Is There An Electrician In The House? (Use Of Cfl Bulbs In Tank Hood)

[Teephphah]

Howdy planted people.

Sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for some advice.

I've currently got a moderately planted 55 gallon with a DIY hood. I had an brand new 2x32w T8 fixture that I pulled out of our kitchen when we moved into the new house that I slapped a heavy-duty electrical cord on that I threw into the hood for lighting and it's worked just fine for a few years. Now I'm finding that I'll come home from work to find the lights just sort of flickering rather than the light having come fully ON at the scheduled time.

This makes me sad.

I've swapped bulbs for a while and am now thinking that the extremely high humidity is starting to negatively affect the balast in the light. (The fact that the metal parts of the fixture are starting to rust in places was sort of a hint that environmental conditions may not be ideal.)

So now I'm thinking an easy and, best of all, economical replacement option might be to pull the whole old, obnoxious, rusty, flickering mess and start from scratch. Since the wood I used to build the hood was the most expensive part when I started the first time, I'm wanting to keep that. Besides, it still works exactly as it should. It's very hoody.

But with regard to the lighting itself, I was wondering if it might be possible to simply wire three or four of those cheap little bare-bones bulb sockets together (in parallel probably?), throw some screw-in CFL bulbs into the sockets, slap the cord from the old fixture onto the whole thing and rock out with improved light output in less space and whith easier to swap out parts.

Actually, I'm sure it's POSSIBLE. What I want to know is if it's possible to do WITHOUT burning down my house and/or endangering the lives of my wife and children (and, to a lesser extent, the dogs. And then, to a significantly lesser extent, the cat).

I've done some searching online and the CONCEPT I'm looking at seems to be very popular with a certain demographic that shares our interest in . . . uh . . . shall we say, "aquatic-based horticulture." And I've seen some designs from that community that look semi-promising, however, since their needs are slightly (but possibly meaningfully) different from our own, and because, let's face it . . . their brains are chemically altered, I was hoping someone here might have a good wiring diagram to accomplish what I'm thinking about.

I'd also be very interested in whether or not anyone here has any real-life experience with such a set-up. If this won't last any longer that what I've been using, I may just replace that old piece of junk, but I am looking for a change. A cheap and minimally laborious change.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Nick217]

Nope it cannot due to the condensation would destroy the CFL bulbs,

 

[paulyoung666]

the cat does not deserve its owner

 

[PJPJ]

You won't get an electrician recommending anything other than waterproof fittings for under an aquarium hood.

The biggest CFL fitting I can find specifically for aquariums is the Arcadia Ellipse. There must be others.

Otherwise you could use low energy floodlights/ signlights but these tend to be bulky.

The cheapest option is probably to buy an aquarium starter with waterproof fittings and you can also buy the preferred colour range of tubes much easier and cheaper than CFL's.

If you go for the T5's then you will have the added benefit of less running noise (Hum) and instant start compared to T8's.

You may find what you are looking for with LED strips. It is a bit of a gamble with the colours especially to get the output suitable for plants. You can get long LED strips and simply coil them in the hood.

LED's have their advantages.

LED-strip Pros
Light output is over a long length
The lifespan should be at least twice that of T5 (Dependant upon quality)
The light output is consistent throughout its life
The light output is immediately at its maximum and requires no warm up time
Cheaper and smaller control gear (12Vdc transformer) than fluorescent
Extra low voltage at the strips. (12Vdc)
Easier to fasten into place
Lighter and more durable
Cooler running (Dependant upon the quality and power rating of each LED)
Cheap, especially the online auction ones.

LED-strip Cons
The light output is very narrow
The colour band is poor and requires different colour LEDS to give a decent range for the use with plants etc.

Regards

PJPJ

 

[wirralbull]

could you add a glass condensation cover. i use cfls over most of my tanks.

 

[Teephphah]

wirralbull - I think that may be the direction I will need to go, but space is kind of tight. The reality that I've been avoiding is that I probably need to start from scratch on the whole thing. I originally built the hood with 1x6 boards, so there's only juuuuuust enough room for the fixture I've got in there. Of course, this puts that fixture in closer proximity to the water than it ever properly should be, which is probably a big contributing factor to its early demise.

(sigh.)

I knew at the time that I should have but in a barrier between the moisture and the fixture, but I was in too much of a hurry. So listen up kids, it doesn't pay to cut corners.

PJPJ - I love me some LEDs. I've got a strip for "moonlighting" that I love. They're even waterproof, so that's a big plus. But I think getting enough LED's to replace the tubes I've got now could be prohibitively expensive. Which is to bad, because, as I mentioned earlier, I do love me some LEDs. No idea why I'm so fascinated by them, but I am.

Paul - It you want to get technical, the cat doesn't deserve it's co-owner. It's actually my wife's cat. He and I stopped seeing eye to eye when he started peeing on the carpet in the middle of the living room. Now my new house smells like cat pee.

Beyond that, relax. It's a joke. I'd never hurt the cat, or even actually wish harm on him - or any other living thing for that matter. Heck, I humanely relocate spiders when I find them in the house. Even when my wife orders a death sentense.

So while I'm sure cats everywhere would be applauding your championing their cause, if they weren't completely apathetic about everything humans do . . . it's oooookay. I promise.

 

[SO19Firearms]

I feel bad for putting my cat in the bath with spiders now.....