How To Upgrade Lighting?

[Mikaila31]

I always have one or two peices of glass between my lights, so only one of my hoods has waterproof endcaps. One of mine doesn't even use a proper socket. I have another one where I removed the socket last night. A current satalight fixture. I converted it from squre pin to straight pin. In the US at least not many of the store bought fixtures have waterproof sockets/endcaps. My azoo and current satalight didn't. My ahsupply retrofit kit did......

IMO you are better off doing the retrofit. You actually get better wattage. It cost $20 for me to do that, and that includes $10 for 4 of those bulbs. And most home improvement stores sell those bulbs at 6500K. I'm trying to work away from the tubes, except where I want to use 9325K bulbs. Tubes are just so expensive.

 

[Bokonon]

For anyone intrested, I ended up just buying a T6 tube from the website reccomended.
The hood was basic with little room for improvement scratch rebuilding one, something I don't have the spare time, skills and tbh motivation do do.
Eagerly awaiting the post and any results now .

Thanks for everybodys input and discussion, learned some useful stuff.

 

[bobross]

Awesome! If it's not to much to ask, could you maybe post pics of the 'before & after' of the lights?

I'm curious to see the difference. Not skeptical, just curious. The crap thing about learning this about T6's is that I just replaced the all the tubes in my tanks.


BobRoss

 

[nwzzz]

I always have one or two peices of glass between my lights, so only one of my hoods has waterproof endcaps. One of mine doesn't even use a proper socket. I have another one where I removed the socket last night. A current satalight fixture. I converted it from squre pin to straight pin. In the US at least not many of the store bought fixtures have waterproof sockets/endcaps. My azoo and current satalight didn't. My ahsupply retrofit kit did......

IMO you are better off doing the retrofit. You actually get better wattage. It cost $20 for me to do that, and that includes $10 for 4 of those bulbs. And most home improvement stores sell those bulbs at 6500K. I'm trying to work away from the tubes, except where I want to use 9325K bulbs. Tubes are just so expensive.

Hi, Mikaila, the picture you posted with two lights, is it the final one that went on top of your tank? I am also trying to make my own as T5/T8 is very expensive in the US, and even two light fluorescent is $55. I am trying to plant echinodorus amazonicus, argentinensis, cordifolius, and tenellus. Would this be good lighting for these plants? Thanks.

 

[SuperColey1]

Just to throw a little spanner in the works. You can trust me on lights or not but read on anyway:

You have read some marketing hype which states:

Delivers more output power (watts) than standard T8 Lighting - approx. 40% more'

Now lets do the maths bit first.

A 24" T8 = 18W, a 24" T6 = 20W. Ok so thats 11% more not 40%

However it is an improvement you say. Consider this.....A 24" T8NO is guess what.............20W. That means both 20W but with the T6 you had to buy brushings.

NowLets look at another issue. How many of you have ever seen a T6 reflector? I am guesing not many if any.

Therefore with there being T8 reflectors much more readily available the T8 is now surpassing the T6 as you have had to use a T5 or T8 reflector on the T6 and therefore are not getting the angles of reflection you need to 'gain' the light.

Now the final nail in the coffin.

You have an 18W T8 ballast. How much power will that supply?

You are guessing quickly guys. You have bought a T6 tube. thinking you were getting more out of it when in fact you still are only getting 18W. The ballast is ensuring that. Add to the fact you are having to use the wrong type of reflector with the T6 tube and you have just spent money to lose light!!!

The moral of the story? If it sounds too good to be true it more than likely is!!!

If you do want to use T6 instead of T8 then you need a higher power ballast to 'fulfill' those extra watts and you need to source a T6 reflector which won't be easy to find and most definately won't be cheap

Sorry guys (and gals)

AC

 

[gearhead65]

You can do a DIY retrofit. Here are pics of the standard light I retrofitted yesterday. Cost about $20 and that includes the $10 for (4) 13 watt 6500K bulbs. You can fit the 18 watt ones in there too. If its a 20 long you can add another socket and run 3 or 4 bulbs total. I gave it moonlights last night too, but they aren't in the pic or fully finished yet.

I build my own too. I'll have a 2ft wooden one running in a day or two. I like the spiral compacts. They do a good enough job. Though the cover of the bulbs is not like the tubes I don't like paying so much for the tubes. And I always have to order them online. I use the 55watt power compacts on my show tank. Everything else runs the spiral bulbs which you can get from the home improvement store for a fraction of the cost.

This is an excellent idea! I'm also in the "low tech T8 boat" and would like a major upgrade. I plan to add two of those dual sockets if I can find them and go from there.

 

[gearhead65]

Just finished my upgrade using this method. I used four sockets (couldn't find any dual sockets) with a 14w bulb in each. So, I went from a single 15w T8 to a total of 56w over my 30gallon tank. I'm stoked!!! Thanks for this idea!

 

[UNV_Rasta]

Oh man I think going compact may be my only option around these parts to up my lighting! So you just remove all the junk from the hood and stick the sockets in there and that's it?? Was it hard to wire? O yea I'd love to see a pic gearhead

 

[Mikaila31]

For that kinda light you take out a few screws and cut two wires. It should be pretty obvious once you get in there. You want to leave the on/off switch in. One wire should be from the switch to the ballast the other should be from the power cord to the ballast. All the guts should come out then. The double sockets are from Menards, they have a bracket and pull chain attached when you buy them. You just have to take them apart and remove everything till its just the socket and wires. I buy aluminum metal roll/sheet for the reflectors. The 6" wide stuff is perfect, just cut it to the correct length and use a sharp edge to put the bends in it. Be careful it is sharp and will cut you better then you think. Use a nail to punch 3 holes in the reflector for mounting. Center hole needs to be large since the wires come through it as well. Drill 3 holes in the fixture for mounting everything. The top picture you can see the 3 screw heads, bottom one you can see how they hold it together. Center one takes some work since you have one hole and the wires and bolt goes through it. The two wires from the socket connect to the two wires you left on the hood. Its AC, so doesn't matter which wire goes where. Anyway you need a nut or something to put on the center bolt to hold the socket far enough away from the reflector. Then wrap some electrical tape around the center of the bolt and socket has a large hole in the center of it. The tape is needed because the bolt comes close to some bare wires when it goes through the socket. Then put a washer and nut on the end to hold it all together. As far as the nuts and bolts I just used stuff out of the vast nut and bolt drawer in this house. Just find something that works. Cost is around $4 for double socket, $5 for 6"x10FEET of aluminum sheet, $10 for a 4 pack of 13/14 watt bulbs. Hunt for bulbs you can find 6500K at home improvement stores. Fleetfarm is regional but has 6500K bulbs, Home depot has 5500K bulbs. Look for "daylight" bulbs it might give you a kelvin rating on the package or its always on the base of the bulb.

The spiral compacts may not be perfect, but I get better results with them then the T8s. This is my 15 gallon which is lit by the hood I posted before. 2x13watt bulbs, 1.7 WPG. It had seen better scaping days, I kinda just let plants battle it out for the light. I recently tore it up and put in a soil substrate so it is very open ATM.

 

[anon02]

Just a thought but couldn`t the poor condition of the new plants be due to the transition from being grown emersed to being grown immersed ?

 

[UNV_Rasta]

Thanks for the detailed writeup Mikaila!! Just have to do some research n see exactly how effective these spirals are in an aquarium