I want to built a new hood and light thingy

[Jen]

Does anyone know of a good website that can help me through the electrical end of thing? wood working no problem, but im clueless with wiring. I want to have the lights on the top of the hood... so prabably ballast kit would be best???

Thanks

 

[Great Lakes]

Wiring is very straightforward for the most part.

Ballasts will generaly come with a wiring diagram on them. Buy one from a reputeable home center or electronics supply and they will be sure you get all the proper stuff to make it work.

What size tank and how much light do you want? I can help you in the right direction.

GL

 

[Jen]

Thanks!

Its a 35 gal tank. 3 feet long, 18 inches high, and 12 inches. I currently have one 24 watt bulb and I was hoping to put in 2 normal bulbs and a moonlight bulb that would only go on when the others are off. I dont know what wattages to go with, because, like i said, i know nothing about electricity, an am new to the whole live plant thing. I do want to add in more live plants. Nothing fancy - some more swords and i would some grasslike plants.

Once I know what bulbs to go with, i will be able to build a hood to fit them.

Thanks for your help

 

[Pescado Guy]

If you want a really good and pretty cheap ballast I would go with a fulham ballast. Go to http/fulham.com and just fill in the required fields and then click on find ballast and it will give show you the one that you need for your situation and give you a wiring diagram. I just got the workhorse 8 ballast and it is powering my 6 NO flourescent bulbs beautifully. These really are high quality ballasts and will last much longer than many that are available from hardware stores. FYI All-Glass uses fulham ballasts in nearly all of their newer light

You had said that you wanted just NO bulbs so I would reccomend getting the workhorse 3 ballast. It can powere up to two 36" T8s or T12s. It can also do 2 if thats all you want. I got mine from www.naturallighting.com because it was the cheapest on the internet that I could find.

I just finished building a hood for my 29 gallon tank with flourescent lights and moonlights installed in the top. If you want anymore information on wiring I can help. It is very simple once you have a diagram to follow. Other than the ballast and the bulbs all you would need are the sockets which are available from almost any hardware store. I got mine for $1.70 per set of two from Home Depot.

If you have any more questions please ask!

Kevin

 

[Great Lakes]

Pescado is spot on with the Fulham ballasts.

But I don't understand why you would go through all the trouble and then use just NO bulbs.

The VHO bulbs are virtually the same price, and put out triple the light. This would be incredibly helpful in a 18" deep tank.

I would recommend two Fulham 5 ballasts and a pair of 36" VHO tubes.

GL

 

[Pescado Guy]

Yeah I see what you are saying Great Lakes about using the NO bulbs. I got all of the bulbs for insanly cheap so thats why i went with them. Or if you want good light an only have to buy one ballast you could get 2 96 watt PCs on a workhorse 7 ballast. That way you at least wouldn't need two ballasts. You could even get T5 HO bulbs which can be powered by the workhorses. Whatever you choose though, you should definatly go with a workhorse. Just decide on what kind of bulbs you want and then I sure one of us could help with the wiring.

Kevin

 

[Jen]

What is the NO lighting that you keep mentioning? I was just thinking of getting the flourescent bulbs or those lights named 'aquaglo' or 'coralife'.

I dont know if i should go with a pre made ballast. I want to have 3 bulbs - 2 that turn on with 1 switch, and another bulb (moon light or soemthing like that) that i turn on seperatly. I wast thinking of getting those kits that comes with the end bits and the wires.

 

[Pescado Guy]

NO just stands for normal output. The aquaglo and many of the coralife bulbs are normal output. If you decide to just buy the kits that come with the sockets (end bits), wiring and ballast you will most likly get a quality product and not need to spend time wiring; however the down side to this is that you usually pay a good deal more for these kits. Just so you know, moonlights usually are simply blue leds because a fourescent bulb would be way too bright.

Kevin