cirulis Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 Hi, I am planning to add extra lighting to my 2.5ft planted tank as the 1 2ft globe is just not good enough. First question is: can you get 30inch fluros? Now for the more complicated stuff: If i cannot get 30inch lights i am planning to put three 2ft lights in the hood but staggered. This is a picture of what i am after. ideally i would like to have the ballast etc outside attached the back of the hood. I need to know if you can get rubber waterproof end caps for fluoros in australia...rather than the slide and turn ones? Thanks in advance for any help Any other tips welcome aswell cheers Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiLL Posted January 27, 2005 Share Posted January 27, 2005 yes you can get 30" tubes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 Wether you use 30” or 24” tubes just put them down the middle, light will spread out to the sides well enough when you have three of them (KISS). You might want to keep an eye on the heating effect the extra lighting will have on your tank. Try remote ballasts to reduce the heat (not attached to the back of your hood), or put a computer fan in the hood to take the heat away. You want to organise some reflectors in there to, so the light that is produced is funnelled to where you want it (in the tank). At worst, line the inside of the hood with a reflective surface (not just white paint) as you have indicated. Also, is a 30” tube actually 30”? If so, make sure you have the room in the hood to fit all the light fittings. You might be better off with a 24” tube. Don’t know if water proof end caps are available here, but I don’t see why not. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cirulis Posted January 28, 2005 Author Share Posted January 28, 2005 Hi I think i will go for the 2ft lights....i see what you meen about the 30inch being exactly that and not fitting. About the reflectors....i am not sure if i will be able to fit them in there but i will definately look into it. You might want to keep an eye on the heating effect the extra lighting will have on your tank. Try remote ballasts to reduce the heat (not attached to the back of your hood), or put a computer fan in the hood to take the heat away. I might try put the ballasts underneath the tank in that case. Thanks heaps for the help cheers Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 The ballast gets REALLY hot. Not such an issue in winter, but summer, for my tank when it was set up as a planted tank, it meant the water was getting too hot (32 degrees C). If you are going to put the ballasts under the tank, if this is a cabinet, it will cause the heat to build up from under the tank, which in turn holds the possibility to heat your tank. I had my ballasts sitting outside the tank, outside the stand, on the floor, next to the tank, between the cabinet and the wall, where the heat could not affect the tank. You don't list your birthday, and I have concerns you may be a younger member. I got an electrician to create the remote ballasts on the lights for my tank, as I don't fool with electricity. Make sure you really know what you are doing as electricity is deadly! Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cirulis Posted January 28, 2005 Author Share Posted January 28, 2005 Are the remote ballast any different from the standard ones? The tank is on an open stand so with a solid top (not just the frame so i think it will have decent insulation) Yeah im 18 . I won't be doing it all by myself. My dad will do the wiring etc. He has done alot work with wiring etc and did all the lights in the house. There is no way i would attempt something like this with no experience. cheers Brett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.d.m Posted January 28, 2005 Share Posted January 28, 2005 i used a double 2 foot batten on my 4x2x2 and it does give a nice effect , i priced remote ballast systems and they were expensive this batten was $26 from john r turk yuo just have to take the back off and connect your 3 core cable , i also fitted a switch to the side of the hood , the advantage of 2 foot fluros is that everybody carries them even k-mart have 2 foot grolux also with a multiple set up you can change the type of tube around to get the effect you want, a grolux with a tri phosphur looks nice , not as purple as normal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CThompson Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 If you dad did the wiring in your house, he knows more about electricity than I do. As far as I know, remote ballast is no different from an ordinary ballast, the only difference is that it is not wired next to the lights. The problem that this means to you is that you will need to have some sort of heat resistant container to put the ballast into (perhaps a board to strap it to, but I feel this may be dangerous). I got a metal container not much larger than the ballast itself, with two caps to close the ends (with grills in them) and a separate piece that slides along into groves on the top to close the whole lot up. I bought this at a lighting place that manufactures lights. The wiring goes in one end, into the ballast, out the other side to the plug. If you have a normal stand (i.e. not cabinet) then putting the ballast under there is fine. If you look at the spectrum of a grolux tube and compare it with a tri phosphor, you will see that the tri-phosphor has a much better spectrum than grolux. It has a good spike in blue, and a similar sized spike in red, the two colours that plants use. It also has a good spike in green so the plants look good to us, though this colour is useless to the plants Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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