SeaClear System II and lighting

[Skeeve]

Hi All,

I have a 40 Gallon SeaClear System II tank. The included hood sits in
the opening of the aquarium. See
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444177 8940
for an image. The problem with this hood is that it only holds a 24"
bulb which limits me to 2 x 20 Watts. Looking at my plants, I have a
feeling that that's not enough ;-) Is there any way to put 2 x 40
Watts into a 24" hood?

Thanks,
Skeeve

[Richard Sexton]

In article >,
Skeeve > wrote:
>Hi All,
>
>I have a 40 Gallon SeaClear System II tank. The included hood sits in
>the opening of the aquarium. See
>http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=84552444177 8940
>for an image. The problem with this hood is that it only holds a 24"
>bulb which limits me to 2 x 20 Watts. Looking at my plants, I have a
>feeling that that's not enough ;-) Is there any way to put 2 x 40
>Watts into a 24" hood?

Sure if you switch to compact fluorescent. There are 18" 40W biax tubes.

This is what I've standardized on here. Warm whites are plenty good enough
you don't need anything fancier than that - to say nothing of the evidence
that everything fancier doesn't actually work as well - plus because they're
a more or less "standard" - that is sued in industry a lot they can be had more
cheaply than the Asian made pet/fancy/expensive tubes.

--
Need Mercedes parts? http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home pages: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

[George Pontis]

Skeeve wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I have a 40 Gallon SeaClear System II tank. The included hood sits in
> the opening of the aquarium. See
> http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=
> 845524441778940 for an image. The problem with this hood is that it
> only holds a 24" bulb which limits me to 2 x 20 Watts. Looking at my
> plants, I have a feeling that that's not enough ;-) Is there any way
> to put 2 x 40 Watts into a 24" hood?
>
> Thanks,
> Skeeve


If you have 22" length and 2" height available inside the existing
hood, you could strip out the existing lighting and retrofit with a 55W
CFL and reflector from www.ahsupply.com. I think that would deliver
much more light than two 24" bulbs, and would get you to the point
where you could get started with the lower light plants. Maybe that's
all you need unless you are going to also supply CO2.

To increase light beyond this, the existing hood is limited by being
made of plastic and not providing a good way to let heat escape. If you
can provide the ventilation then you could consider a 2x55 retrofit. Or
just eliminate the Seaclear hood and use a ready packaged light
fixture. Since the filtration in the back of the aquarium reduces the
front-back dimension, I think a more narrow single lamp solution is
going to be easier to work with. If you must have two lamps then a dual
T5 solution could be your best bet, but expect a price penalty.

--

[Skeeve]

That's great advice, thanks. Just got to figure out now what the best
way might be. I thought about getting rid of the SeaClear hood and
suspend something off the ceiling. Wonder if I had any problems with
fish jumping out ;)