That is true. I bought 19 jewelery display cases from J C Pennys when
they closed a store and relocated to another new store. I pickedup
nice glass cases with a varied assortment of ballasts sockets
switches, and bulbs. I use the glas for lots of projects (tanbks,
fuges etc) and stocked up on the ballasts which mmost are electronic.
MOst all had Power compact bulbs and electronic ballasts and some
cases even had timers on them. So check display cases that are often
thrown out behind department stores you never know. Its nice getting
ballasts that are like new and dirt cheap. Oh, I only give 12 bucks
each for the majority of ther larger cases.

On Tue, 2 Jan 2007 14:16:33 +0000 (UTC), (Richard
Sexton) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
I got a 75 gallon freshwater thats got a mixture of flourite and gravel
with all live plants.

currently i know i am way under lit...my dad is making me a nice wooden
hood to replace the perfecto light strip.

i want to wire up a better light setup for my live plants and possibly
an LED moonlight setup..

what is the best way setup that i can possibly peice together maybe with
parts from a local home center or LFS???

i am very handy and can wire about anything, however I am not too
familier with the various types of aquaria lighting....nor do i know
what I will need for my 75 gallon tank.

You're really not gonna save any money buying stuff retail and
cobbling it together. What you probably want to do is find a place
that sells used office equipment and buy some light fixtures.

Shoot for CFL (Compact fluorescent) bipin tubes - U shaped and
T5 diamater. Next best would be T8's, and if all that fails use
regular old T12 fixtures.

Take them apart, stuff them into your canopy and you're done.

Used fixtures usually run about $10 ea or so.



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I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!