I made this hood with different lights to the ones I have now.

D = Rear Cover.
Measurement for length is Part A (810mm) + 2 x 20mm (The depth of the wood used on the side panels) = 850mm
Measurement for depth is Part B (410mm) x 0.666 = 275mm
Dimensions = 850 (length) x275mm (depth)

E = Flap.
Measurement for length is Part A (810mm) + 2 x 20mm (The depth of the wood used on the side panels) = 850mm
Measurement for depth is Part B (410mm) x 0.333 = 135mm
Dimensions = 850mm x 135mm

Use some 40mm screws to fix it together. Drill the holes first to avoid splitting the wood (Don't screw the flap )

Line each hinge up at the same time by fixing them onto side of the flap with the flat edge on the wood with the hinge joint facing away from the wood. Then open the hinge and rest the flap on the rear panel which will line the hinges up on the fixed rear panel's side. drill and screw and you now have a complet hood with flap. It is easy to fit cables in by just unscrewing the top fixed panel and putting a notch on the rear or side to feed cables through and then re attach the panel.

The width of the hinge will mean there is a nice small overlap at the front of the flap. I then put some very small cork circles along the front edge to stop it slamming shut

You should also cut areas out from the bottom of the frame for your inlet/outlet or other equipment needed.

Finally you need to get some small pieces to fit into the corners which will rest the hood on the tank. These should obviously be set so that the front and side panels just covers the water line in the tank so if your water level is 1 inch from the top of the glass then measure 1 inch up at each corner and screw these 4 pieces of wood in place.

The only thing left to do is firstly to put several coats of proper yacht varnish everywhere on the inside plus any cutouts or notches you make letting each coat dry for 24 hours. this will protect the wood permanently from the condensation/splashes. you may get a little mould everynow and again but it wil just wipe off.

Then the finishing touch is to select which colour wood stain you want and do the outside of the tank.

AC