Lighting Headache - Looks Like A G23 Unit

[Neo8223]

Hi All

So i decided to go cheap on a new lighting unit a few months back and get this.

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Aquarium-Mini-Hang-on-Light-tropical-Marine-Aquarium-/370243514955?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item56343bb24b

Now, for some stupid reason, when i took unit apart to see what the wattage was, the light literally crumbled apart! So much so, that i'm left with just the unit and thats it.

When it started crumbling, it resembled a g23 looking light, but it seems to have a starter unit.

Now im stuck, what replacement do i buy and if its not the correct one, how difficult is it to make one of those light units myself.

This looks exactly what the other bulb looked like: http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OSRAM-G23-9W-2-pin-Daylight-6500K-PLS-lamp-bulb-light-/170690224891?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27bdee22fb

However.... when I put a meter up to the light unit with it switched on it said 5.5volts!!! which completely threw me off!!

Any help would be much appreciated. (or even a cheap fitting for this bulb, so i can retro fit it into the existing unit and get the unit working again!!

Cheers

Paul.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

If I'm reading ur question right, u dont know what kind of bulb you need? Get a couple from the lfs and find which one works and take the others back. Or contact the ebay seller...

 

[Neo8223]

ebay seller said, "you pay 8 GBP for new bulb!!" I just replied... I paid £11 for the whole thing!!!

I do think its GU23, but after looking at alternatives, its just 6400k bulbs!!! i might aswell go onto screwfix and rewire the whole #41#### thing and wire in a more conventional bulb, will cost less than £8 anyway!

Now this is where the fun begins:

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15W-Compact-Flourescent-Bulb-CFL-Photostudio-Lighting-/250742732637?pt=UK_Photography_StudioEquipment_RL&hash=item3a616e775d

http/www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ES27-E27-Ceramic-heat-LED-Bulb-Lamp-Light-Base-Holder-/130562679209?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Reptiles_Spiders_Insects&hash=item1e662461a9

so in my 5 gall tank, that would give me 3wpg with the reflectors.

so thats about £8 for more light than I had in the first place!!!

Any ideas?? - This is for a planted aquarium.

 

[CrazyAirborne]

unless you plan on dosing and CO2, i prefer to keep things lower light.

 

[Neo8223]

Hi all

right...this is what I did...

Item List

1) Good quality Speaker Cable - Liberated from my sound system in my bedroom (was too long)
2) Ceramic edison Screw bulb holder - maplins
3) 6400k 15W bulb screw type - Ebay
4) Thin metal wire
5) Dutch Courage - Optional (was drunk after a night out in town)

So Originally, the tank looked like this:

Not many plants, about 2wpg, but i broke the bulb, and couldn't find a replacement.

As i really liked the minimalistic look of the current light, i stripped it for everything, except for the light reflector and unit itself. Initially, i thought that i'd just use the existing cables but they were just too thin and a fire hazard waiting to happen. So i looked to my good old 500W sound system and nabbed a bit of extra long speaker cable from it I then tried feeding it through the tube, but it was waaay too tight, so first, i tried lubing the tube up with some GT 85 (wd40 + PTFE) - ignoring that its pollutant to fish (i was drunk) and that helped, but not enough, then i shaved off a bit of the rubber using my trusty mora bush knife - 20 minutes later and lots of grief, i had finally pushed the cable through.

Now, how to house the bulb. So the First, using a Junior hacksaw, I cut into the plastic casing. Then i attached the cable to the bulb holder and put back the reflector and then put the bulb in. Next using some metal wire and the existing screws, I wrapped the light fitting around the bulb housing so it couldnt go anywhere.

I Then added a second wire over the top of the light fitting for added strength and the unit was now in place.

Finally I then attached a 240v main to it.

My tank now looks like this (im gonna move the plants a bit tomorrow)

And with moon light (going to move this above the tank once I get the glass lid delivered)

Things I don't like-

Not all the light is reflected downwards

Things i like-

I can now get replacement bulbs for a fraction of the price!!!

So I am very much a believer that in order to be successful at fish keeping, you need to have a planted aquarium... It makes looking after fish a DODDLE!!! I'm also interested in knowing if this bulb is going to output the right colour temperature for my plants to be able to use. I'll post more on this. I will document this at a later date to inform if the bulb is usable.

3 WPG is quite a lot, but with all that light leaking, it's probably 2.5wpg. I consider myself to be capable of maintaining aquariums which use high wpg's. I CBA to use CO2 method. IMO, its cost ineffective and messy for small tanks. Instead, I dose daily with flourish excel. Also, BBA hates flourish excel (well actually, most algae hates it) so its an added bonus. Finally, i use estimative index as again, its cheap as chips and I dont think i will EVER need to buy plant food again after the initial cost!

 

[Neo8223]

Update: Plants are doing really well, quite a bit of growth!