Need More Light; Hood Options?

I have a 55 Gallon setup, that is typical of what you get at Petsmart. It's
about 4.5 feet long, maybe 18 inches deep. It has two hood lights. I
recently moved to live plants, and some are doing well, but some are not.
For example my Amazon Sword Plants seem to be starving. My gut tells me the
small 40w fluro's in the hood just aren't cutting it.

Anyone have some ideas on hood options that allow more light?


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BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.

Anyone have some ideas on hood options that allow more light?

I have a 55G, and I built my own.

I got a $13 fixture, two 40W T12 aquarium bulbs at $10 each, and a $5
sheet of styrofoam insulation at home depot. I got two 6in x 23.25in
pieces of 1/4 glass for $10 from a local supplier.

I built a small box to mount the fixture in (with some spare plywood I
had), and placed this box over the glass. I filled in the remaining
space in front and behind the glass with the styrofoam. It actually
looks pretty good.

There are some options available to you. Some people like electronic
ballasts (the thing that runs your flourescent tubes) better, for
reasons such as extended bulb life and better light output.
Additionally, high output 32W T8 bulbs would use less electricity,
although home depot didn't have aquarium or sunlight bulbs of this
type. Your other option is compact flourescent, but these bulbs are
expensive (~$30 each), so it will depend how cheap you are.

Keep in mind that you should change your bulbs about once a year (or
one every 6 months, if you have two), so the cost of bulbs is
important. I hear that you can get the T12 bulbs for $2 if you find
them on sale. If you're going to go the compact flourescent route, you
can get DIY bright kits that use semi-parabolic reflectors
(http://www.ahsupply.com/).

Of course, you could buy a glass top and separate lighting setup, or
something of the like, but when I priced them the setups were in the
range of ~$180, and I'm too cheap for that (I got my tank for $30 at a
yard sale).

Hope that helps

In article .com,
John W wrote:
There are some options available to you. Some people like electronic
ballasts (the thing that runs your flourescent tubes) better, for
reasons such as extended bulb life and better light output.
Additionally, high output 32W T8 bulbs would use less electricity,
although home depot didn't have aquarium or sunlight bulbs of this
type.

I found Philips daylight TY8's in 4' for $2 ea n Home Depot here. Intensity
matters way more than spectrum; but you do want more red than blue
as alage favouirs blue and plants favour red. Lok up at the sun,
does it look blue to you at all times of the day? It's been shown
alage will scavange unused elements of the spectra.

Keep in mind that you should change your bulbs about once a year (or
one every 6 months, if you have two), so the cost of bulbs is

Or just add another tube. Three 10 year old dim bulbs are brighter than
2 new ones.

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"Benign Vanilla" wrote in message
...
I have a 55 Gallon setup, that is typical of what you get at Petsmart. It's
about 4.5 feet long, maybe 18 inches deep. It has two hood lights. I
recently moved to live plants, and some are doing well, but some are not.
For example my Amazon Sword Plants seem to be starving. My gut tells me
the
small 40w fluro's in the hood just aren't cutting it.

Anyone have some ideas on hood options that allow more light?


--
BV
Webporgmaster of iheartmypond.com
http://www.iheartmypond.com
I'll be leaning on the bus stop post.

Two 40"s on a55 will do quite well...
http://www.angelfire.com/wy2/wyogeo/aquariums/

Tank 1 has two has two standard 40 watt bulbs in it. Two standard 40s laid
across the top. And Fluorite as a substrate.

All you need is a good supply of CO2 and the right ferts.

Bob