Quote:
Originally Posted by Freon
How do you think this would look on a freshwater planted 90 gallon? It's the only 4 bulb t5 setup I can find for the price. My concern is too much of a blue tint.I will have low to medium light plants with eventual co2. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...1&pcatid=16771 |
you dont want to pay too much huh?
you dont need to spend a dollar per watt for lighting. What if i said you could set up something that will give you the same results, but only cost about $70 dollars?
when i was shopping for lighting i looked at all sorts of 300 dollar stuff when i stumbled upon this article.
http://www.geocities.com/teeley2/overdrv1.html
So, heres sunday's shopping list for you and your trip to home depot, and a recipe for a killer lighting system.
1.Find the cheap 48" dual tube shoplight fixtures. buy the cheapest ones they have. you wont be using the ballasts from inside the fixture.
2. find the electronic ballasts. get 2 sylyania quicktronic 4x32t8 ballasts, (or 2 advance rel 4x32t8 ballasts.)
3. grab a timer and a 3 outlet adapter if you dont have one already.
4. choice of bulbs is all up to you. i use 2 4300k bulbs, one 6500k, and 1 8000k all glass brand bulb to cast a color that is appealing to me, but you can mix and match anything that suits your taste.
buy or build a canopy to mount these in. otherwise i just cut 1/4" acrylic strips about 4 inches wide and about 11 inches long (that is the inside width of the rim on my 55 gal tank) and i laid these on the edges so that the lights can lay over the top of the tank without the dangers of them falling in or any water splashes to the endcaps. i did this before i bought a canopy, and i still use the acrylic to protect from splashes and so that i dont have to mount the lights to anything. the canopy just slips over the whole thing.
that is what i use. it works great and you dont have to spend a lot.
i run mine a 2x odno.
soon im going to get my hands on 2 more ballasts and run the 4 bulbs a 4x odno and see what happens
im gonna get a tan just sitting near the tank
