Lighting for Plants-Major Confusion Here!

[surfergal]

Hi all. New to the forum and fairly new to the hobby and need some guidance. THE subject in aquarium plant success, it seems, is lighting. I'm hopelessly confused! I have a 4 foot, 55 gal tank with two fitted hoods - each has a 15W 18" fluorescent tube (all this came in a kit). This is fine for seeing fish but.....I also want to grow great plants. From what I read, this is definitely not enough light. But the quandary is - how do you get more fluorescent light tubes in that little space above the glass? I'm pretty sure I want to stick with fluorescents but wish to increase the wattage and get the right spectrum because they're more economical. I know NOTHING about DIY electrical stuff and am very reluctant about electrical stuff being near that much water. This means I understand none of the instructions given for wiring ballasts to make your own hood and wouldn't know where to find such a thing. (I did look at the one home improvement center that we have and there didn't look like too much to choose from.)

As an alternative I'm thinking about suspending shop lights from the ceiling and either making or having made some sort of glass or plexi-glass cover for the top of the tank (because I don't want my fish to end up jumping out of the tank and becoming kitty treats! LOL) with a cutout portion for the power filter and heater hanging on the back of the tank. Of course this would mean I'll lose the use of my existing hoods and I'm not sure hubby's going to like that too much as shop lights don't have the most decorative appeal and he would have to move his one trophy deer that I let him hang in my den. Does anyone have any advice here or suggestions? I've read so much information on this stuff that my head is spinning! All I want are plants that flourish so my fishies are happy and my tank looks nice -- at a price that is economical.

Thanks,

surfergal

[OCSupertones]

There are some hoods that have 2 bulbs in them.  Since you dont want to do the electrical work, are you willing to pay a little more to get the right light? most fish stores carry high power hoods, or power compacts...i'll look for a few sites

[surfergal]

Thanks. I appreciate the advice. I went up to my attic to check out some shop lights I used a few years back to start some tomato and pepper seedlings for my garden. I didn't remember exactly how long they were. Well, guess what? They're exactly 4 feet long and hold two tubes each. So-o-o, I got hubby involved and I think I'm going to try suspending two of these shop lights side by side over the tank and have a piece of plexiglass cut to go over the tank. So then, there will be four tubes - 40W each and I figure I can vary the spectrum for the plants. I checked the power compacts but this will still require quite a bit of money and I really want to try the cheaper route first. Maybe it'll work.

surfergal

[aznpanther98]

there are several ways u can use those shop lights i've seen on the web that someone used shoplights and covered the outside either in laminate or it was thin plywood and stain it it really looked nice b/c it matched the room it was in  another way to go is build a canopy and take apart the shop lights and just put the bulbs and ballast into the canopy but i wouldn't do it unless u know about lighting and working with them, or put the whole shoplights inside the canopy but then u gotta make sure u build one to be able to fit in it, i like the first one even tho i never tried it but with a lil imagination and looking on the web for "do it yourself" projects u can build urself.
my lighting setup for my tanks are just gutters with screw in compact flourescent bulbs (the one made for lamp sockets with my 30gal tank its one 24" GE sunlight 50/50 and two 25watt screw in flourescents. it's cheap easy and i'm to busy and lazy ley* right now to build a canopy for my tanks... it's fun to build things for your tank and save a few bucks.... smiley*

[surfergal]

All great ideas. Now that hubby's involved (he knows much more about such things than I), I don't worry so much about building something to accommodate the lights. I think it will be easiest and most attractive to take a few of the ideas I've been given and combine them. Here's the plan: suspend the lights from metal shelf brackets that will also support a sort of ventilated upside-down box that is painted to match the wall. That sort of fits in with making it part of the room like you said. I'll have a hinged piece of Lexan or plexiglass over each side of the tank to keep the fish from jumping out. That's the plan anyway. We'll see what happens. I did look at instructions for the type of light you have on the web somewhere and it's a great idea. I did think about doing that but decided to try to use the shop lights I already have to save a few bucks. Like you said, now that the "new hobby" expenditures are winding down, it's challenging and fun to try to come up with good ways to save money.

surfergal

[Somonas]

Just a followup, your last post was Mar 13th, hows it going with the lights/tanks/plants ?  

[surfergal]

Thanks for asking! It's going well. I finally ended up ordering the AHSupply power compact kits and intended to build a DIY hood to put them into ....but, I was able to retrofit them into my gutted existing hoods and they work great. My fish need sunglasses now! Plants are beginning to respond well. I re-aquascaped everything - built some terraces and stuff like that. Algae seems to be a bit of a problem but the otos are keeping it under control. I've put some laterite into the substrate (major mess! but clear now) and started some substrate fertilizing. I've been using some Co2 fizz tabs but plan to convert to the DIY Co2 yeast/sugar method. Tank is green and looking good. By the way, you can take a look at it as I've finally uploaded some pics at: http://www.angelfire.com/nc3/surfergal/index.html

surfergal

[Somonas]

That is a very nice tank - I like the colouration and the plants.  (gravel/plants/background work quite well).

You need more fish in there   what is in there now ?

[surfergal]

Thanks. I'm more pleased with it since adding some terracing and moving the plants around a bit.

In the tank now: 6 cherry barbs, 6 tiger barbs, 3 gold danios, 2 rainbowfish, 3 cory catfish, 2 otocinclus.

The rainbows are about 2 inches each and the cories about the same. I figure I'm just about maxed on this tank. Maybe room for just a few more if they're small.

surfergal

[geoffgarcia2]

great tank!
You'll find this hobby quite addictive!