I have a 55gal. setup and it sounds like the same you have. After
many trials and errors I ended up with 4 34 watt T8s with endcaps.
It's pretty hard to not get the ballast thing right because all you have to
do is get the endcaps and follow the color coded chart on the ballast. I
used wire nuts from Walmart to connect everything together which cost about
$1 for an entire box of them. Just make sure you get the ones that are big
enough for the wires as you end up putting three or four wires in a couple
of the
connections (I used the yellow wirenuts).
The T8s don't take up that much space in the canopy and the heat output
isn't all that
much with the back of the canopy being open like it is. I can send you
drawings or pics of how everything was put together if you decide to go this
route.
I got the endcaps at
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...=6&pCatId=3880
and they are $10 each. They have 9' wires with them which is more than
enough if you want to mount the ballast somewhere besides the inside of the
canopy. The bulbs are full spectrum daylight bulbs from a lighting store and
cost about $7/each or you can buy them in bulk online and save money (you're
gonna want to keep nice bright bulbs over your plants anyway). The ballast I
got from HomeDepot for under $30 (I think). The open back on the hood let
alot
of light slip out so I covered it with some surgical gauze I got from work
(I work in the hospital) and even with the back covered with the cloth the
temp. is never that high in the canopy. I painted the inside of my canopy
white with latex paint to help reflect light back into the tank. Some
friends of mine in an art supply store said this was about the best way to
go as the reflective index in the white paint was almost as good as having
some sort of reflector made from shiney metal. They said mylar would
probably melt but if I wanted to make a reflector from heavy duty aluminum
foil I could do that.
I tried the shop light thing but I would have never been able to get enough
in the canopy in order to get enough light (4 bulbs at 34 watts= almost 2.5
watts per gallon of light which is almost enough to grow all but the most
demanding plants).
I now have a heavily planted tank with 3 anubias, a huge patch of cabomba
and anacharis, microsword, hairgrass (which isn't doing all that much for
some reason), pennywort, moneywort, hornwort (for fry to hide in, which has
to be thinned out
every couple of weeks as it covers the entire top of the tank), a gorgeous
red melon sword that's about the size of a dinner plate, several apogentons,
2 amazon swords, a couple of large crypts and a few other plants that I
can't remember the name of at the moment but they may be radican swords. I
have to prune the cabomba and anacharis every couple of weeks and can
actually see the O2 bubbles rising from some of the plants as they
photosynthesize!
I have been so pleased with the results and am glad that I decided to go
with the T8s!
If you have any questions I would be glad to help as I wish someone had done
with me! I tried several times before I finally came up with this solution
and I wish someone had just told me about doing the T8s before I wasted all
my money on shop lights and stuff.
Sorry this is so long...