Increased my light output 4X for under $50

[sinistral]

This is definitely an option for me. The only problem with the cooling fan idea is the evaporation it will cause. You could put the ballasts outside the canopy and have a fan blowing across them. I don't think you have to worry about excess heat from the bulbs, either. If they have 75% efficiency when overdriven to 80w, then, that's only about 20w worth of heat being produced. The only issue is the heat from the ballasts.

Yenko, I ask this question out of pure ignorance: What advantage is there to putting the fan across the ballast as opposed to the light bulbs themselves? To keep the ballast from overheating? My current plan is to put the ballast outside the canopy, so I'm very interested to hear your thoughts...

 

[Great Lakes]

Sinistral. In the next couple of days, I have to rewire my 90 gallon canopy. I will take some pics to show you how I have the ballasts mounted.

And just for the record, the newer electronic ballasts produce far less heat than the older magnetic ones.


GL

 

[sinistral]

Thanks GL! I have a (4) F32T8 ballast and two 17 watt bulbs. Today I was planning on going to the store to get some wood for a canopy, but I can defer that (especially as it's raining today ).

 

[Yenko]

I thought having the lightbulbs uncooled was a good idea, for reasons I'll explain later. I guess the fan isn't quite nessecary. Unless the lights were sealed off from the tank, the fans would make the water evaporate faster. The cold air above the tank would also be bad for bettas and gouramis, especially fry. My ballast for my 10 gallon tank's canopy will go on top of the canopy; a 40w ballast and light fixture is a lot of heat for a 10-gallon tank.

My 32 gallons canopy will have the ballast(s) mounted on top of the canopy, instead of inside.

I've got so many DIY projects planned for summer...

 

[YellowClaw]

Hello all, I'm new here. I'm following this post and am so happy that you guys started this thread. After reading, I ran to Home Depot to find the Electronic Ballast (F32T8)… Here is where I ran into trouble, hoping that someone here can help. I have a 40" long 66 gallon flat back hex aquarium. My thought was that if I could find a F32T8 36" bulb, everything would workout great! I couldn’t find any. All of the 36” bulbs were F30T8s. And all of the F32T8s were 48” long. I tried looking for an F30T8 Ballast but no luck either. I did find a F32T8U bulb that may fit but will not cover the entire tank surface. Do you guys know if it would be possible to hook up a F30T8 bulb to the F32T8 Electronic Ballast?

 

[sinistral]

Hey YellowClaw, welcome to the forums!

I am far from an electrician, and I suspect GL or rollntider are better to answer this, but since I clicked over here, I did a search and found this link: Link

The rest of the thread is interesting reading too. I suspect that given the research I did the ballast may not work with your bulbs Let's see if there are other responses to your query...

Oh, and make sure to introduce yourself in the newbie section!!

 

[rollntider]

Hello all, I'm new here. I'm following this post and am so happy that you guys started this thread. After reading, I ran to Home Depot to find the Electronic Ballast (F32T8)… Here is where I ran into trouble, hoping that someone here can help. I have a 40" long 66 gallon flat back hex aquarium. My thought was that if I could find a F32T8 36" bulb, everything would workout great! I couldn’t find any. All of the 36” bulbs were F30T8s. And all of the F32T8s were 48” long. I tried looking for an F30T8 Ballast but no luck either. I did find a F32T8U bulb that may fit but will not cover the entire tank surface. Do you guys know if it would be possible to hook up a F30T8 bulb to the F32T8 Electronic Ballast?

I will have to look the model numbers up for ya and get back to ya on this, I usually dont know the model numbers.

 

[YellowClaw]

Also, has anyone tried odno on the F25T8 36" bulbs? I love the idea and wished that I had a 4' long tank, this would resovle my lighting problems. Any ideas for lighting a 40" long tank with a crazy about plants and fish mind but a low budget?

Thank you guys!